Following the events of City of Dreams (2023), Danny Ryan is living his best life in Las Vegas. Danny isn’t just wealthy; he’s rich beyond his wildest dreams. No longer just a former dock worker or Irish Mobster, Danny—who has embraced the “sometimes you have to become what you hate to protect what you love” mentality in order to gain success—is now a prominent businessman and an uber-successful partial owner of multiple Vegas casinos and hotels. Never one to be complacent, Danny continues to set new goals to reach for, stretching and straining in his endless pursuit of more wealth and, more importantly, more power. But after he reaches too far, while trying to secure plans to build his dream resort on a prime piece of real estate, Danny inadvertently kicks off a chain of events that not only spurs a war among Vegas power brokers but brings his past, along with a number of dangerous individuals, right to his own front door.
Set in the 1990s, Winslow’s trilogy falls somewhere between The Godfather and Scarface, partly because, like the protagonists in both films (each portrayed by Oscar-winner Al Pacino), Danny Ryan is an incredibly complex character. A widower with a hard upbringing and a son he vows to protect and take care of, Danny faces the same moral conundrum explored by Francis Ford Coppola, which is: how does someone who built their wealth and legacy by getting their hands dirty, doing the unspeakable things required to achieve their place in history, pursue legitimacy by way of the law? To explore that, Winlow carefully peels back multiple layers with the deft precision of a quarterback threading a pass into triple coverage, proving that even at the end of his career, the author hasn’t lost any zip off his spiral. Nor does he shy away from touching on social issues, something he tackles with unflinching conviction by shedding light on how power corrupts, but also how that corruption impacts surrounding communities. To be frank, the number of living authors who possess the writing and storytelling ability to pull off a book like this could be numbered on a single hand, but where Winslow sets himself apart is his unwavering and steadfast belief that said topics need to be explored with zero filters. That may offend some, who won’t necessarily share the author’s political beliefs, but don’t expect any apologies from Winslow, who speaks his mind and owns his truth. His style is bold and can be brash, but he is never afraid, nor does he hesitate, writing with conviction and confidence, his crisp prose on full display yet again.
As for the story itself, trying to define and place City of Dreams into a single category is to do Winslow’s work an incredible injustice. Is it a crime novel? A thriller? A Mystery? In truth, it is all the above and so much more. Much like he did with The Force (2017), Winslow again oversteps the boundaries of any one specific genre in order to create a story unlike anything else on bookstore shelves today. To say he will be missed by readers is a massive understatement, but one thing is for sure: no matter what he does next, he will never be forgotten, and when it’s all said and done, Winslow will go down as one of the greatest authors and storytellers the fiction genre has ever known.
After a long and influential career, Don Winslow delivers his swan song, treating readers to one final epic reading experience. . . City in Ruins is an instant classic and some of the finest writing you’ll find in print today.
Book Details
Author: Don Winslow
Series: Danny Ryan #3
Pages: 400 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 006307947X
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: April 2, 2024
Real Book Spy Rating: 10/10
