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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
Extreme graphic violence throughout — cartel atrocities, mass murders, torture, and the drug war's human cost depicted with unflinching detail
Language
A lot
Strong language throughout in Winslow's crime thriller register
Sexual Content
Some
Adult content in the cartel world
Substance Use
A lot
The drug trade is the novel's entire subject; narcotics throughout
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychological weight of bearing witness to extreme violence over a decade — and the question of what it does to Keller — gives the novel its moral and emotional depth beneath the brutality
What this book is about
The second Power of the Dog novel follows Art Keller through the cartel wars of the 2000s and early 2010s — the rise of the Zetas, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the violence that made Mexico one of the most dangerous places on earth. Winslow writes with a journalist's precision and a novelist's ambition; the cartel atrocities are depicted with extreme graphic detail. One of the most important American crime novels of the decade — and one of the most violent. For adult readers only.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Extreme graphic violence throughout
Cartel atrocities depicted in detail
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