City of Dreams is the second volume of Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy and follows his acclaimed City on Fire. Unfortunately I didn’t realise this when I started reading, so it was little wonder I felt a bit at sea. The story picks up with Danny Ryan, a former mobster from Rhode Island, as he attempts to distance himself from his criminal past and flees with his son and a small group of trusted associates to California. He hopes for a fresh start. However, predictably he’s drawn back into the world of crime and gets entangled in further unsavoury adventures, this time in Hollywood. It all leaned too heavily on well-worn crime tropes to me, and felt barely credible. I really didn’t enjoy this action-packed fast-moving romp, and struggle to relate to the characters, and although it gives some sort of insight into mob crime, there’s actually very little plot and even less character development. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first volume, but after struggling through this one, I don’t feel inclined to try it.

Disappointing sequel. Danny Ryan makes for an unconvincing mob leader and the loyalty of his wise guys doesn’t ring true.

The story jumps from character to character and one can only expect some of those loose ends to be tied up in the final book of the trilogy.

After reading the first book in the series, I was looking forward to the follow up. Whilst the pacing was good, my personal opinion is that I don't think the story progressed as well as the first.

As a period piece set in Hollywood lifestyle and filmmaking, the detail was great, it was just let down with an ending that seamed abrupt when compared to the buildup of the first book.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publishers in return for my personal opinion and review of the book.

Second in the 'City' trilogy, which started with the fast paced 'City on Fire' book set in Providence, Rhode Island.

This book moves the story on to LA where Danny Ryan is trying to rebuild his life with his son and estranged mother.

Winslow's style continues here, ripping through the story threads as Danny tries to diversify away from his historical 'business'.

Updating the Godfather 'every time a try and get out they pull me back in' mantra, you'll be keen to understand how Danny and his crew adapt to their new West coast lives.

As a second book in the trilogy it could get stuck in a bridging cup de sac, but you a dragged along - as Danny navigates the LA film world.

Not every character makes it through, but you'll be desperate for book 3 as you race to the finish of this instalment.

City on Fire was an epic and gripping noir, this one is even better as there's more action and a plot that keeps you turning pages.
Loved it
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Danny Ryan is on the run and he has his sights set on Hollywood, where dreams are made.
Running from Rhode Island was always going to be risky, but he has a mother with powerful connections and he starts to use them. Until the Feds catch up with him, they give him an opportunity to be free. Danny must take on a job for them. It’s incredibly dangerous but if he pulls it off he will be free and rich.
Within a few days he is living the high life in Hollywood, making a movie and falling in love with a superstar actress, but Danny’s old life is never to far behind him and before he knows it he is back in the life.
Can he come out on the other side or will this be his final chapter?
Another outstanding book by one of America’s finest authors.
From the start of this book, the reader will be hooked until the end which is absolutely mind blowing.
I have to say it’s hard to find many better writers than Don Winslow, he never lets the reader down. Simply outstanding.

Ever since I blazed through Don Winslow’s City on Fire, the first volume of his crime trilogy based in Providence, Rhode Island, I had been eagerly awaiting its sequel – City of Dreams – and I must say it is well worth the wait!

Narrowly surviving the war against the Italian mob that decimated his Irish gang, Danny Ryan is on the run towards California with the remnants of his family – an ailing father and an eighteen-month-old motherless son – and what is left of his gang. He has the Italians and the law enforcement pursuing him desperately, the former for the cocaine worth millions that they believe to be in Danny’s possession, and the latter for the murder of an FBI agent. But Danny had thrown away the drug, which could have helped him and his crew with a fresh start on the straight path, before running, leaving the fugitives practically penniless. Danny’s father is on his last days and needs medical care that costs way more than Danny could earn, and bringing up a son on his own is no cakewalk. Forced by his circumstances, Danny makes peace with his mother – an influential woman with enough power to make his troubles vanish – who had abandoned him when he was an infant but had come back a couple of years ago.

Soon, an opportunity to get the law off his back arises when a government agency tracks down Danny and offers a deal – sweetened by his mother’s involvement – that would grant him immunity in exchange for executing a deadly mission, which Danny grabs with both hands. His success in the mission means one less enemy for him and his gang to fear, and finally, Danny can put his past behind him and live his life anew. But the trouble with the past is that it always catches up, and Danny suddenly finds himself in Hollywood and – contrary to his plans of keeping a low profile – in glaring limelight. While the move brings about a few moments of bliss and hope for Danny, it also makes him vulnerable to attacks by his enemies, and his life is once again blown to smithereens.

Don Winslow pulls out all the stops with what he has – to the heartbreak of fans worldwide – declared to be the penultimate book of his writing career, and his form never slackens as he puts Danny and the people he cares for through the wringer. The plot of City of Dreams moves swiftly for the most part, with seemingly trivial events impacting the lives of its characters dramatically. The glitz and glamour of the eighties’ Hollywood and the moviemaking business, along with the underlying viciousness, get a vivid rendering in Winslow’s sharp, spare prose. Each character, irrespective of its size, is unique and realistic, and would be remembered for a long time. I particularly enjoyed the antics of Kevin Coombs and Sean South – a.k.a. the Altar Boys – who have grown from being minor players in the first book. The narrative and the dialogues, especially the interactions of the Altar Boys, are tremendously enjoyable.

While the focus is predominantly on Danny, City of Dreams also has other plotlines involving the Morettis of the Italian mob and a couple of smaller characters from the previous volume. The detours, particularly the one following former Italian gangster Chris Palumbo, make the plot seem meandering at times, and their contribution to the story remains to be seen. Evoking a wide range of genuine emotions in the reader and resisting any attempt to put it down even for a few moments, City of Dreams is a worthy follow-up to the excellent City on Fire, and a perfect launchpad for City in Ruins – the concluding part of the trilogy. While it works well enough as a standalone, with Winslow providing the necessary background about his characters and their situations, I would highly recommend beginning with its predecessor for the complete experience.

A tonne of thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read and review City of Dreams!

Great, like the first one. Just full of action and lots of crime and crime-fighting details, tons of characters you wouldn't want to hang out with in real life but are fun to read about, and this one even has Hollywood glamour. Fast punchy prose, hard to put down.

Danny Ryan and crew return in the sequel to City on Fire, dodging the attentions of the feds, other organized crime families, and their own demons. An engaging continuation of the series.

City on Fire was a great introduction to the world of New England organized crime, and the challenges and dangers that face those who occupy that world. City of Dreams picks up the story where the first book left off: hunted by the feds and the Mafia, Danny Ryan and a few survivors of the Murphy crime family pack up and flee Rhode Island. Ryan is leaving just after his wife dies of cancer, unable to attend her funeral, and with an ailing father and very young son to take care of. The crew makes their way west, keeping a low-profile, looking over their shoulders the entire way. But then Danny is approached with an intriguing and potentially deadly proposition from an unexpected source, and he jumps at the chance to protect his family. Ultimately, he and his compatriots end up in Nevada and California, and (for better and for worse) find themselves drawn into the movie industry.

Winslow's latest (and penultimate) contains much of what we've come to expect from him -- it moves at a steady clip throughout; it's written in fluid and engaging prose; it features plenty of good characterization and a decent amount of tension; and it offers more examination of criminal behaviour in America, and the way society reacts to it. At the same time, the novel doesn't feel as substantial as some of Winslow's previous novels, and actually felt a bit rushed. Perhaps this is just a result of middle-book-syndrome, but I was left with an odd feeling about the novel after finishing it. It felt like a diversion from the main story; an opportunity to dip into and comment on the Hollywood/movie industry (which Winslow has experience with -- see, for example, Bobby Z and Savages, with more on the way). And, certainly, it's an interesting and promising premise: what might it be like for someone who has carefully avoided any spotlight to find out their life is being adapted for the big screen? And, after accepting that fact, buying in to the Hollywood lifestyle? It's a whirlwind tour, but one that maybe could have benefited from pumping the brakes a little bit.

Winslow wraps up the West Coast portion of the Ryan story in this book -- not necessarily tidily (there's a bodycount, of course), but it is definitely done. Certain pieces are moved around the board, and we get to know a little more about the various agendas of both protagonists and antagonists. I often feel unfair criticizing middle-volumes in series and trilogies, because I know many of the events and challenges can't be resolved, and it's likely that everything will become clearer during or after finishing the final book.

If you enjoyed City on Fire, then you probably won't need any encouragement to pick this up -- I am sure you'll enjoy this as well. While I had a few minor issues with the novel, I nevertheless finished eager to know what was next for Danny et al. I guess I'll just have to wait another year to find out.

Disappointing. One of those middle-trilogy books where a sequence of things happen, but none of them serve to drive the story forwards, develop the characters, twist the narrative. So the story starts - Danny, his crew and some old and new characters do some stuff that isn’t particularly believable - then the book ends and nothing has changed. Readable enough, but ultimately pointless. Surprisingly weak effort from the usually masterful Winslow.

This is the second in the epic and ambitious trilogy by Don Winslow, drawing on Virgil's Aeneid, which sees Danny Ryan, making his way to warm and sunny California, a long held dream of his, after Peter Moretti wins the Rhode Island war. He wants to be a good father, seeking a new quiet life free of crime. Danny is accompanied by his elderly and ill father, Marty, his young son, Ian, and the remnants of his crew, that includes the 'Altar Boys', Kevin and Sean. However, the heat is on, with the Mafia, the police, and the FBI, who either want him dead or in prison. This has him reluctantly back in touch with his mother, the powerful and influential Madeline McKay, who welcomes him and her grandson. Then he gets a high risk offer he can't refuse from the FBI, it will turn his life around and ensure the safety of his family and those he is close to..

Keeping a low profile requires discipline, something Danny can easily handle, but he has a more difficult time in ensuring the Altar Boys follow this path. They begin to put the squeeze on Hollywood, the city of dreams, after learning that the Rhode Island events and their lives are being turned into a movie, Providence, and it features Danny. Danny needs to reinvent himself, at heart he is a grafter, and he sees an opportunity to do just that by investing in and becoming involved in Providence, but all of this is about to be put in jeopardy. He falls in love with the beautiful and charismatic star of the movie, playing Pam. She is a woman with her own issues and a dark past, Danny loses his head, allowing the two of them to be pictured regularly in the media.

Danny comes face to face with the true grim realities that operate below the city of dreams as he engages in a bitter fight for survival. This is a well written, gripping and compulsive read from Winslow, with its high body count, a story of tragedy, family, loss, grief, love, and Hollywood. And whilst Peter Moretti may have won the war in Rhode Island, the loss of the drugs and tragic family events have the sharks circling around him. This will likely appeal to fans of Winslow, and other readers who love a cracking good read that is loaded with suspense and tension, and the wide and disparate cast of unforgettable characters. I can't wait for the final instalment of the trilogy. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

City of Dreams is the follow up to the excellent City on Fire and it definitely delivers.

The book picks up after the conclusion of the first book and follows the main character, Danny Ryan, as he gets to grip with his new life whilst trying to get away from his old enemies.

The book is extremely well written and has all the traditional Winslow grit and action which makes it another page turner and an excellent read.

Definitely recommended.

Winslow brings us the second part in his Danny Ryan gangster trilogy following the template of Ancient Greek poems. Danny and what remains of his crew find themselves running across the country completely bereft and laying low before an opportunity to score some major cash comes along that leads them all to the bright lights of Hollywood.

The reading of Winslow is almost always a five star experience and this was no different as he eschews sentences chewing over scenery and lets you into the thoughts and deeds of the characters blasting through chunks of time in short order. Where it falls down is that it is clearly the second part of a trilogy and unlike the first part does not end in a place where you are wanting more, but it simply ends ahead of next year's concluding part.

City of Dreams essentially pares down the various gangsters as boys playing at being men as they hate to hear the word no and for the most part find themselves chasing "tail". Every character gets their moment to shine for better or worse in Winslow's novel. I found myself thinking of his style as a more accessible form of Ellroy's, but that might be the Hollywood setting as much as anything.

Again Winslow breathes new life into the Gangster genre revealing the inner workings of a somewhat petty group of individuals and the few who actually think on things as Danny Ryan tries to carve out life after the "Wars".

Book 2 in this Irish Mob Trilogy is every bit as good as the first as the story of Danny Ryan and his gang of monsters take leave of their home, on the run, looking to go straight and start new lives….

Things of course, are never going to be simple, with the past haunting Danny, with a need for income, it seems old dogs can’t perform new tricks.

It’s a saga full of violence and it’s also something of a love story for Danny. It’s quite superb.

Winslow is one of the great storytellers and this once races to a conclusion leaving with you wanting more, just needing to know how this one concludes.

Whilst not as big as the Cartel books, it’s a much more streamlined story, it’s certainly as good as those iconic books and I think this series will sit up there with the great gangster books and undoubtedly find itself on screen.

5⭐️

The second in this wonderful author’s final trilogy, it takes up the story left up in the air in City on Fire and continues Danny Ryan’s mesmerising story.

He’s trying to give up his criminal past but his past will not leave him alone as former allies and enemies as well as the FBI and DEA are hard on his trail.

How he evades their clutches and becomes semi respectable as well as his inner torments make for a fascinating read.

This is Winslow at his absolute best and is a must read.

The 2nd Part of Don Winslow’s City Trilogy picks up right were City on Fire left off and the relentless pace of the first novel is continued here. With the Italian Mob and The Feds looking for him, Danny and his crew have no choice but to lay low. Easier said than done in the bright lights of Hollywood and before too long the past catches up with Danny. An excellent sequel by an author at the very top of his game.