The plot line of this series starts in City on Fire, the first book of the series/trilogy, where Danny Ryan and his Irish gang in Rhode Island get into a bloody war with the Italian gang.  Danny is on both sides due to marriage and after a couple of drug deals and thefts, he ends up leaving town with some buddies as well as Danny’s brand new baby son by his newly deceased wife. .

City of Dreams 
By Don Winslow 
2023  
Read by Ari Fliakos 8h 8m
Rating A+ / crime-thriller 
(#2 in City on Fire trilogy) 

They eventually head for Los Angeles where the movie industry captures their attention. But organized crime is there, too. And Danny is also packing a lot of worries about everything – his old drunk father, money, food,  the Feds, the baby. He gets to Los Angeles and finds himself with the “fresh new start” he wants.  But it’s not new, not really. The life goes on.   

And now after escaping the Irish gang and the Moretties gang, the Providence police, as well as family problems, Danny Murphy and a couple buddies are on their way to San Diego. His wife has just died leaving him with a a baby boy to take care of on his own.  

This is a SEQUEL to City on Fire (my review on this site) which was a great novel. No, not up to the standards of The Cartel series but there was more to come and there was definite promise. I don’t know what a reader would get out of City of Dreams if they hadn’t read City on Fire.  Lots of names and plot points and confusion?  

But I did read the City on Fire first and it’s definitely better, But this, the second book, continues the tale and ties up a few ends, maybe sets the stage for #3, City of Ash.  

Anyway, Windslow is a master of writing atmospheric prose and developing believable characters along with masterfully spinning out the tension and word-smithery in general. The plots are twisty and somewhat gritty.  The narrator, Ari Fliakois, is spot-on.  

Enjoy!