Don Winslow

Hollywood.

The city where dreams are made.

On the losing side of a bloody East Coast crime war, Danny Ryan is now on the run. The Mafia, the cops, the FBI all want him dead or in prison. With his little boy, his elderly father and the tattered remnants of his loyal crew of soldiers, he makes the classic American migration to California to start a new life.

A quiet, peaceful existence.

But the Feds track him down and want Danny to do them a favor that could make him a fortune or kill him.

And when Hollywood starts shooting a film based on his former life, Danny demands a piece of the action and begins to rebuild his criminal empire.

Then he falls in love.

With a beautiful movie star who has a dark past of her own.

As their worlds collide in an explosion that could destroy them both, Danny Ryan has to fight for his life in a city where dreams are born.

Or where they go to die.

From the shores of Rhode Island to the deserts of California where bodies disappear, from the power corridors of Washington where the real criminals operate to the fabled movie studios of Hollywood where the real money is made, City of Dreams is a sweeping saga of family, love, revenge, survival and the fierce reality behind the dream.

Danny Ryan #2

City of Dreams

Leonie

No one really knows why damaged people find each other. But they do. There’s an attraction of pain to pain, a magnetism of hurt, a mutual recognition that creates a haven of understanding. With that person, you don’t have to explain why you’re down, you don’t have to hear “suck it up,”you don’t have to pretend to be happy. The other damaged being just understands.

The wounded, they understand failing, they understand losing.

Ooh, but please do take full offense, though. 

Purgatory is the more realistic goal, hell a sad but distinct possibility. Maybe Martin did receive the last rites, so perhaps he’s skated through. 

Take him, Lord, he did what he had to do to live in the world that You created. No offense to Yourself, understand.

I would 100% watch golf in that - and only that - case. 

Not that guy to get up in the morning, check your investments and go golfing with doctors and lawyers and stockbrokers. The only thing that could improve golf is snipers. Then those guys wouldn’t wear those stupid clothes, and it would sure as shit speed up the game.

I would advise taking some blades and some kind of assault rifle before venturing in mine, too. 

“Come on,” she says. “Loosen up. It’ll get you into your head.” “I wouldn’t go into my head,” Danny says, “without a flashlight and a gun.”

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