From the New York Times bestselling author of The Cartel, The Force, and The Border
In Savages, Don Winslow introduced Ben and Chon, twenty-something best friends who risk everything to save the girl they both love, O. Among the most celebrated literary thrillers, Savages was a Top 10 Book of the Year selection by Janet Maslin in The New York Times and Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly.
Now, in this high-octane prequel to Savages, Winslow reaches back in time to tell the story of how Ben, Chon, and O became the people they are. Spanning from 1960s Southern California to the recent past, The Kings of Cool is a breathtakingly original saga of family in all its forms—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and lovers. As the trio at the center of the book does battle with a cabal of drug dealers and crooked cops, they come to learn that their future is inextricably linked with their parents’ history. A series of breakneck twists and turns puts the two generations on a collision course, culminating in a stunning showdown that will force Ben, Chon, and O to choose between their real families and their loyalty to one another.
Don Winslow is the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one novels, including City on Fire, The Force, The Cartel, The Kings of Cool, Savages, The Gentlemen’s Hour, The Dawn Patrol, The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Power of the Dog, and The Border. He lives in Southern California. To learn more, follow Don on Twitter @DonWinslow or visit DonWinslow.com.
Read an Excerpt
Laguna Beach, California 2005
2
Is what O is thinking as she sits between Chon and Ben on a bench at Main Beach and picks out potential mates for them.
“That one?” she asks, pointing at a classic BB (Basically Baywatch) strolling down the boardwalk.
Chon shakes his head.
A little dismissively, O thinks. Chon is pretty choosy for a guy who spends most of his time in Afghanistan or Iraq and doesn’t see much in the way of anything outside cammies or a burqa.
Actually, she can see how the burqa thing could be pretty hot if you played it off right.
Did, you know, the harem thing.
Yeah, no.
The burqa ain’t gonna work for O. You don’t want to hide that blonde hair, you don’t want those bright eyes peeking out from behind a niqab.
O was made for sunshine.
California gurl.
Chon, he ain’t small but he’s thin. O thinks he looks even thinner than usual. He’s always been cut, but now it looks like he’s been carved with a scalpel. And she likes the short, almost shaved, hair.
“That one?” she asks, jutting her chin at a tourist-type brunette with really big tits and a retroussé nose.
Chon shakes his head.
Ben remains silent, sphinx-like, which is a role reversal, because Ben is usually the more verbal of the two. This isn’t a high bar to jump, as Chon doesn’t talk a lot, except when he goes off on a rant; then it’s like you pulled the plug from a fire hose.
While Ben is the more verbal, O considers now, he’s also the less promiscuous.
Ben is more Consecutive Monogamy while Chon is more Women Are To Be Served Concurrently. Although O knows for a fact that both of them—albeit Chon more than Ben—take full advantage of the Tourist Chicks who watch them play volleyball here at the beach, just a few convenient paces from the Hotel Laguna—encounters she refers to as FRSO.
Fuck—Room Service—Shower—Out.
“That pretty much sums it up,” Chon has admitted.
Although at times he skips the room service.
Never the shower.
Basic rule of survival in the Greater Cross V Crescent Sandbox Tournament:
If there’s a shower, take it.
He can’t shake off the habit at home.
Anyway, Chon admits to doing matinees at the Hotel Laguna, the Ritz, the St. Regis, and the Montage with not only tourist women but also Orange County Trophy Wives and divorcées—the difference between the two being strictly temporary.
That’s the thing about Chon—he’s totally honest. No pretensions, no evasions, no apologies. O can’t decide if that’s because he’s so ethical or because he just doesn’t give a fuck.
Now he turns to her and says, “You have one strike left. Choose carefully.”
It’s a game they play—ODB—Offline Dating Baseball. Predicting each other’s sexual preferences and hitting for a single, a double, a triple, or a Home Run. It’s a really good game when you’re high, which they are now, on some of Ben and Chon’s supremo weed.
(Which is not weed at all, but a top-of-the-line hydro blend they call Saturday In The Park because if you take a hit of this stuff any day is Saturday and any place is the park.)
O is usually the Sammy Sosa of ODB, but now, with runners on first and third, she’s striking out.
“Well?” Chon asks her.
“I’m waiting for a good pitch,” she says, scanning the beach.
Chon’s been in Iraq, he’s been in Afghanistan . . .
. . . Go exotic.
She points to a beautiful South Asian girl with shimmering black hair setting off her white beach dress.
“Her.”
“Strikeout,” Chon answers. “Not my type.”
“What is your type?” O asks, frustrated.
“Tan,” Chon answers, “thin—sweet face—big brown eyes, long lashes.”
