Winslow's second book, The Trail to Buddha’s Mirror, continued the Neal Carey saga. With a wife and young son, Winslow went back to investigative work, mostly in California, where he and his family lived in hotels for almost three years as he worked cases and became a trial consultant. While traveling between Asia, Africa, Europe and America, Winslow wrote his first novel, A Cool Breeze On The Underground, which was nominated for an Edgar Award and a Shamus Award for Best First Novel. He left to get a master's degree in military history and intended to go into the Foreign Service but instead joined a friend's photographic safari firm in Kenya. He led trips there as well as hiking expeditions in southwestern China, and later directed Shakespeare productions during summers in Oxford, England. Winslow's travels took him to California, Idaho and Montana before he moved to New York City to become a writer, making his living as a movie theater manager and later a private investigator in Times Square – ‘before Mickey Mouse took it over’. While in college, he traveled to southern Africa, sparking a lifelong involvement with that continent. He majored in African history at the University of Nebraska. They inspired Winslow to become a storyteller himself. He credits his parents for preparing him to become a writer: his mother was a librarian and his father was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Navy who told stories and invited Navy friends around who told more. He grew up in Perryville, a beach town near the village of Matunuck, Rhode Island. Winslow was born on October 31, 1953, in New York City. Ben and Chon propose a trade that Elena can’t refuse, setting the stage for the violent and utterly satisfying ending.Don Winslow (born October 31, 1953) is an American retired author best known for his award-winning and internationally bestselling crime novels, including Savages, The Force and the Cartel Trilogy. Meanwhile, Elena “La Reina” Sanchez Lauter, the leader of the Baja Cartel, must deal with rival drug gangs and potential overthrow from within. Ben and Chon try to resist, but matters escalate after cartel thugs abduct Ophelia, the guys’ beautiful young playmate and accomplice, and hold her for a cool million ransom. The message is clear: sell your product through us or else. Attached is a photograph showing the decapitated bodies of other independent drug dealers.

The future is looking good for Laguna Beach, Calif., marijuana growers Ben and Chon, until they receive an ominous e-mail from the Baja Cartel. Starring: Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Emile Hirsch, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro Written by: Shane Salerno (screenplay) and Don Winslow (screenplay and novel) and Oliver Stone (screenplay)

Savages by don winslow