Book of The Week: Don Winslow's "The Kings of Cool"

With a star studded cast and an Academy Award winning director the adaption of Don Winslow’s novel “Savages” showed why the fiction writer with the cult like following has caught the attention of the main stream literary world. The film like the novel told the story of three California natives who enter the marijuana business and go up against a Mexican drug cartel with vigor. But while it served up excitement it failed to answer the question on the minds of readers and moviegoers across the nation. Just how did Ben, Chon, and O become “three people in love”? That question is answered in Winslow’s “The Kings of Cool”.

This heavily anticipated prequel to “Savages”, featuring the writer’s unique prose, constructs a context for the origin of Winslow’s richly drawn characters by detailing a world of decadence and desperation. Not only are “Kings” Ben and Chon given a closer look here but, the families that created such a self-aware “collective pacifist” of this duo are explored as is the relationship between their not yet girlfriend blond bombshell O and her mother. Some might be disappointed in the fact that the story monetarily deviates from the fast paced action of Winslow’s previous efforts but this work is thoroughly entertaining in its own right. With unexpected plot twists that range from a shootout with the Sanchez cartel to a murder in a Laguna Beach parking lot there is no shortage of high tension scenarios to satisfy readers’ cravings for carnage.

While Oliver Stone reportedly optioned “Savages” prior to its publication there have been no confirmations of plans to adapt “The Kings of Cool”. But if there are you’ll be sure to hear about them first here at terrymcfly.com!
-Keke

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