Earning an exceptionally tantalizing profit on their product, the duo continue to expand their business; that is until they are given an ultimatum. Pay the hierarchies of the drug trade and continue to make a slightly lessened profit, or they can forgo the forewarning and continue to capitalize on their lucrative strain of weed.
Fearlessly confident and brushing off the threat, Ben and Chon ignore this warning from the Mexican drug barons. Wrong move. Rather than kowtow to the higher-ups of the drug cartels, Ben and Chon pretend to play ball after receiving quite a strong, violent message from those who truly run the marijuana business. As the plot unfolds, we are presented with another story that takes place in the drug-filled, idealistic era of revolution that was the s.
Winslow introduces us to Kim, Stan, Diane, Doc, and John, and Winslow chronicles their lives from the freedom land of the 60s to the present day as hope for the idealistic revolution fades. As the two stories progress, they blend together seamlessly to produce an engaging, humorous, and intriguing overarching story. What I most enjoyed about the novel was its wit and intelligence. Although I do not usually read many novels about crime, I was extremely and pleasantly surprised about this book.
Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. In Savages, Don Winslow introduced Ben and Chon, twenty-something best friends who risk everything to save the girl they both love, O. Among the most celebrated thrillers in recent memory—and now a major motion picture directed by Academy Award—winning filmmaker Oliver Stone—Savages was picked as a best book of the year by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly, Janet Maslin In Savages, Don Winslow introduced Ben and Chon, twenty-something best friends who risk everything to save the girl they both love, O.
Now, in this high-octane prequel, Winslow reaches back in time to tell the story of how Ben, Chon, and O became the people they are. Spanning from s Southern California to the recent past, The Kings of Cool is a breathtakingly original saga of family in all its forms—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and lovers. A series of breakneck twists and turns puts the two generations on a collision course, culminating in a stunning showdown that will force Ben, Chon, and O to choose between their real families and their loyalty to one another.
Fast-paced, provocative, and wickedly funny, The Kings of Cool is a spellbinding love story for our times from a master novelist at the height of his powers.
Get A Copy. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Kings of Cool , please sign up. I listened to this book rather than read so I missed why Paku? I got why Four was called 4. Does anyone remember and can tell me? Should I read this book before Savages? Billy Boy i was going to read "savages" first then discovered "kings of cool"so to me it seemed logical to read the prequel first.
I am thoroughly enjoying it,an …more i was going to read "savages" first then discovered "kings of cool"so to me it seemed logical to read the prequel first. I am thoroughly enjoying it,and would like to add that as a music lover,i feel i should be listening to the beach boys ,or the sound track to the film"Easy Rider" while reading it. See all 6 questions about The Kings of Cool…. Lists with This Book.
Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Kings of Cool Savages, 1. Apr 04, Kemper rated it really liked it Shelves: bad-guys-rule , , crime-mystery , damn-dirty-hippies. Hey, George Lucas! Now THIS is how you do a prequel! Frankly, it seemed like a rush job done to capitalize on the movie version of Savages which comes out tomorrow. I should have had more faith in Winslow.
He has expanded the backgrounds of the characters from Savages and uses their stories to give us an idea of the rise of the drug trade in so Hey, George Lucas!
It turns out that that drug dealers Ben and Chon A mutated version of John. Like that book, Winslow has played with the style and format as well as taking that casual SoCal tone of voice he does so well to extreme lengths including incorporating segments that are written like a screenplay and sometimes using sentence fragments arranged on the page for maximum impact. Instead of a crime novel, this could almost be considered an epic free form poem.
With shotguns. This is that rarest of prequels, one that actually adds depth and story to the original without diluting it. View all 8 comments. I dislike acronyms. They irritate me. We are inundated with them at work, and plagued with them in the news and on social media.
This novel is rife with them. Not sure what writing style is being used here, but I couldn't cozy up to it. On the upside, the characters were drawn quite well. I liked Chon and O, and especially gentle Ben, the one genuinely concerned with karma.
A good point is made to not fall into the 'bad habit of having a habit. I liked the references that were made to the Godfather movies. I missed the easy familiarity and humor that is so enjoyable with those two. Was hoping for something of that nature here. View all 15 comments. Jul 15, James Thane rated it really liked it Shelves: crime-fiction , don-winslow. One of my favorite books of the last several years was Savages , by the incomparable Don Winslow. It was hip, cool, very funny and enormously engrossing.
The trio at the heart of the book included three early-twenty-something Southern Californians: Ben and Chon, two life-long friends-turned-drug producers who grew the best weed available, and O, the enormously beautiful and appealing woman who loved both of them. The book was not only a great read, it was a compelling meditation on the nature of One of my favorite books of the last several years was Savages , by the incomparable Don Winslow.
The book was not only a great read, it was a compelling meditation on the nature of friendship, family and love. Winslow now returns with The Kings of Cool , a prequel to Savages that shows how Ben, Chon and O came to know each other and how they grew into the people they would ultimately become.
It is at least as good, if not better, than Savages. As the book opens, Chon, who is still a Navy Seal, is headed back to Afghanistan. Ben has just received a visit from a mysterious man who wants to cut in on the profitable dope business that Ben and Chon have established. Ben, a pacifist at heart, chooses to deal with this problem in his own way and does not to tell Chon about this threat to their livelihood.
He figures that Chon has enough on his plate as it is. From that point, the book bounces back and forth between the present day and the counter-culture SOCAL of the s.
As Ben, Chon and O deal with their respective problems, we meet a group of surfer dudes, hippies and people involved in the early days of the dope business, which at that point, simply involved moving grass into Southern California and selling it. Over time, of course, the early days of the counter culture will evolve into something entirely different while back in the present day, the threats to Ben, Chon and O will grow increasingly complicated.
Winslow weaves his way through these narratives brilliantly and you simply cannot put the book down as one surprise after another unfolds. The writing itself is inventive, as it was in Savages , and ultimately, the book ends way too soon. I'm not a huge fan of the movie that was made from Savages and I sincerely hope that people who were not all that thrilled with the movie will still give the book a chance;it's a great read, infinitely better than the film, and I can't imagine that anyone who thrilled to the book will not want to read The Kings of Cool as well.
View all 20 comments. Both are slick and sexy Southern California crime novels, but KoC the prequel to Savages is structurally a more complicated novel. And, I know. I know. What's my problem then? It might just be m "The truth always come home It might just be me. I just found both Savages and Kings of Cool to be a little too slick and superficial. It was MTV it wasn't jazz. It hit all the notes and technically hit them well, but I just wasn't changed or altered by the books.
These seem like the product of a skilled crime writer who knows exactly what he's doing, but is mailing it in.
Or, perhaps, not mailing it in, but softening the edges and polishing it to a point it is shell with no heart. It seems like a well-designed Apple product. Slick, pretty, sexy even, but Perhaps, it is my problem and it is an expectation problem. As cotton candy, this stuff is great. As a book that can easily transfer to celluloid, this book is perfect. View all 4 comments. Jun 13, Brandon rated it really liked it Recommended to Brandon by: Kemper.
Shelves: , fiction. Honestly, after reading this, I can't believe this book was anywhere near as good as it was. In fact, it was down right awesome. Savages is a tremendous novel. It was my first exposure to Winslow and I immediately fell for his razor sharp prose. It's just so.. Is that word OK to use or does it make me look uninspired and boring?
I don't care. That being said, I didn't know what to expect with this prequel. Could this be something Winslow wrote to capitalize on the motion picture a Honestly, after reading this, I can't believe this book was anywhere near as good as it was. Could this be something Winslow wrote to capitalize on the motion picture adaptation of Savages or did he really have something interesting to say here? Turns out Winslow had a lot to tell us and at no point did it feel unnecessary.
Traveling back into Southern California during the drug trade in the s, Winslow plants the seeds for the conflict that arises roughly 40 years later following Ben and Chon's entry into growing and selling of some pretty exceptional pot. He adds depth to the characters we met in Savages.
He adds a history and an origin to the friendship - the almost brotherly bond - between Ben and Chon that only makes you appreciate these guys even more. He even lets you in on the ties between Chon and "O" Ophelia - with sexy results. Overall, I was blown away.
Not sure I've ever enjoyed a prequel as much in any form. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. Well, if you've read Savages. Go read Savages and then read this. Actually, it is a prequel so you could probably read this first. No, read Savages first. View all 6 comments.
We once again visit the bad-ass trio Ben, Chon and O. Contained within these pages you'll find sun, surfers, hippies and W. D, standing for war on drugs, wars with drugs and wars and drugs. Surfers and hippies take you back to the origins of Chon and his family, back to when he wasn't given this oriental sounding name that has nothing to do with his ethnicity but just a funny moment in his life.
There are plenty of humorous moments delivered with sharp dialog and blistering social commentary. The We once again visit the bad-ass trio Ben, Chon and O. Bobby Z is featured more in the past than Frankie Machine who is just mentioned briefly. We visit their becoming men and one first love. With Chon we visit the sins of his father.
His father has an important role and significance to who he is now, love him or hate him. We taken back to the bygone days in California where the dealing and using of weed shifted to harder drugs and more dangerous drugs. We are also taken through Chon's time in the armed forces and his leaving of it.
We learn of how Ben and Chon met. Please note that the tricks or techniques listed in this pdf are either fictional or claimed to work by its creator. We do not guarantee that these techniques will work for you. Some of the techniques listed in The Kings of Cool may require a sound knowledge of Hypnosis, users are advised to either leave those sections or must have a basic understanding of the subject before practicing them. DMCA and Copyright : The book is not hosted on our servers, to remove the file please contact the source url.
If you see a Google Drive link instead of source url, means that the file witch you will get after approval is just a summary of original book or the file has been already removed. Loved each and every part of this book.
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