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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780307275349
ISBN number: 0307275345
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: September 12, 2006
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 148216
Studio: Vintage
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Product Description:
When Tim Kearney, a small-time criminal, slits the throat of a Hell's Angel and draws a life sentence in a prison full of gang members, he knows he’s pretty much a dead man. That’s until the DEA makes Kearney an offer: impersonate the late, legendary dope smuggler Bobby Z so that the agency can trade him for one of their own, who was captured by a Mexican drug kingpin. Knowing his chances of survival are a little better than in prison, Kearney accepts, and he winds up in the middle of a desert at the notorious drug lord’s lavish compound. To his surprise he meets Bobby Z's old flame, Elizabeth, and her son. At first, it’s a short vacation by the pool, but when things turn bloody, the three of them begin the most desperate flight of their lives, with drug lords, bikers, Indians, and cops furiously chasing after them. Whether he pulls it off, whether he can keep the kid and the girl and his life, makes this compelling novel a hilarious, fast-paced thriller about a con caught in a devil’s bargain.
Amazon.com Review:
Here's a thriller with everything going for it--a great plot gimmick, excellent action and sex scenes, beautifully-realized characters on every level, and a crisp, pungent, in-your-face writing style that rarely stops to let you catch your breath. Nobody has actually seen the legendary Laguna Beach surfer-turned-drug dealer Bobby Zacharias for years, so a nasty federal agent thinks he has a chance of passing off a lookalike in a hostage switch with a Mexican drug lord. Bobby Z's double, a career screw-up named Tim Kearney, takes the deal because it means a chance to get out of prison--where the Hell's Angels want to terminate him. But when the switch backfires, everyone in the world is after the fake Bobby Z--who takes off with the 6-year-old son of the real Bobby on a cinematic, fully satisfying run for their lives.
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Rated by buyers -
Just the right amount of character development to get the reader to care and enough plot twists to keep you going without having to stop and think. Get it and read in one sitting.
Rated by buyers -
This was a fast-paced read. Certainly not high-brow entertainment but extremely readable and the kind of book that would get made into a movie quite easily.
It was unbelievable and at times a bit confusing but I found it interesting enough that I would keep reading it and more Winslow books in the future.
Rated by buyers -
"The Death and Life of Bobby Z", written by the gifted Don Winslow over ten years ago, reads in many ways like an artist's study of Winslow's 2005 classic, "The Power of the Dog". Which is not to detract from the thrill, suspense, and storyline of "Bobby Z", an entertaining and action-filled romp through southern California and the neighboring northern Mexican badlands. Both novels are built around drug trafficking across the border, but where "Dog" was powerful in grim characters and fatalism, "Bobby Z", while no less bloody, manages a lighter, cynically humorous mood more suited to popular thriller fiction. Reading "Bobby Z" brought flashes of Charlie Huston's outstanding Hank Thompson trilogy, having me believe Huston was a Winslow fan before taking on "Caught Stealing" and the two raucous action-fests that follow it.
"Bobby Z" is a legendary SoCal drug dealer, the paragon of California outlaw cool who nonetheless finds himself in the grips of the DEA. But Bobby Z mysteriously dies in custody, putting at risk a trade that was to bring down a notorious Mexican drug lord. Enter Tim Kearney, a small time criminal on the wrong side of California's "Three Strikes" law, serving life for ridding the world of a Hell's Angel thug. But Kearney bears a striking resemblance to the fabled Bobby Z, and is given the offer he can't refuse: masquerade as Bobby in the trade, and walk away a free man. This predictably leads to a wild sex and carnage-filled odyssey through the luxuries and dregs of narcotics trafficking, featuring some of pop fiction's most deliciously despicable bad guys and, as can be expected with Winslow, a central character who while a criminal no less lovable. So if a mix of good cops, bad cops, renegade bikers, Indians, and even a Viet Nam sniper vet can't combine to get your pulse racing, probably time to make sure you have one.
Rated by buyers -
When three-time loser Tim Kearney is offered an opportunity to exchange his life for that of infamous drug merchant Bobby Z, he doesn't have to think twice about the answer. His life on the line after taking out a menacing Hell's Angel in the prison yard, returning to the general population is unappealing, regardless what Bobby Z was into. Legendary surfer Bobby Z grew up in Laguna Beach on the California coast, cutting his teeth on a lucrative marijuana market, astute enough to move his business to the supply side and out of law enforcement's spotlight. When confronted by DEA agent Tad Gruza, who views Kearney as a lifetime loser, the choice is inevitable. After weeks of training in the art of coolness, Tim is escorted to the California-Mexican border for an exchange with a captive DEA agent, the infamous Don Huertero ready to welcome Bobby home. Unfortunately the deal goes south.
Escaping the flying bullets, Tim is halted by the muzzle of a gun to his head, led to a desert oasis in Anza Borrego, where he mingles with Euro-trash and Huertero's contact, awaiting Huertero's arrival. Awed by this change of circumstances, Tim is stoked until a beautiful woman whispers the truth in his ear; deciding it is a propitious time to leave, Kearney does so in a hail of bullets, a young boy from the compound his willing companion. Things happen quickly, a race across the desert with a band of local Indians in pursuit. Once on the run, Kearney and Kit hardly have time to come up for air, a bounty on Tim's head, tracked by a highly motivated cowboy from Anza Borrego, the extensive social network of the vengeful relative of the Hell's Angel Tim took out and the DEA agent who started the whole crazy enterprise.
Bobbing and weaving, Kearney reveals a stubborn streak, accomplishing feats that would challenge the great Bobby Z, the one constant the adoration of the kid. With a woman on his mind and the kid in his heart, Tim dodges Bobby's partner- grown overly fond of Bobby's money- local gang bangers with their own agenda, a well-armed armada of bikers, Huertero and Gruza, all of whom want him dead. In true Winslow style, the plot is non-stop action, one ambush thwarted only to have another appear, Kearney making life and death decisions on the fly. A cast of miscreants spews a barrage of conflicting agendas, but one common purpose- the death of Bobby Z- three characters unexpectedly bonding with one burned-out Bobby fan, "One Way", stepping in to save the day. In a dramatic preview of the work to come, Winslow introduces the fluid, controlled chaos that defines his impressive view of the world from the dark side. Luan Gaines/2007.
Rated by buyers 
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This guy can tell a story. He owes a lot to Elmore Leonard but really outdoes most of his books with this funny and exciting tale. I remember reading my very first Michael Connelly, and my very first DeMille novel in the same way. There is nothing like discovering a great new author and I plan to delve into his other novels immediately. My one complaint is that I did not like one of the characters that he created known as "One Way". His whole bad acid trip induced lifelong psychoses felt unreal and forced, but beyond that it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed a plot as clever as this one. This is a real page turner that I whipped through in two days, and I am not the fastest reader on the planet. I think I heard of him through an Amazon plug, though I simply cannot recall. Whatever the case, I know Winslow is getting more popular with every book and he should soon be as well known as the aforementioned novelists. He certainly deserves it.
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