The Gentlemen's Hour: A Novel

Boone Daniels, the surfer private detective with the cool body and hip attitude resurfaces here in a darker, more complex plot than in "The Dawn Patrol". The love of his life Sunny Day is surfing in Australia and the intense English lawyer Petra has a clean line of attack if she wants it and Boone definitely wants one of them. But, the cool mornings of "The Dawn Patrol" are shaded here by a surfing culture that is turning sour. If you couldn't get the Beach Boys, Wipeout and Pipeline out of your head while reading "The Dawn Patrol", they are gone here for a much grittier acid reflux kind of sound track. Hardly anyone in this novel is who he or she seems. Daniels, again put in motion as a private detective by a commission from Petra is quickly in the familiar Winslow territory of drugs, thugs and Mexican cartels with the nastiest enforcer you'll ever meet. Petra's commission puts Boone at loggerheads with his cop-buddy Johnny Banzai. The idyllic surfing culture now has a cruel and very unpleasant, racist undertone and Daniels is involved in the defence of the accused killer of a local legend. To his friends, he has joined the wrong team and the "gentlemen" of the title have their own feet of clay. Daniels himself takes too long to understand what's going on and comes close to losing every friend and every supporter he has. In "The Dawn Patrol" the surfing culture was set as a contrast to the darkness of the crime that threatened it. In "The Gentlemen's Hour" crime, squalor and deception have seeped in and Daniels is having a hard time keeping his metaphorical head above water. He solves the murder of the local legend and uncovers much more, but what he uncovers creates an overall bad taste int he mouth of the surfing culture. It's not what it was and at the end of the novel, Daniels is not what he was either. As with the first Boone Daniels' novel, you want to seem him again. But maybe Winslow has taken him as far as he wants him to go.

What a pleasure to find an exciting new author. Don Winslow has a number of novels in print but forsome reason I missed reading his works. I am now a fan of his and want to start another of his novels ASAP.The book was chock full of interesting characters, a well plotted story that swept me along. Mr. Winslow's story brought me into the world of surfing. The lore surrounding this somewhat mystical sport of men and women who form a brotherhood of those who try to conquer the ocean riding a small piece of board is only a tiny but interesting piece of the plot. There is murder, mayhem, drug empires and all kinds of bad characters. In the middle is a PI, former cop who had depth principles and was someone I cared about until the end. Learned a lot about politics (dirty) and geology of So. CALIFORNIA coastline.Winslow was true to the location of his story in every detail I know about San Diego and Del Mar, CA. This book will keep you up past your bedtime.

Boone Daniels, the ex-SDPD surfing PI returning from Don Winslow's spellbinding "The Dawn Patrol," is in a bit of a funk. The Pacific's August swell is about as wild as a frog pond, Boone's leggy blonde lover Sunny D has gone pro and is surfing somewhere in the south Pacific, but worst of all, seems that some are abandoning the unwritten surfer code of "peace, friendship, tolerance, and individuality" and are (gasp) forming gangs and protecting their patches of the ocean. With that, the cagey Winslow, for my money the world's foremost expert on the combination of surf culture, SoCal, and drug trafficking, shreds another installment of crime, Zen, and Surfbonics wrapped around a new gig for Boone that threatens a dawn patrol wipeout.So "The Gentleman's Hour" is not only the novel that follows "The Dawn Patrol," but also the hours that follow it as well - that time of the morning when Pacific Beach's veteran and legendary surfers roll out of bed and head for the sand - those gray-hairs who, without the inconvenience of regular jobs, can hit the surf at a more civilized hour. It is in this transition that Boone runs into Dan Nichols, a San Diego success story who took his small inherited fortune and turned it into a very large fortune on the threads of an internationally distributed line of his own surf clothing. But Dan, unaffected, still cool and still surfing, has a problem: he thinks his trophy wife is cheating on him, and he wants Boone to close the case. Boone hates the sleaze and voyeurism of adultery cases, but Nichols has the proverbial offer-he-can't-refuse, and before the next wave break Boone is off to the local spy store to stock up on surveillance gear.But Dan Nichols and fidelity problems are merely subterfuge in this fast moving, multi-threaded crime mystery crafted for the ADD set: the real deal is the murder of Kelly Kuhio, a Pacific Beach legend and nearly father figure to Boone, a frequenter of the gentleman's hour who enjoys deity status in and around San Diego's bars and beaches. Kuhio is murdered in a senseless crime to which Corey Blasingame, the spoiled loser son of a well-healed La Jolla real estate developer, confesses, instantly claiming the title of most despised man in southern California. Until, that is, Boone agrees to join "The Dawn Patrol's" hottie Brit lawyer Petra "Pete" Hall as the defense team's investigator, distancing Boone from his laid back board-toting posse. Neat crime investigation and well-drawn characters add depth and credibility; local flavor closes the deal. Add to the wash the shadowy and sadistic "Mr. Jones" - a one-man torture chamber for a brutal Mexican drug cartel - neo-Nazi martial arts punks, cynical humor, and a generous dose of sexual tension between Boone and Pete for a eclectic mix of frenzy and chill that twists and turns along the way, managing to neatly mesh for a satisfying - and surprising - conclusion.Winslow is the unsung bard of the Pacific Coast Highway; hip, and irreverent, a master storyteller who knows the life of boards and babes and drugs and thugs as he chronicles with authority and panache California's wealth, greed, shallowness and natural beauty. From serious epics like "The Power of the Dog" to chilled beach fare like this one, Don Winslow is a talented author who demands to be read - and definitely deserves space on the silver screen. Check it out now - before Hollywood stumbles over it - and you can tell `em you've been there, read that.

Surfer PI Boone Daniels is back in Winslow’s great follow up to THE DAWN PATROL. Girlfriend Petra asks him to investigate the boy charged with killing a surfer legend, making Boone’s friends believe he’s betrayed his bros for a “betty.” In true Winslow style, there’s plenty of mayhem going on behind the scenes that turns into one hell of a wave. Despite Boone’s chill surfer vibe, the events of the book shatter his world and leave the reader wanting more of these fantastic characters. Here’s hoping Winslow revisits this world soon in a third installment.

I have read 4 of Winslow's books. Every one has been a great read. I'm 73 and read thousands of books in my lifetime. Don Winslow ha a unique style often marrying extreme violence with wry wit, odd as that may sound. His characters have real depth, plots which can be complex and a style which is very easy to read. Be warned get 20 or 30 pages into one of his books and you won't put it down. Luckily I have several more to read on my iPhone!!

The problem with reading more and more Winslow is you become a little desensitised to just how good his work is. I think if I’d read this type and style of story by any other author, I’d be blown away, but because it’s a Winslow, it feels a little bit average (but good average!)The narrative of this is good, punchy, fast paced, short chapters (Classic Winslow tropes), but I feel that the twist in this one didn’t hit the mark or feel as clean as some other books he’s written.What he did well was make the characters believable, and my heart broke for the crew as the strain was put on their relationship.Simply put, when your average novel is a 4 star, it’s a high bar to meet each time. Unfortunately, this was possibly my least favourite Winslow book, but ultimately still a great read. That speaks volumes of the author I’ve come to love this year as I continually invest in his work!

I've read many of Winslow's books, his ones about the Mexican cartels for example. He writes in a way that creates quite magical worlds. You know they're real but there are elements that almost become surreal, but they're not, they fit the world he has created.This is a cracking story on many levels, romance, mystery, surfing, (especially surfing), and right versus wrong. That I've bought other Winslow books says it all. This is a great read. Recommended.

Well, were do I start?A little implausible, maybe?But who cares, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Only my second Winslow book, but I guess I'm hooked. The characters were well drawn, the action kept coming like waves and the story, with lots of ups and downs always had you turning the page. Actually, my third read, as I started on the Cartel series and as that was a bit heavy going and too real and scary, viz a viz the drug epidemic, I looked for something a tad lighter.Yep still plenty of action, but somehow less frightening. Suppose I'll be a big boy now and goback to the Cartel series and then see what else he's got.

Not bad, bought in error (I thought it was free and clicked too quick) well written and started off very well, liked the potted histories sewn into the narrative, however it got a bit standard towards the end and seemed to be wrapped up a bit quickly, my guess is the author needed to do that to keep it within the size format required. However if you like surfing and cops and baddies really pretty OK..