The Death and Life of Bobby Z, Don Winslow
The Death and Life of Bobby Z, Don Winslow
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The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Author: Don Winslow

Narrator: Darrell Lawson

Abridged: 2 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/06/2007

Synopsis

When Tim Kearney draws a license plate across the throat of a Hell's Angel, he's pretty much a dead man. It's his third crime and, according to California law, that gives him "life without the possibility of parole."  Killing a Hell's Angel also makes him a dead man on any prison yard in California. That's when the DEA makes Kearney an offer: impersonate the late, legendary dope smuggler Bobby Z so that the agency can trade him to Don Huertero -- northern Mexico's drug kingpin -- for a captured DEA agent. Tim Kearney bears an uncanny resemblance to Bobby Z, and, with some training, he might be able to pass.

Or not. But, really, what choice does he have?

So, he's off to a compound in the middle of a desert that's been designed by Huertero's number-two man to look like the Arab fort in his favorite movie, Beau Jeste ("The Santa Fe thing had been done to death.") Kearney's surprised when he meets Bobby Z's old flame, Elizabeth, who was never mentioned in his training, and her son, who she claims belongs to him. It's a short vacation by the pool before Kearney's on the run from drug lords, bikers, Indians, and cops ... and the kid's along for the ride. Some of the pursuers want Bobby Z, and some want the considerably less legendary Tim K. Whether he pulls it off, whether he can keep the kid and the girl and his life, makes for a hilarious, fast-paced, and truly touching audio.

About Don Winslow

American author, Don Winslow, has lived in many places around the world, but his favorite place, and now residence, is California. He was born in New York City, and did go back there as well during his young adult years before he became a full time writer. He actually grew up in a quiet town in Rhode Island, and credits his parents with his ambition to become a writer.......his librarian mother, who encouraged reading, and his Navy dad, who loved to tell stories.

In New York City, Winslow was a manager of Times Square theaters, and also a private investigator. He possessed two higher education degrees, one in African Studies and one in Military History. He even led safaris in Kenya and hiking trips in China. With all those varied jobs, the writing began easily for Author Winslow.

He has written: A Cool Breeze on the Underground, The Death and Life of Bobby Z, which was the book that was so successful it allowed him to be a full time writer. It and his book Savages were both adapted for film. His most recent novel, The Force, was licensed to 20th Century Fox and was due to be released in March, James Mangold, Director.

Winslow still lives in California with his wife, Jean. They have a son, Thomas.

Reviews

Goodreads review by James on December 31, 2019

This is another excellent, fast-moving novel from Don Winslow. The protagonist is a lifelong loser named Tim Kearney who is doing a stint in San Quentin when he gets into a beef with a Hells Angel named Stinkdog. Knowing that Stinkdog will be looking to kill him, Kearney, a former Marine, makes a pr......more

Goodreads review by Chris on December 15, 2018

Don Winslow is my guilty pleasure. Sometimes his books are filled with such ridiculousness that you have to turn the part of your brain off that goes, "really?" and just enjoy the ride. This is about a dude that fakes being another dude because he sorta looks like the one dude then he gets set up by......more

Goodreads review by Paul on January 24, 2015

I listened to the audio version of The Death and the Life of Bobby Z mainly just to get a feel for the author before I tackle the considerably heftier The Power of the Dog. This book was of course turned into the film of the same name staring the late Paul Walker, so it’s always interesting to compa......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on September 11, 2018

Read my reviews at [URL not allowed] Don Winslow Vintage Crime/Black Lizard September 12, 2006; Reprint edition August 1, 2012 259 Pages, Hardcover RATING: 5 Stars Tim Kearney, a small-time criminal, slits the throat of a Hell's Angel in prison earning him a life sentence and certain death. When......more

Goodreads review by Lance on January 01, 2014

The Death and Life of Bobby Z is the book that started Don Winslow on his “drugs in Laguna” series, which isn’t actually a series as much as an attitude and state of mind that led eventually to Savages and its prequel. Tim Kearney is a three-time loser who gets fished out of a certain-death trip back......more

Quotes

"Packs the wallop of a semiautomatic weapon."–Newsday“Fast-paced . . . full of explosive action and deliciously evil characters.”–Chicago Tribune"One of the funniest and fastest-moving novels in recent years. The action is relentless, the characters wild." –San Diego Union-Tribune

"The plot unfolds at the speed of sound. . . . As much fun as a barrel of monkeys--all of them armed." –Men's Journal

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