«Packing more of an emotional heft than Savages, it’s written in the leanest prose possible, with a single-word paragraph being nothing unusual but managing to say more than you’d expect.»

Alastair Mabbot, Herald

«An epic prequel to Don Winslow's Savages . . . Winslow writes the kind of books that Tarantino might- if he had a heart.»

Julia Handford, The Telegraph

«American author Don Winslow is so good at capturing LA slacker speak…[His books] are always superb and The Kings of Cool – a new prequel to the brilliant Savages may be his best yet»

The Sun

«A brilliant, hypnotic novel…A considerably more ambitious book than Savages, seeking to map out not only the history of Savages’ weird love triangle, but also to cast a panoramic eye over the whole history of the drug trade in California from the 1960s onwards. And Winslow fulfils those ambitions fantastically well, with a stylistic swagger and bucketloads of empathy to go with a scintillating, perfectly executed crime-novel plot…Delivered in the sleekest, most sinewy prose you’re ever likely to read. At times, The Kings of Cool verges on a kind of steel-tipped poetry, providing flashes of insight from perfectly carved sentences. It is a simply stunning novel.»

Doug Johnstone, Independent on Sunday

«[Winslow] is an excellent crime writer. He writes in the simplest, clearest, most spare way of anybody I’ve read. He’s been honing it for years.»

Evening Standard