The Power of the Dog
 | |
| Author | Don Winslow |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller, Crime novel |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 539 pages |
| ISBN | 0-375-40538-0 |
| OCLC | 56912098 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3573.I5326 P69 2005 |
The Power of the Dog is a 2005 crime/thriller novel by Don Winslow, based on the DEA's involvement with the War on Drugs. The book was published after six years of writing and research by the author.
It also is a 1967 novel by Thomas Savage.
Plot summary
Winslow's novel describes three decades of the United States war on drugs by following several main characters: The DEA agent Art Keller, Adán Barrera, who controls large parts of the drug trade from Mexico to the United States of America, the prostitute Nora Hayden and Sean Callan, a gangster from the streets of New York. Keller becomes obsessed with the Barrera family after they tortured and killed an DEA agent in Mexico. Trying to revenge his colleague Keller discovers massive involvement of the US and the Mexican government in drug trade operations. The CIA prevents him from taking revenge on the drug cartels to combat left activists in Latin America.
Winslow shows the brutality of the war of drugs with very graphic scenes involving torture and massacres. He also explains with many details how the drug trade worked and how the different organisations collaborated to achieve their respective goals—from the Mexican drug cartels to the Vatican.
Allusions to actual history, geography and current science
The Power of the Dog starts in 1975 and follows the DEA's War on Drugs and various aspects of Operation Condor.
Portrayal of the Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio's murder in Tijuana on March 23, 1994.
Aspects and some of the resolutions of the Cristero War are mentioned.
Winslow includes the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and its far reaching consequences for Mexico into the plot.