Don Winslow has been writing books since 1991 and I’ve been reading them since maybe 2000. He writes a lot and I’ve read a dozen or so but I’ve missed several – this was one I’d missed. He’s also won a lot of awards. During this time he’s also gone through different phases and different series. . 

The Trail to Buddha’s Mirror
By Don Winslow
2011
Read by Joe Barrett 12h 2m
Rating:  B+  / crime
(#2 in Neal Carey series) 

This book is from back in 1992, but it was one I’d missed and on sale with my membership so I grabbed it then and kept it for while before I actually pushed the play button.  

Winslow is best known for his more recent Cartel Trilogy which is seriously violent and these are also very violent too,  but he was getting his feet wet and there is a good stretch of lightness and humor in them.  This is not so true of The Cartel and onward.  And there were the surfing books of his middle years -those were fun but they got violent at times.  

In this book the series protagonist, Neal Carey, has been contacted by a bank he owes a lot of money to. That’s the scenario which works as the bridge between the books, the overarching story line for the series.  They send him to find a scientist who has disappeared with an important and very valuable formula.  Carey ends up in Chinatown and then in China as he follows the clues to a secluded lake. 

The relevant history of China was interesting and the rest of the book was very good. I’ll likely read more Winslow and I’m looking forward to City on Fire which is coming out in a couple weeks.