The Dawn Patrol

Starred review from April 28, 2008
Ex-cop turned PI Boone Daniels lives to surf, as do the rest of the Dawn Patrol, who gather every morning on the beach just north of San Diego, Calif.—Hang Twelve, Dave the Love God, Johnny Banzai, High Tide and Sunny Day—in this terrific thriller from Winslow (The Power of the Dog
). Boone works his PI job just enough to keep his near idyllic life afloat, but before Winslow's done with him and he's back on his board, he'll have weathered some heavy seas and taken some perilous falls. Dan Silver, owner of Silver Dan's strip club, may have burned down his own warehouse to collect on the insurance money. When the insurance company hires beautiful lady lawyer Petra Hall to sue Silver, she turns to Boone to do the detective work. If all this sounds mildly comic, it is, but it's also dark, violent and plenty serious as Winslow keeps raising the stakes, as well as the waves, for all involved. Author tour.

June 15, 2008
Winslow ("California Fire & Life; The Power of the Dog") often takes a segment of fringe societyan area most readers will know very little aboutand so thoroughly steeps his story in it that we come away feeling like experts. This new novel is no exception. San Diego PI Boone Daniels takes on only enough work to pay the bills so he can indulge his passion for surfing. His pals, which make up the "Dawn Patrol," are an offbeat group of characters from all walks of life who share the same passion for serious surfing. When an arson witness goes missing, an attractive insurance company lawyer enlists Boone's help in finding her. Against his better judgment, Boone signs on and finds himself in the middle of much bigger things than arson. With his short chapters and gritty dialog, former private investigator Winslow knows how to keep the pace fast and the interest high. Several subplots make the main story line even more compelling; the whole narrative plays out against a coming "swell"the big waves that surfers dream about. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/1/08.]Caroline Mann, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2008
San Diego PI Boone Daniels would rather surf than work. While he and his fellow bronzed boarders (known collectively as the Dawn Patrol, for the time of day they hit the waves) may have real jobs, their true MO is to revel in the sun, fun, and shapely babes that populate the coastal town of Pacific Beach. But Boone, alas, is low on cash. So when a beautiful lawyer approaches him about a missing stripper scheduled to testify in an insurance case, he takes the assignment, knowing full well that the swells expected to hit Southern California in the next couple of days will be, well, epic. Soon, the strippers best friend is found dead, an apparent suicide, at a seedy motel. Boone knows it cant be coincidence. A trail of clues leads him into the company of some shady souls, from pedophiles and plastic surgeons to thick-necked Samoan thugs. As Boone gets deeper into the investigation, he wonders whether he can dig himself out in time for high tide. In his latest thriller (after The Winter of Frankie Machine, in 2006), critically acclaimed novelist Winslow writes with panache about the light and dark sides of San Diegoand the wave-craving characters that call its celebrated coastline home.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)