• The Force

  • A Novel
  • By: Don Winslow
  • Narrated by: Dion Graham
  • Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (7,139 ratings)

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The Force  By  cover art

The Force

By: Don Winslow
Narrated by: Dion Graham
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Publisher's summary

From the acclaimed, award-winning, bestselling author of The Cartel—voted one of the best books of the year by more than sixty publications, including the New York Times—comes a cinematic epic as explosive, powerful, and unforgettable as Mystic River and The Wire.

The Force is mesmerizing, a triumph. Think The Godfather, only with cops. It’s that good.” — Stephen King

All Denny Malone wants is to be a good cop.

He’s the king of Manhattan North, a highly decorated NYPD detective sergeant and the real leader of “Da Force.” Malone and his crew are the smartest, the toughest, the quickest, the bravest, and the baddest, an elite unit given unrestricted authority to wage war on gangs, drugs, and guns. Every day and every night for the eighteen years he’s spent on the Job, Malone has served on the front lines, witnessing the hurt, the dead, the victims, the perps. He’s done whatever it takes to serve and protect in a city built by ambition and corruption, where no one is clean—including Malone himself.

What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all.

The Force is a haunting story of greed and violence, inequality and race, crime and injustice, retribution and redemption that reveals the seemingly insurmountable tensions between the police and the diverse citizens they serve. A searing portrait of a city and a courageous, heroic, and deeply flawed man who stands at the edge of its abyss, it is a masterpiece of urban realism full of shocking twists, leavened by flashes of dark humor, a morally complex and utterly riveting dissection of modern American society and the controversial issues confronting us today.

©2017 Don Winslow (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Dion Graham sounds like a native of any of the neighborhoods that make up the Manhattan North police special operations area. He does white, black, and Latino cops and Staten Island, Harlem, and Bronx accents - all so smoothly you never notice the transitions but also never lose track of the character he's voicing. The nonstop drama and violence are perfectly choreographed through his impeccable timing. It's hard, it's violent, it's dirty, but you won't put it down." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about The Force

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Fire THIS Time

This would have probaly just been another very good cop thriller without Don Winslow's race nuance (sometimes clunky, sometimes heavy-handed) and the novel's final act. Overall, 'The Force' is not as good as his Cartel series (The Power of the Dog, The Cartel), but in my opinion better than Savages. I'll detail this a bit later, but Winslow doesn't pull many punches when dealing with drug dealers, dirty cops, dirty politicos, etc. He really does get some major props from jumping right into the Black Lives Matter, Blue-on-Black dynamics. The novel's characters are arranged in such a way that the issues of Ferguson, NYC, Baltimore, LA, etc., are inescapable from the novel's narrative. You can't really tell a story about NYC cops and corruption and NOT step into issues of race. Winslow doesn't flinch.

He is also a helluva story teller and a decent, nice guy. I met him a couple weeks ago at a lecture and book signing and his reputation for being kind to his fans was evident. The publicity grind (books signings, lecturs, readings, etc) that all writers do more or less appears to be mostly grind, but Winslow was cheerful, funny, kind, patient, and carries a natural gift for engaging people and a real curiosity about humanity. In his work it is obvious that he is seeking first a good story, but he is also very interested in people. He doesn't give a shit if it cop or criminal, he likes finding the bends, the cracks, and the dark corners.

I did get to ask him a questions: "Which contemporary writers intimidate you? Make you feel like hanging it up? Question why you even write because they are THAT good?"

Winslow's answer:

1. Dennis Lehane
2. Richard Russo
3. Jim Harrison, RIP

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154 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best Thriller of 2017, so far

If you could sum up The Force in three words, what would they be?

New York Blue

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Force?

There were a lot! No spoilers.

What about Dion Graham’s performance did you like?

Amazing performance, more below

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

All Denny Malone ever wanted to be was a good cop

Any additional comments?

Bestselling and award winning author Don Winslow is without a doubt one of the best thriller writers out there. I listened to many of his books, including The Cartel, The Power of the Dog, California Fire and Life, Savages and The Dawn Patrol. I am always blown away by the way he writes, by the characters and by the awesome stories he tells… When I found out that he will release a new book, called The Force, this June, I pressed the Pre Order button on Audible with no hesitation, because I knew it will be another great narrative experience.

Well, I finished The Force yesterday and took a day to think about it, to let it settle, to see if my enthusiasm will ebb away, but no, I am as hyped now as I was when the last words in The Force left me hurting and wanting more… More of Don Winslow, more of Dian Graham, more Denny Malone and more of that dark, beautiful New York.

The Force opens with our main character, NYPD detective sergeant Denny Malone in federal custody, tagged as a dirty cop, a disgrace to his fellow officers and most of all to himself. How could a highly decorated, policeman go that low? What happened to his oath, to his principles, to his life?

All that Denny Malone ever wanted was to be a good cop, but now he has to find a way to redeem his sins, to make something good after all the bad he did in his 16 years on the job. He was part of The Force, the most renowned and celebrated task force in the NYPD! Denny and his team were like brothers, more than family, they were heroes, they were kings among men, and they are all in big trouble now.

All that I’ve written above you’ll find out in the first couple of minutes with The Force and I felt it necessary to put it in here, in order to give you an idea of what this book is about and how it starts. From this point on we will take a trip down memory lane, we get to know Denny, exactly the way he is. With his problems, with his thoughts and with his good heart!

Like I did with The Sopranos and with The Godfather, I find myself rooting for Denny, although he was not a role model in any way. I mentioned one excellent movie and one amazing tv series above, those are cult classics now, but I think that The Force has tremendous chance to become a fantastic mini series if it’s picked up by HBO, Netflix or other big company! They have their work cut out for them, the story is thrilling, unpredictable and just when you think that it’s over it kicks you in the face with a steel towed cop boot!

The characters feel real, lifelike in their humanity, in their faults and flaws. This is a dark book, the sad story of a good cop doing bad things, the story of a corrupt New York administration… There are drugs, addicts, weapons, parties, hilariously funny jokes, deeply dramatic stories, call girls, crimes, executions, chases, gun fights filled by adrenaline, bribes, tap wires, indictments, cops, feds, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, bangers, mobsters, riots brought on by agony and hope!

Dion Graham, a talented actor from The Wire, Law and Order and Madame Secretary delivers a stunning, spellbinding performance bringing the city of New York and his citizens to life in the audiobook version of The Force. Dion switches with ease between voices and accents, from whitemale, to afro American female and to little latino kids. He takes us from New Jersey to Harlem and to the Bronx. He is a whirlwind as he reads, he acts, he lives The Force with his entire being! He does cops, wise guys, drug dealers, ”brothers”, latinos, snitches and flirty ladies, delighting the listener with such a huge variety and creating complete immersion from the first word to the last!

This was my first experience with Dion Graham as a narrator, but he became an instant favorite and I’ll look for more audiobooks performed by him. For The Force he is the perfect choice and I had an amazing time listening!

The Force is, for me at least, the best book of 2017 and I’m sure that although there are a lot of new releases left, I’ll be hard pressed to find a better one in the upcoming months! If you like Don Winslow, you’ll love what he did with The Force! I really hope it will be made into some great movie!

Please Vote Yes below if you liked this review and find others here and on theAudiobookBlog dot com.

Thank you,
Victor


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104 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Winslow continus to amaze

This is my 6th or 7th Winslow book, and is possibly one of his best. While shorter than his other works, it's captivating, fast paced and sprinkled with enough nonfiction to make it hard to turn off.

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66 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Bad Cops, Bad Guys, Bad Politicians

I am a huge fan of Winslow and Stephen King who raved about this novel. It is a gripping story to be sure. However, it is sorely lacking one of the most important features I look for in novels, likable characters.

Sgt Dennis Malone is an incredibly selfish and self rghteous man. He is a bad husband, father, friend and a very crooked cop. He and his squad choose to put themselves above the law, justifying their crimes because they think they are administering street justice. I reality they are undermining the entire criminal justice system.

The Force reminds me of House of Cards on Netflix. It is a twisted, evil tale of corruption, populated with unforgettable characters of no redeemable value to society. And it is full of intentionally sloppy and lazy police work as well.

So, yes, the book kept me up late finishing it. No, I did not enjoy the experience.

I certainly understand why so many love rhis production. It is fast paced, violent and extremely well narrated.

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56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Force: not for the squeamish

Would you listen to The Force again? Why?

The story was great and the narrator was perfect, but I don't listen to audiobooks more than once.

What other book might you compare The Force to and why?

I don't read a lot of crime novels, though that may change now. I will check out some of Winslow's other work.

What about Dion Graham’s performance did you like?

I don't think they could have found a more perfect narrator for this book. Graham's voice is gritty and fits the bleak Harlem, NY setting.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was too long for that, but I continued to want to turn it back on when I wasn't listening. I got through the book in about 3 days, which is fairly quick for me on a book this long.

Any additional comments?

If you like crime novels at all, listen to this recording. Even if you don't, listen to this recording. It's a very good book, no matter the genre you prefer. It's well-written and the narration is fantastic. This audiobook comes highly recommended from this reviewer. 5 stars all the way across.

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53 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gritty, realistic and a compelling listen

Another tour de force by Don Winslow! A crackling good story and well narrated! The story pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Made it hard to leave the car and go to the office. I'm looking forward to his next novel. I hope Audible will be able to get some of his earlier works back in the lineup.

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Better on the second listen

I originally wrote a one star review but have listened again and am editing the review as a result. There are at least two ways of interpreting the use of the word "force" in the title. One is the police force of which protagonist Denny Malone is a member. Another is the corrupting force of power. THE FORCE is a brutal and gritty novel that is totally devoid of consistent heroes. Indeed, every character in the novel, federal, state and local, with government power routinely abuses that power to his or her personal benefit and to the determent of the citizenry they are supposed to serve. Each and every significant character is a parasite on the citizenry; most started out with the same pure intentions of NYC police detective Denny Malone and all went the way of Denny Malone but not as spectacularly. Is the novel realistic or merely cynical?

The language used in The Force is frequently raw, crude and racist. It is likely best that the narrator is black. Dion Graham is a superb narrator and is one of my favorites. On occasion in The Force he over acts the narration, but overall performs superbly.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

If you liked The Shield ...

Simply put, a day (or month) in the life of a crooked cop who wanted to do the right thing. If Dark Blue, Training Day and the Shield sous you, you'll enjoy this.

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30 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

complex and exhilarating

I loved this book and the reading of it. Graham perfectly captured the feel and grittiness of New York City. Ranks among Don Winslow's best. not for the faint of heart, though less graphic than his last book, The Cartel.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Climb in; Buckle Up; and Hold on!


Hero Cop. Son of a hero cop. Brother to a fallen 9-11 fireman hero. The last man anyone would ever expect to find in the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Big bad Danny Malone sits in jail wondering, “How do you cross the line?” Sure, it happens .... cops go bad, but not the leader of the most elite Manhattan North Special Task Force. How did he become the antithesis of what he set out to become, what he was destined by blood to become.

"…he started out with his eyes firmly on the guiding star, his feet planted on the path, but that’s the thing about the life you walk—you start out pointed true North, but you vary one degree off, it doesn’t matter for maybe one year, five years, but as the years stack up you’re just walking farther and farther away from where you started out to go, you don’t even know you’re lost until you’re so far from your original destination you can’t even see it anymore."

Step by step...

Winslow is at the top of his game right here, giving readers the kind of novels that not only reflect the true naked pulse of our country in regards to the losing battle against drugs, corruption, and poverty, but sometimes even foreshadow the very path we are heading down. Armed with a firsthand witness of things that go on in the darkest places, Winslow seems to be almost prescient with his writing. While our government was wondering how the drug cartels spread their tentacles through our country like veins and arteries, Winslow was telling us they were here, how they got here, and that they were without ethics. With The Force, is Winslow possibly giving us the same kind of insight into another problem that also seems epidemic in our current culture? It is the kind of question that seems to follow his novels, echoing after the impact of the events.

Only a handful of writers has been able to capture the grit and authenticity of the underworld of corruption, drugs, and money: Peter Maas [Serpico, The Valachi Papers], Joseph Wambaugh, James Ellroy, to name a few. I don't know any author that has the street cred to write so assuredly, and so well; a study that took him to the streets and back alleys of the drug cartel wars doing research for his books The Power of the Dog, and The Cartel. Winslow has rubbed elbows with the men behind both sides. He has had the rare glimpse at both sides of the conflicts and understands the live-or-die realities that before now, have been seen through the kind filter of fiction and the lens of black or white justice. It's not only fans that know Winslow's work is more than first class fiction; he is admired for his in-the-trenches research and knowledgeable opinions. He's not blowing smoke anywhere.

The Force is itself a force. A ride along that puts the reader in the passenger seat on a trip that exposes the dirty underbelly of a city that runs on the unspoken policy of "you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours" with a cop that, as journalist Jim Ruland of the LA Times put it, is "dirtier than the water in a Nathan's hot dog cart." (Easy for him to say -- he probably prefers the west coast's Pink's dogs.) Denny Malone and his force (Da Force) are the kings of the street, handing down their own justice in a system where everything is corrupt. But when Da Force commits a murder and walks out with a couple million dollars in cash and 70 kilos of Mexican cinnamon heroin -- that's where he crossed the line.

If you can't take the heat, or in this case, the continuous banter of police procedurals and smack talk dotted with language that might melt your ears -- forget this! The accompanying soundtrack is NWA. The criminal clichés, the racial epithets....Yeah, plenty of them. Da Force is Danny, the arrogant and idealistic Irishman, Montague is the impeccably dressed black member, Levin the Jew...Winslow covers the spectrum with a *heave-ho up yours* to political correctness. Not meat for the gentle reader.

The book reminded me of Tiller Russell's documentary, *The Seven Five* that documented Michael Dowd and one of the largest police corruption scandals in New York City history in the 1980's. That was what could be put on film, the "reel deal" -- The Force is being there, it feels like the "real deal" in 2017. If you got any closer to the action, you'd probably be in prison!

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