City of Dreams

The second installment in Don Winslow's trilogy that began with City on Fire, this novel follows Danny Ryan, a former Irish mob figure from Providence, Rhode Island, as he flees the aftermath of a lost gang war and attempts to build a new life in the American West.

The novel opens in April 1991 in the Anza-Borrego Desert, where Danny kneels in the sand at dawn with a gun to his head. His companions are bound to poles, gasoline soaking the air, and a voice tells him he will watch them burn before dying himself. Danny reflects that he should have killed the people he robbed, but executing helpless people goes against his nature. The narrative rewinds to December 1988.

Danny and his crew leave Providence just hours after his wife, Terri, died of cancer. He carries their eighteen-month-old son, Ian, accompanied by his father, Marty Ryan; his lifelong friend Jimmy Mac; Marty's bodyguard, Ned Egan; and the "Altar Boys," Sean South and Kevin Coombs, two volatile enforcers. The crew lost a mob war against the Moretti crime family, and Danny killed a corrupt FBI agent named Phil Jardine just before fleeing. He also dumped ten kilos of heroin into the ocean rather than profit from drugs, ordering the group to scatter and stay in contact through Bernie Hughes, the organization's accountant.

In Providence, Peter Moretti, the Italian boss who won the war, faces a financial crisis. His top adviser, Chris Palumbo, had engineered a scheme with Jardine: The Morettis would buy forty kilos of heroin from the Abbarca cartel in Mexico using mob investors' money, let the Irish hijack the shipment, then bust them so the drugs returned to the Morettis. The plan collapsed when Jardine was killed, Chris vanished, and Danny fled with the heroin Peter needs to repay his investors. Peter's personal life also deteriorates. His sixteen-year-old daughter, Gina, has depression and engages in self-harm, and after Peter refuses treatment for her, Gina kills herself.

The crew reaches San Diego, where Danny settles under the alias John Doyle, bartending while raising Ian. He learns that FBI subdirector Reggie Moneta, who had been romantically involved with Jardine, is pushing to charge Danny under a statute carrying the death penalty. Marty's worsening dementia forces Danny to place him in a care facility under his real name, creating a dangerous trail.

DEA agent Brent Harris locates Danny through that facility. After the New England FBI chief privately reveals that Jardine was dirty, Harris resolves to find Danny before Moneta can destroy him. Working through Danny's mother, Madeleine McKay, a former Las Vegas showgirl who became a powerful figure with extensive political connections, Harris presents Danny with a proposition: Rob an Abbarca cartel stash house in the desert where tens of millions in drug cash are stored. Danny keeps half; an unnamed government agency gets the rest to fund covert operations. In exchange, all federal charges against Danny and his crew are dropped. Danny refuses until Harris threatens to prosecute everyone in his circle, then agrees on the condition that all his people receive protection.

The robbery nets forty-three million dollars. Inside the stash house, Danny finds Frankie Vecchio, an associate Chris Palumbo had abandoned as collateral for a drug deal. Despite his crew's insistence that Frankie be killed because he can identify them, Danny refuses and releases him. Danny splits the money with Harris and has Bernie launder the crew's share.

In Providence, Peter's downfall accelerates. After a DUI arrest, he begins attending AA meetings, where he meets Cassandra Murphy, Danny's sister-in-law, who is in recovery from heroin addiction. Peter opens up about Gina's death, and Cassie finds comfort with someone who understands grief. They begin a secret affair. Peter's new top adviser, Vinnie Calfo, meanwhile begins sleeping with Peter's wife, Celia, and plots a coup. Vinnie murders both Peter and Cassie, then takes power.

Danny narrowly survives an ambush outside Marty's care facility, where Peter had stationed a hitman before his death. Harris tells him that Popeye Abbarca, the leader of the Abbarca cartel, has been killed by Mexican federal police, apparently ending the cartel threat. Danny negotiates a ceasefire with Vinnie through Pasco Ferri, the retired boss of the New England mob, and signals his crew to regroup.

The Altar Boys infiltrate a Hollywood film called Providence, based on the Murphy-Moretti war, muscling their way onto the set as paid consultants and stalling production with escalating demands. Through Madeleine's connections, Danny meets with studio head Susan Holdt and proposes investing millions in the over-budget film in exchange for a percentage of profits and financial oversight. On set, he meets lead actress Diane Carson, and they are immediately drawn to each other.

Danny and Diane begin a romance that quickly goes public. For the first time in his life, Danny embraces the spotlight. Multiple forces converge against him: Moneta, blocked from prosecuting Danny by intelligence officials who brokered the stash house deal, leaks stories to tabloids branding Danny a drug dealer and cop killer; Pasco sends an emissary warning that the major mob families want Danny out of Hollywood; and Angelo Petrelli, boss of the weakened L.A. mob family, hires an assassin whom Danny's crew neutralizes.

Diane then reveals a devastating secret: Her incarcerated brother, Jarrod, who murdered her first husband, did so out of jealousy over an incestuous relationship he forced on Diane beginning when she was twelve. Jarrod now threatens to expose their history. Facing converging threats, Danny makes a deal with the mob: He will leave Los Angeles, the film business, and Diane. In return, Jarrod is killed in prison. Danny breaks up with Diane without explanation; she assumes the rejection stems from her confession. Overwhelmed by grief, Diane drinks vodka and takes Valium. Her friend Ana finds her the next morning, dead.

Danny gathers his crew for a final time. Jimmy and Bernie opt to stay in San Diego; the Altar Boys and Ned will follow Danny to Las Vegas. Driving alone through the Anza-Borrego Desert, Danny picks up a hitchhiker named Cybil, who takes him to a remote commune. Cybil gives him hallucinogenic mushrooms, and during an intense hallucination, Danny sees visions of the dead, including Marty, who tells him to stop wallowing and care for his son. Danny emerges to discover that Popeye Abbarca, reported dead, is alive and has tracked him here. The commune residents are bound and soaked in gasoline. Popeye orders them burned, but his lieutenant Neto Valdez suddenly douses Popeye with gasoline and sets him on fire, telling Danny, "You could have killed me, you didn't. Let's call it even." Danny is released.

In a parallel subplot, Peter Moretti Jr., a decorated Marine returning from the Gulf War, learns from his sister Heather Moretti that Vinnie murdered their father with Celia's complicity. After his godfather Pasco confirms the truth, Peter Jr. kills both Vinnie and Celia, only to find himself abandoned by everyone, a fugitive hitchhiking alone.

The novel ends as it began, with Danny in the desert at dawn: "The dream fades. / The long night is over. / The day is breaking."