The Dawn Patrol, Don Winslow

Don Winslow is a California writer, when his work focuses on California, it has an authentic and compelling feel to it. Winslow often takes a segment of fringe society, this time surfers, and so thoroughly steeps his story in it, that we come away feeling like experts. This new novel is no exception. The Dawn Patrol surfs every morning before work; they’ve been together forever, some since elementary school, and have jobs they go to after the morning rides. Their jobs are varied, cop, P.I., waitress, attorney, lifeguard, drug-lord, I did say varied. With short chapters and gritty dialog, Winslow keeps the pace fast and the interest high. Several subplots make the main story line even more compelling; the whole narrative plays out against a coming "swell"-the big waves that surfers dream about. This is a thriller that is hard to put down