Filming the Fire
"City of Dreams" is Don Winslow's follow-up to "City on Fire," two books in his City trilogy following Danny Ryan of the Irish mob from Providence, Rhode Island. In this sequel we open with Danny fleeing the East Coast with his ailing father and his young son. His wife has just died, and he cannot even attend her funeral as he has enraged the Italian faction of the mob and is being hunted by the FBI, suspected of having murdered one of their (dirty) agents.
Danny smooths things over with the Feds, carrying out a mutually beneficial solid for them. The pressure from the mob is easing up as well-- as long as he keeps a low profile in his new Southern California home. Hollywood is the city of dreams and Danny is drawn to a financial investment in a movie property, shades of "Get Shorty." He also finds himself emotionally tangled up with a troubled starlet, a passion landing him smack dab on the cover of every tabloid in the country. So much for the low profile... everybody is after Danny Ryan again.
"City on Fire" was a compelling book and this one only gets better. The characters are stronger-- particularly the women-- and readers are going to hunger to see the Vegas finale of this saga in the next one, "City in Ruins."
As a side note, actor Austin Butler ("Elvis") has been cast as Ryan in an upcoming treatment of "City of Fire," the "soon to be a major motion picture" thing.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
"City of Dreams" is Don Winslow's follow-up to "City on Fire," two books in his City trilogy following Danny Ryan of the Irish mob from Providence, Rhode Island. In this sequel we open with Danny fleeing the East Coast with his ailing father and his young son. His wife has just died, and he cannot even attend her funeral as he has enraged the Italian faction of the mob and is being hunted by the FBI, suspected of having murdered one of their (dirty) agents.
Danny smooths things over with the Feds, carrying out a mutually beneficial solid for them. The pressure from the mob is easing up as well-- as long as he keeps a low profile in his new Southern California home. Hollywood is the city of dreams and Danny is drawn to a financial investment in a movie property, shades of "Get Shorty." He also finds himself emotionally tangled up with a troubled starlet, a passion landing him smack dab on the cover of every tabloid in the country. So much for the low profile... everybody is after Danny Ryan again.
"City on Fire" was a compelling book and this one only gets better. The characters are stronger-- particularly the women-- and readers are going to hunger to see the Vegas finale of this saga in the next one, "City in Ruins."
As a side note, actor Austin Butler ("Elvis") has been cast as Ryan in an upcoming treatment of "City of Fire," the "soon to be a major motion picture" thing.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
