The Border

A Novel

De: Don Winslow

Narrado por: Ray Porter

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Washington Post • NPR • Financial Times • The Guardian • Booklist • New Statesman • Daily Telegraph • Irish Times • Dallas Morning News • Sunday Times • New York Post

""A big, sprawling, ultimately stunning crime tableau."" – Janet Maslin, New York Times

""You can't ask for more emotionally moving entertainment."" – Stephen King

""One of the best thriller writers on the planet."" – Esquire

The explosive, highly anticipated conclusion to the epic Cartel trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Force

What do you do when there are no borders? When the lines you thought existed simply vanish? How do you plant your feet to make a stand when you no longer know what side you’re on?

The war has come home.

For over forty years, Art Keller has been on the front lines of America’s longest conflict: The War on Drugs. His obsession to defeat the world’s most powerful, wealthy, and lethal kingpin?the godfather of the Sinaloa Cartel, Adán Barrera?has left him bloody and scarred, cost him the people he loves, even taken a piece of his soul.

Now Keller is elevated to the highest ranks of the DEA, only to find that in destroying one monster he has created thirty more that are wreaking even more chaos and suffering in his beloved Mexico. But not just there.

Barrera’s final legacy is the heroin epidemic scourging America. Throwing himself into the gap to stem the deadly flow, Keller finds himself surrounded by enemies?men who want to kill him, politicians who want to destroy him, and worse, the unimaginable?an incoming administration that’s in bed with the very drug traffickers that Keller is trying to bring down.

Art Keller is at war with not only the cartels, but with his own government. And the long fight has taught him more than he ever imagined. Now, he learns the final lesson?there are no borders.

In a story that moves from deserts of Mexico to Wall Street, from the slums of Guatemala to the marbled corridors of Washington, D.C., Winslow follows a new generation of narcos, the cops who fight them, street traffickers, addicts, politicians, money-launderers, real-estate moguls, and mere children fleeing the violence for the chance of a life in a new country.

A shattering tale of vengeance, violence, corruption and justice, this last novel in Don Winslow’s magnificent, award-winning, internationally bestselling trilogy is packed with unforgettable, drawn-from-the-headlines scenes. Shocking in its brutality, raw in its humanity, The Border is an unflinching portrait of modern America, a story of—and for—our time.

Well written but boils down to political hit piece

Winslow is a mastermind at character development and spinning a deep web of integrated plots. This was an engaging book that I really enjoyed. But as it drew on, it took an awkward turn by staging a major moral accusation against a recent presidential administration, setting up a make-believe scandal alongside an overt likeness of a political figure (only the names changed, but slogans and relationships the same). I wish it went more into a hypothetical administration and remained apolitical like Clancy always did (referring to real presidents of the past, but made up ones in the present). Aside from that awkwardness, I absolutely loved some of the characters and cheered some of them on, appreciating the dilemmas some of them faced, and how they all reasoned differently.

Best triology ever!

This story has it all! Great storytelling,amazing characters and excellent excitement. You just don’t want the story to end.

characters

Character development was excellent, interwoven, and entirely believable. Great author; performance excellent and listen. Outstanding.

Great, but…

The Border trilogy is an intense, well-researched saga on the drug war, packed with gripping storytelling and brutal realism. The writing is top-tier, and the series could have been near-perfect, if not for Winslow’s heavy-handed political bias, especially in The Border. Instead of letting the story speak for itself, he forces modern political parallels that feel more like an agenda than organic narrative development. It’s his right to do so, but it comes off as a weak attempt to push his views rather than enhance the story. If you can look past that, the series is still a great read.

Epic conclusion

Masterful exploration of the “War on Drugs” that I wish more people could and should read