The Force

“Mesmerizing, a triumph. Think The Godfather, only with cops. It’s that good.” — Stephen King

“Intensely human in its tragic details, positively Shakespearean in its epic sweep—probably the best cop novel ever written.” — Lee Child

“A scorcher.” — New York Times Book Review

“Shocking authenticity is the lifeblood of Don Winslow’s The Force.  I stopped everything I was doing to read it straight through. Detective Sergeant Denny Malone takes us on a searing journey through the corruption that lies at the heart of our justice system. I wish I’d written it!” — Greg Iles, author of Mississippi Blood

“Don Winslow’s New York copy novel The Force is a scorcher, and if his sources are on the level it’s time for another Knapp Commission.” — Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

“Don Winslow’s novel The Force isn’t just one of the great New York City cop novels ever written. It is one of the great New York City novels ever written.” — Mike Lupica, New York Daily News

“Don Winslow’s summer blockbuster, The Force, is ready-made for Hollywood… A big, fat book of fast-moving fiction… Riveting and scary — in a lot of ways.” — Neely Tucker, Washington Post

 “(A) shattering New York cop epic… The pace is kept up by the Winslow way with words, which almost entirely defies being quoted here, either because of the slang (Elmore Leonard league) or because of the everyday obscenities that lace every funny line.” — Janet Maslin, New York Times

“Winslow brings incisively-researched details, gut-wrenching plotlines, and infinite heart to his all-too-real, highly compassionate tale.” — Daneet Steffens, Boston Globe

“There won’t be a better cop novel this year than The Force by Don Winslow. Not next year, or the year after that, either.”   — Linwood Barclay

“It’s one of the most daring and explosive books of summer, grabbing readers by the front of the shirt and dragging them into a world where honor and wrongdoing are mismatched partners… (It has) a sardonic, streetwise voice — like a pissed off conscience, telling a cautionary tale.” — Anthony Breznican, Entertainment Weekly

“The pressure on Malone becomes so intense it makes Henry Hill’s paranoia in “Good Fellas” look like a mild case of OCD… What makes The Force unique among police procedurals is that it’s not the story of a rogue cop with a code… but a sneakily subversive post-Ferguson thriller.” — Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times

“A brilliant novel, rich in language, conflict, setting, and character. It resonates deeply with realism, honesty, and sheer magnetism. Fans of “The Godfather,” “Mystic River,” “The Wire,” and “The Departed” will absolutely love this book.” — Mark Rubinstein, Huffington Post

“The immersion into the world of the NYPD is so brutal and honest that it’s difficult to imagine that Winslow was never a policeman.” — Jeff Ayers, Washington Post

“Part The Godfather, part The Wire, The Force is a Molotov cocktail of cops and corruption, where good guys are also bad guys, and police malfeasance isn’t just about skimming money off drug busts—it’s about … the corruption that comes when trying to do the right thing.” — Abigail Jones, Newsweek

“Winslow peers into the soul of modern America through the eyes of a supremely skilled and corrupt police officer, in this epic novel of devastating moral complexity.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Don Winslow’s The Force is the best book of 2017 so far, period. Did you ever read a book you had a sense was going to become a classic? That’s what Don Winslow’s had me thinking well before I flipped the last page.” — Jon Land, Providence Journal

“A page-turner that also manages to dive into deeper issues… Yet what truly sets Winslow apart, aside from his gut-punch prose and deep understanding of the criminal worlds he inhabits, is his ability to perceive the greater truth behind the guns and drugs and death.” — Stayton Bonner, Rolling Stone

“Don Winslow’s intoxicating new crime thriller, The Force is a riveting ride-along with the Manhattan North Special Task Force, an elite NYPD unit… As in The Cartel, a poignant non-fiction baseline threads through this novel, leaving readers to wonder how much of it is tragically true.” — Don Oldenburg, USA Today

“Just fantastic. Like can’t-put-it-down, can’t-get-the-voices-out-of-your-head fantastic. An instant classic, an epic, a goddamn Wagner opera… basically Game of Thrones without the dragons. The Wars of the Roses played out with New York City cops and robbers.” — Jason Sheehan, NPR

“It’s rare for a writer to produce two career-defining masterpieces back-to-back, but that’s exactly what Winslow has done.… Winslow has created what will likely become our quintessential cop novel, looking both at what cops do right and wrong with clear-eyed realism and passionate humanity.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Once every few years, a book comes along that stands head and shoulders above its genre. Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River was one; Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy… was another. Don Winslow’s The Force… is such a book.” — Bruce Tierney, BookPage

“Supercop and Everycop, Malone symbolizes the conflicts that corrode — and, Mr. Winslow suggests, often define — today’s policing. This book is about the intersection of greed and need… The Force is gripping… magisterial and raw.” — Carlo Wolff, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

“Magnificent… muscular and lyrical, free-flowing and complex, it delivers punch-in-the-guts plot twists.” — Marcel Berlines, The Times (UK)

 “Sprawling and visceral.” — Financial Times (UK)

“[Winslow’s] prose moves with the power of a locomotive and the precision of a Porsche, making hairpin turns designed to keep adrenaline junkies turning the pages.” — Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

“If you read only one crime novel this summer, it is going to have to be “The Force” by award-winning veteran writer Don Winslow.” — C.F. Foster, Florida Times-Union

“Incendiary…. Winslow is a master at exposing how corruption and bureaucracy strangle well-intentioned law enforcement, and he doesn’t shy away from issues of race, culture, poverty and the dark economics on which a c