The Death and Life of Bobby Z

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.

Think you've had some interesting jobs? You haven't read Don Winslow's bio.

Don Winslow was born in New York City on Halloween night, 1953.  Go figure.  His father was a career Marine and Navy NCO, so he hit most of the ports on the East Coast by the time he was about six. Don grew up in Warwick, just outside of Providence and then in South Kingstown. He spent some time as an actor as a kid, at Theatre-by-the-Sea in RI, and doing radio commercials.  Don always knew he did not want to be an actor but the experience later helped him bluff himself into a job in college, directing a theater company for the Ford Foundation.

Don went to college at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, majoring first in journalism (even as a student he had the crime beat) and then in African History.  He went to South Africa in his junior year and worked as a researcher at the University of Cape Town and as a free lance newspaper reporter.  His other role was to smuggle in money that had been raised in the States for an organization called TEACH, which helped build and equip classrooms in Soweto.  The funds had been banned by the government, so Don was eventually arrested and asked to leave.  He bummed around southern Africa for a few months, then headed home via Nairobi.

After college, Don continued directing the Historical Theatre Company for two more years, then moved to Beyond Hope, Idaho, lived in an isolated cabin and worked herding cattle, riding fence, and delivering salad dressing (what a man) to towns in Montana and eastern Washington.

From there he moved to New York City and spent three years managing movie theaters.  After turning in figures that implicated management in a theft scheme, he got canned and spent the next six months unemployed.  Soon a friend took over a string of legit movie theaters in Times Square and hired Don to go undercover to break up the organized theft.  After that assignment, he stayed with the detective agency and worked various gigs in London and Amsterdam.

Later,  Don did a stint for the Institute for International Studies as a mock terrorist, raising, training, and leading a terrorist group in simulated hostage exchanges involving the Institute, the State Department, law enforcement and the media.  Every once in a while he notes, he'll see a diplomat on CNN and think, "I kidnapped him."

Returning to grad school, Don received his MA in Military History.  He is an expert on "The Use of Indigenous Troops in Counter-Insurgency Warfare." He was still doing freelance PI work and was supposed to go into the foreign service when he joined a safari firm instead and spent the next five years leading, planning, and selling safaris in Kenya and China.

He got engaged on a beach in Kenya to Jean, his wife, and then took a slightly more sedentary job designing educational programs overseas for American high school students.  Don and Jean had their son Thomas in 1989.  Sick of travel, Don  joined Forensic Anthropology, Inc. as an analyst doing work with witnesses in arson and fraud trials.  The company disbanded a year later and he went free lance.

Don is still doing PI work, helping witnesses prepare for testimony, consulting on investigations, working with law firms, etc. He was working on a case when he wrote The Death and Life of Bobby Z, so most of it was composed on the Metrolink, the commuter train between San Juan Capistrano and downtown LA. A Hockey fan and an avid if inept trout fisherman, he lives with his wife Jean and son Thomas in Dana Point, CA and Riverton, CT.


From the Hardcover edition.