CITY IN RUINS: DON WINSLOW’S FINAL EPIC TALE
“Tis my desert, forgive me, oh gods!” -Dido of Carthage
City of Ruins is the third book in Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy, which tells the story of modern crime in terms of the classics, in this case the Aeneid, with Danny as Aeneas. It began with City On Fire, where Winslow starts with the Aeneid’s second book, its version of the Iliad. Albeit set in Providence, that once-shining capital of a god-given land in the New World.
In Rhode Island the Irish are the Trojans and the Italians are the Greeks, but the long-time truce between the Italian and Irish crime families in Providence is shattered when a beautiful woman is seduced away from one side and full-scale warfare ensues. As with the Trojan War, this one crushes both sides. Danny Ryan isn’t a big shot, but his father once was; Danny has married into the family of the man who took his father’s place. Danny’s mother was a showgirl his dad met in Vegas, the marriage didn’t last long; she left Danny and his father, and built herself into a power in Nevada. But Danny rises to the destructive occasion, and is forced to flee and look for a new home, in part because the feds, as well as other mobsters, may be after him. Danny’s wife dies, but he finally manages to escape the ruins, with his father, who is a has-been and a drunk, his young son, and the heart of his crew, seeking somewhere safer.
