This is a book with a large cast of characters. I got to see the War on Drugs from a lot of different angles. That was something that I loved about the book. Seeing how a big historical event has an impact on so many different kinds of characters. I do think one character was more developed than the others, that being Art. However, I would not consider him the main character of said story. That might be a hot take. Overall, the characters were shallow. I came to this realization when there were characters who I considered my favorites but once terrible things began to happen to them, I simply had no reaction. I lacked a connection with them. They needed to have more depth and more thoroughly written out backstories, more building to their character arcs for them to be truly successful and deemed favorite characters.
The atmosphere of the book introduced me to a whole new world. I know that I am sounding like the ignorant American that I am while writing this. Winslow, the author, would name drop a city that I had never heard of, I would go and google it, sure enough the city would have half a million people. It also made me realize, Americans are so centric to their own world because all of our media seems to take place here, it isn’t like we are taking in vast amounts of Mexican media (myself anyways). This book opened a can of worms for me to dive into Mexican culture and history. I have already had fun exploring Apple Maps!
This writing style is the kind that I don’t vibe with the most, hey, I am honest with these reviews. It is dense and has long chapters. Something that I did like though was how each character had their own voice. The tone shifted with each character really immersing you into their story and lifestyle.
The plot is straight up showing the years that people most commonly think of when they think of the War on Drugs. Earlier, as I said, it goes into so many different people and how each story is connected, that reminds me of Ken Follett. Also if you like the action filled stories of SA Cosby, you’ll like this as well but remember, it’s a tome! Let’s talk about some of the deeper themes though, the main one I picked up on is realizing you are in something corrupt, a bad situation if you will, and trying to get out of it. Let’s go deeper, can big things like the church, crime groups, and the government be taken down from the outside or we just have to wait for them to implode on their own? Also, with those groups that I named, they are so interconnected. They all heavily rely on each other and are so similar to one another. If you are curious about in what ways, pick up this book.
Plot twists galore!!! And I am saying that in a good way. It makes so much sense how these scenes would line up to happen but I would never see it coming and if I did it would only be a few moments before. My jaw was frequently falling to the floor while reading ‘The Power of the Dog’. This was a great book, opening me up to a new bit of history and places around the world. Yes, I would recommend that you pick it up.
4.25 out of 5 stars.
Izzy Reads 