Reviews

• 豊かな国の向こう側メキシコの何一つ変わらないおぞましい現実を描いた大河小説！！

  読み終わると脱力感に襲われる（前作The Power of the Dog同様）。ただ、ある程度の決着がつくので少しよいか。ケラーが再び因縁の対決に乗り出す。メキシコの麻薬カルテルの殺し合い、裏切り、無辜の市民に対する暴力、恐怖の姿を、個々の市民レベルからボスたちまで多くの局面を壮大に描き切って、その構成力、展開の速さ、人間模様の豊かさと、見事な大河小説だ。カバーのコメントでトルストイの War and Peaceに例えているのもうなづける。読後感は圧倒されて、一言や二言で言えない。著者の英語はいつでも読み易い。記述や会話に無駄がない（トルストイと違って！！？）。しかし、少し疲れた。メキシコの現実に・・・・・

• 社会に巣食う麻薬組織の凄まじさ

  麻薬戦争の凄まじさが圧倒的な迫力で伝わって来る。ページを繰るのももどかしいほど引き込まれましたが、最後の結末が今一つでした。結局また誰か別のボスが現れるか、同様の混乱が続くのでしょうか。

• 犬の力の続編

  面白かった。前作の犬の力も楽しめたけど、これも同じぐらい、夢中になりました。それにしても、メキシコは怖い国だわ。

• 面白い！けど、一巻目の方が面白い

  メキシコとアメリカの麻薬戦争について勉強になる。本は厚いけど、英語は読みやすく、ストーリーが面白いので、ドラッグワールドを満喫しました。

• An engrossing fare

  Don Winslow doing what he does best. Full of gore and bloodshed but unputdownable. A worthy sequel. One of my favourite authors.

• Mainlining adrenaline

  The Cartel is an epic story of power, corruption, and revenge spanning the past decade of the Mexican-American drug wars, or the 'war on drugs' as it is referred to. The Cartel is a thrilling sequel to The Power Of The Dog. It helps if you have read The Power of The Dog but it is not mandatory. The Cartel features the two main protagonists from The Power of The Dog as they continue on their mission to destroy each other. One is a DEA agent, the other is a drug kingpin or 'patron' of a vast multi-billion dollar empire who will stop at nothing to increase his power. The violence depicted in The Cartel is sickening but is never gratuitous or out of place. Don Winslow does not revel in explicit violence but doesn't shy away from telling the reader how bad the world of narcotics really is. The novel is obviously based on true events and feels like it was plucked from news headlines from real events. This book is one big crime scene that goes on for decades and across borders. The dialogue is excellent, as are the descriptions of how hard life is for the victims and ordinary people forced to live in towns and countries where life is cheap and wholesale random slaughter seems to be a way of life. The characters are well drawn out and the reader feels a sense of dread because trying to survive in the world of drugs is almost impossible. The fate of some of the characters feels well deserved whereas the fate of the innocents is heartrendingly sad and Winslow treats these with respect and care. The pace of the novel is handled expertly and there isn't one boring sentence in the entire book. This is the first book in a long time that I really didn't want to end. It is informative and thrilling in equal measure. The drug dealers and kingpins in the book are media savvy and come across as terrorists. In one scene one of them says: “What good is an atrocity if no one knows you did it?” In this way the book delves into 'The Wire' territory where reporters become central characters and are caught between warring cartels. Similarly the corrupt police are forced to choose between doing evil deeds or being wiped out themselves. There is never a black and white simple solution for the dilemmas these people face every day of their lives. Stay honest and you'll be dead within days. Bend to the dark will of the cartels and you have to figure out how to live with yourself. To me that is the central theme of the book: How to fight evil without losing your soul in the process.

• Action packed, a violent history lesson

  So many twists and turns in a story that shocks and fascinates. The way Don Winslow can create a character who you know is just evil, but the inner goodness seems just around the bend, defies taking sides, instead you find yourself putting yourself in the antihero's shoes. The short, sharp writing style provokes and stimulates the imagination so that the streets of Jurarez and the faces of Forty, Ochoa, Keller and Marisol, to name only a few, seem to jump out of the pages. Quite brutal at times, so not for the squeamish. Since the story is based on many true events,the drug problem with the USA and Mexico turns into a palpable and frightening universe, ruled by extremely complicated rules of honour and family ties. ,. Following the travels of Art Keller, Pablo Mora and Adan Barrera on an online map,makes the story really come to life. Highly reccomended.

• Wow! Just wow!

  “The Cartel” is an absolutely extraordinary piece of modern literature. It’s compelling, captivating and certainly not for the faint hearted. It grabs the reader from the very beginning and leads to a dramatic outcome some 600 pages later. Don Winslow has produced a masterpiece. The essence of the story is the ongoing clash between the two main characters; Art Keller, an employee of the Drug Enforcement Agency and Adan Barrera, the head of El Federacion, Mexico’s leading drug cartel. Their animosity is total. Everything is black and white. There are no grey areas. Each man despises the other. However, the plot is more than just these two men. Along the way, the reader is introduced to a host of other characters who all play their role to complete the larger picture. Beware that this is a book that is loaded with brutal imagery. The Mexican drug wars are part of a huge failure of public policy. No matter how hard the authorities clamp down on the drug trade, activities simply re-emerge elsewhere. Violence begets violence. The violence, however, is always amplified. “The Cartel” is the second book in the “Power of the Dog” trilogy. It’s not essential to have read the first volume before reading the second although it does help. I look froward to reading the third and final volume, “The Border”, although I find it hard to conceive that it will top the second. I highly recommend this book.

• Aangrijpend

  De waanzin van de drugsoorlog in Mexico, in al zijn gruwelijke omvang. Zo goed beschreven, je legt het boek echt niet weg.

Purchase links