I’m always looking for a good crime book.

Years ago, in one of my searches, I stumbled upon The Cartel by Don Winslow. The black bulletproof vest on the red background caught my eye. I bought it.

In the first few pages, I couldn’t put the book down. I had found my favorite author.

I was in love with his writing. It was dynamic. Short. Punchy. The character development was incredible. One of the best. He held nothing back. No concealed antagonist. No secret subplot. He trusted his readers to continue reading the story he was presenting.

Throughout the novel, I knew the traitors, the heroes, the bad guys. There was no guessing. The power came from watching characters navigate betrayals they never saw coming. Betrayed by people they trusted completely.

I was in love with his writing.

This experience led me to dive deeper into the author. I went back and read the first book of the trilogy, The Power of the Dog. Another amazing book with an incredible plot. The Force was also a masterpiece.

But I can’t say the same about his most recent work. I noticed a shift. Not just in his writing style, but in the way the story developed. The way his protagonist reacted to danger.

Keller-era Books

To me, the Art Keller books were Winslow’s best. More specifically, the first two. The final book was more of a closing argument. The arcs resolved cleaner. Not exactly how I would expect, but the story came to a close.

The author once confessed that he had spent more time with Keller than anyone else in his life. In the first two books, Keller was an exceptional protagonist.

In terms of plot, narrative, and story arc, The Power of the Dog and The Cartel are among, if not the best, crime books ever written. In my humble opinion.

The Border is still a good book, but Winslow made it politically charged. From an apolitical standpoint, I believe this decision to implement it into an existing plot kind of spoiled the whole thing. It didn’t exactly fit with the whole story.

The Force and Broken

These two books mark the end of an era.

The Force, much like the Keller-era, is a masterpiece. Even though the book was somewhat political, it fit the plot perfectly and was well done. The protagonist plays on the edge of morality and is somewhat sympathetic.

What makes this book so intriguing is the classic Greek tragedy. The readers can see it coming, but they are also on the edge of their seats reading the next page to see if the protagonist will make it out of his predicament. What I love about this book is that Denny Malone doesn’t stand for an idea, but for rationalization.

I think this is one of his most disciplined novels and one of his all-time best.

Broken is a compilation of six novellas. That includes Crime 101, which is now a major motion picture with Chris Hemsworth. Most of the stories are excellent. To me, this book marks the end of an era.

The Danny Ryan Novels

There is a palpable change in the Danny Ryan Novels. The characters felt different, less nuanced. It started feeling less like a Don Winslow crime novel. The protagonist is more controlled. Careful. He tried to play by the rules. It is not like any of Winlow’s previous work.

The chapters got shorter. The story felt choppy. Winslow put the protagonist in tight corners. I found myself hopeful, thinking this was the moment the book was going back to the author’s roots. Then, conveniently, the protagonist got out in the most improbable way.

More specifically, towards the end of one of the books, Winslow pulls a classic Deus ex machina. Without any spoiler, at some point, the characters are in an unsolvable situation, and the only way this could go was death.

Then something extremely unlikely happened. And the character got to live another page.

It advanced the plot but not the psychology. It was more like a cheat than a twist.

Promise of Retirement

After the Danny Ryan trilogy, Winslow said he would retire from writing to become an activist. I made peace with that. He has been writing for a very long time. I’m sure he was ready to be done.

But then, I was scrolling through Amazon the other day and noticed a new book. The Final Score. I started reading it.

I couldn’t finish. The story was very choppy. The characters were, for lack of better words, odd.

Unless you’re paying extreme attention, you’ll miss what’s happening. He shifts scenarios almost in mid-sentence, jumping from one thing to another without warning or proper transition.

It’s jarring and confusing, and it feels like a completely different writer than the one who wrote The Power of the Dog.

Conclusion

I’m not saying writers shouldn’t evolve or explore new territory. Growth is good. But there’s a difference between evolution and losing what made the work compelling in the first place.

I miss the Don Winslow who made me care about morally complex characters navigating impossible choices. The one who could build tension without tricks, who earned every twist.

I’m not saying his changes were bad. Perhaps he is still the same writer, and I was the one who changed my expectations. Maybe his newer work resonates with other readers. But for me, his work is no longer in my ever-growing queue of “to read” books.

I think I’ll stick with his earlier novels and remember why I fell in love with his writing in the first place.