The Power of the Dog

By: Don Winslow

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

This explosive novel of the drug trade takes you deep inside a world riddled with corruption, betrayal, and bloody revenge.

Art Montana is an obsessive DEA agent. The Barrera brothers are heirs to a drug empire. Nora Hayden is a jaded teenager who becomes a high-class hooker. Father Parada is a powerful and incorruptible Catholic priest. Callan is an Irish kid from Hell's Kitchen who grows up to be a merciless hit man. All of them are trapped in the world of the Mexican drug Federación.

From the streets of New York City to Mexico City and Tijuana to the jungles of Central America, this is the war on drugs like you've never seen it.

©2005 Don Winslow (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A pit bull of a book. Once unleashed, this thriller...charges and attacks without mercy, shredding anyone in its path....A well-tuned plot, driving rhythm, intelligence and a touch of politics." ( Washington Post)

Outstanding

Don Winslow delivers another supremely entertaining tome with The Power of the Dog. It's a sprawling epic populated with dozens of memorable characters, locations, and incidents. The real revelation, however, is the performance by Ray Porter. Mr. Porter actually manages to make 20+ hours of listening time fly by. His command of accents, inflections, and cadences imbues each character with a distinct personality. He's unbelievably versatile. In fact, it almost sounds like a full-cast recording. I enjoyed this book tremendously. Luckily, there's a second volume in the series, and I get to submerge myself once again in pure audio bliss. Highly recommended.

never a dull moment

Incredible story with tons of action. Easy to follow the characters and very believable. AMAZING STORY!!

AMAZING!!!!!

This book was so good, I didn't want it to end! Ray Porter is awesome with the way the narrated the story. He does a fantastic job playing the voice of each character. I often felt like I was watching a movie rather than listening to an audio book.

It could have been true

Very good book. That makes two out of three for me. The first being The Paris Architect. Use a credit, and you won't be sorry. Graphic violence and sex scenes, but not too many. I'm sure that almost all of the incidents in this book have happened in real life.1

Extraordinary

This narrative tight-fisted my balls and didn’t release until, “Audible hopes you’ve enjoyed this program.”

Masterful story-telling.

Now, on to The Cartel.

Winslow, you’re genius.

Powerful and exciting. The writing is superb!

The narrator is excellent as well. I only wish I would have listened to this one before the sequel, the cartel

NC-17

The story was interesting and well crafted with a good performance by the reader. However, many sections of the books were unnecessarily and gratuitously sexually graphic. George RR Martin would have blushed reading this one. I felt these sections detracted from the story.

One of the best listens I have had in a long time!

What did you love best about The Power of the Dog?

I loved everything about this book. A great story, with terrific characters, and the narration was amazing. I guess you can tell I really loved this book. If I had to choose one thing it would have to be the narrator.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Power of the Dog?

Gosh. This is too hard, there were several. It is hard to choose one and I don't want to give too much information and spoil the story for anyone.

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ray Porter is wonderful. The way he changes his voice for the different characters was really good. He made me see the characters in my mind. A narrator really makes or breaks the book for me. Ray Porter took a great book and made it better. I will look for other books he narrates.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Again, I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who might read this so I will just the way the story ended. I didn't want the book to be over, but the ending was a moving moment for me.

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book to anyone.

This is long, and the writing is fantastic!

Winslow is a fantastic writer! I wasn't particularly interested in the subject matter, but because the writing was so good, I enjoyed it all! The narration is also great. I didn't notice it at all, which is a mark of great narrator.

I'm a bit squeamish about parts of it, but, I still listened to entire book, without fast forwarding.

WOW, Incredible

This story far exceeded my expectations. It makes you wonder about the policies and actions that have shaped this country.
As for the narrator, Ray Porter is one of my favorites. His style of narrating a story is great. I have found my next two books to listen to.