A million miles away from his childhood in Providence, Rhode island this third and final party of the trilogy has Danny Ryan rich beyond his wildest dreams. With a large chunk of the Vegas strip under his belt he's still looking to expand and one deal too many, one grudge never forgotten, its all about to come crashing down.

A fitting ending to a brilliant series, City of Ruins takes the saga full circle. Danny's past was always going to catch up with him and slowly but surely those hidden in the past start crawling out of the woodwork looking to take him down.

Having read the previous two, this one was always going to be on my reading list. Its a great series and this the final instalment doesn't disappoint. Enough backstory is provided that you could probably read City of Ruins as a standalone, but why would you. Start at the beginning, its visual and cinematic, an epic saga I one day hope to see on the big screen.

Danny Ryan is living a life he could never have dreamed of. He is rich and an owner of a hotel on the Strip in Las Vegas, life is great.
But when Danny overreaches and beats a fierce competitor to a hotel that’s for sale, he starts a war. One that brings back everything he left behind from his old life back on the east coast.
With a new enemy and some old ones that have come back to haunt him, Ryan knows he will have to become the person he vowed he’d never be again if he is to keep his family safe and save everything he holds dear.
It probably safe to say no one writes this type of novel better than Don Winslow.
It’s one of those rare stories that is flawless.
Danny Ryan is a brilliant invention and all three books in the series are incredible.
If you are going to read anything this year, read this. It truly is a masterpiece of the highest order.

These whole series of books have been a massive surprise to me, mainly in just how much fun the trilogy actually is. When the publisher was kind enough to let me read the concluding part early, I was genuinely excited.
As I say, the trilogy is simply great, but this end book is almost as good as the first, which is a high accolade indeed. Yes, all the loose ends are tied up and we finally understand the true end to the books, but once again the author writes something so good, that you just have to read that next page and chapter. Packed full of tension, the unexpected and just fantastic characters, I genuinely hope that this book inspires both new readers and new sales, as the author genuinely deserves both to allow him to write new books as good as this one.

City in Ruins brings to a close Don Winslow’s final trilogy. Before City on Fire was published, the author announced that he was retiring at the end of the series. Despite only starting to read his work relatively recently (2017’s The Force), he quickly became a must-read author for me. Broken is one of my favourite short story collections, and I’ve eagerly anticipated every one of his new novels. While this may be his last, I am glad that I still have many from his backlist still to read. Anyway. I enjoyed City in Ruins, and I think fans of Winslow’s work will find plenty to enjoy.

The Danny Ryan trilogy is the epic story of the eponymous character. It started in Rhode Island, as a young Ryan watches the mob war between the Irish and Italian families boil over (City on Fire). After fleeing Rhode Island for California, Ryan gets hooked up first with a shady character in government intelligence, and later into Hollywood (City of Dreams). Now, he has found his feet and fortune in the gambling industry in Las Vegas. It’s an industry and community trying very hard to sever its sordid ties to organized crime — a sword of Damocles that hangs over Danny throughout his rise in the business. (Not to mention the dirty little secret of most of the fortunes made on the Strip).

The novel tells three concurrent stories: Ryan’s in Vegas, Chris Palumbo’s in Middle America and then back in Rhode Island, and also that of a murder trial in Rhode Island. The three threads are connected, but Winslow doesn’t do much to really tie them together — the connections were made in previous books in the series, but the characters’ lives have certainly branched away from each other by the time City in Ruins begins. I did find myself wondering where the author was going to take these, stories when the relevant characters were introduced. It was an interesting approach, and while it did at times feel like the Rhode Island mob stories drew attention away from Danny Ryan’s story, it did ultimately create a sense of continuity and lack of an ending — because, despite the end of a novel, the lives of those involved won’t end. (That’s all a bit vague, for which I apologize, but I want to avoid spoilers.)

I would have preferred more focus on Ryan and what was happening in Nevada, but each story shows off some of Winslow’s authorial gifts. The choice of approach did, however, make each story feel a bit underdeveloped — they could all have been a novel in themselves. Palumbo’s story, for example, had a lot of potential to fill hundreds of pages. The progression of events in Las Vegas ended up feeling a bit rushed, as Ryan’s seemingly idyllic life and success quickly started falling apart, as various forces assemble to destroy his career and life. Allies new and old come to his aid, as his enemies bring together a variety of antagonists with their own agendas and reasons for wanting to take Danny down. Rather than a smooth plot progression, there were a few events that seemed to lurch forward. Sure, life isn’t a smooth progression of events, but two of these storylines took leaps forward that felt a little bit like the author was keen to get to the end of the story — even if, as I’ve mentioned, the ending isn’t really an ending.

Despite this being a trilogy, it nevertheless didn’t feel as substantially built as the stand-alone novel The Force. Perhaps I’m just being greedy, wanting more of Winslow’s writing, knowing that this is his final book. But, I do think there was space to flesh out the story more, and would certainly have welcomed spending more time with the characters and their worlds. This trilogy has certainly had a cinematic feel to it, both good and bad, as it’s been gripping and fast-paced, but taking advantage of what the novel as a medium can offer authors — time and space to explore the characters more, for examples. As a result, I was sadly left with the feeling that City in Ruins is a good final novel, but not the author’s best work.

Winslow’s characters are well-drawn, and presented in excellent and tightly-written prose. I read the novel in three sittings — two of which took me well into the wee hours of the morning. (I haven’t had much time to read, recently, so my evenings are really the only time I get to settle down with a book. Which, in this case, led to me staying up way too late…) For those who are already fans of Winslow’s work, you won’t need any convincing to pick up this novel. For newcomers, I think this is a very good trilogy to start with — after finishing Danny Ryan’s story, you’ll have so much more to read, and I definitely recommend the author’s stand-alone novels and Power of the Dog trilogy.

So Don Winslow closes the curtain on both Danny Ryan and his career with the fitting, explosive, brutal and brilliant City In Ruins.

There is not much that can said about this stellar mega star of writing that’s not already been said. But as ever the hype is backed up with a story and trilogy that genuinely deserves the title epic.

With his own superlative writing style, Winslow builds the suspense, the intrigue, the threat throughout the first 200 pages before truly unleashing his full gamut of story telling power as he bring Danny Ryan’s tale to an incredible close.

Undoubtedly one of the finest books of the year, and one of the finest crime trilogy’s on paper.

Don Winslow's writing career comes to a close as he retires with his gritty final addition to his explosive epic crime saga with his Danny Ryan trilogy. Ryan, the ex Rhode Island docker, a low level member of the Irish mob, who lost his wife, is fiercely determined to protect his son, as we are provided with a much appreciated brief recap of the previous books. In its echoes of Greek tragedies, Helen of Troy, the Trojan War and its repercussions, this is a dark and bleak concluding narrative where the past Ryan thought long forgotten refuses to remain buried, as we encounter both familiar and new characters. As might be forseen, there is brutality, conflict, and violence as all that Ryan holds dear comes under threat.

Danny Ryan is now rich beyond imagination, he has turned his life around, a reputation as a respected businessman and casino mogul, part of an enterprise, a silent partner, which owns hotels. However, for him it is not enough, he wants more, but as he reaches too far, this brings a host of powerful and ruthless operators, old and new, including a FBI agent seeking revenge, intent on destroying him and taking all that he owns. To protect himself and his son, Ryan has no choice but to do anything necessary, forced to draw on his past, to be the ruthless man he never wanted to be again. This is a emotional roller coaster of a read, taking in ambition, love, feuds, revenge, hatred, humanity, power, corruption, psychopaths, misery and more.

This is an utterly compulsive and intense concluding entry in Winslow's complicated and memorable trilogy that ends on a career high for the author, soaked with vibrant drama, with its skilful character developments that can surprise and intrigue, a dirty past that Ryan can never quite be free of, and with a epilogue that informs and charts Ryan's son, his life and future. This is a fitting final piece that I have no doubt many readers will love, a beautifully written must read crime trilogy that I recommend highly to all readers. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

City in Ruins is the last book by Don Winslow as he is retiring from being an author and if that holds then this is an excellent way to go out.

The book is the third one in the Danny Ryan series and is another excellent read from a great author.

Highly recommended.

All good things have to come to an end and if this really is the end of Dan Winslow's book writing career then he has gone out on a suitable high.

The saga of Danny Ryan, mobster turned businessman comes to a suitable end and one that has you nod g in satisfaction if perhaps even shedding the odd tear.

The story is brilliantly told and all loose ends are suitably dealt with. The writing style is elegant and yet the story zips along at pace and the characters are all well developed and credible and never cardboard cut outs.

The tension and excitement builds until an end befitting of such a wonderful series.

Thank you Don Winslow for such an amazing series and indeed a panoply of brilliant titles over the course of your august career.

City in Ruins is the final book in Don Winslow's powerful Danny Ryan trilogy and I finished it in 2 minds. Firstly it didn't disappoint and is an exciting and satisfactory end to a great series, Secondly,and sadly,this is Winslow's last book........but what a note to end on.

After his escapades in Hollywood Ryan retires his old crew,leaves his old life behind him and heads to Las Vegas. With his old life behind him Danny finds success in the hotel business and becomes very rich,and popular. When he overreaches and makes an enemy of a former friend things start to go wrong,not least when the past he thought he'd left behind comes back to bite him with a vengeance. Danny Ryan only knows one way to respond to a threat.

It's pretty much essential to have read the previous 2 books to get the most out of this one, the whole is quite a complicated saga. This episode sees Ryan in his more mellow middle years and while there are rumblings of the past it seems most of the old characters have settled into much quieter lives......but of course this is Don Winslow and when things start to happen they happen quickly then really kick off.

This is a fitting end to Don Winslow's career as a writer and a hell of a finale. I don't know why he's decided to stop writing but thanks Don for the years of entertainment.

A brilliant climax to an excellent trilogy. The final part of the City Trilogy, doesn’t disappoint. Each turn of the page, increases the sense of dread with what is unfolding in this expertly written conclusion of the Danny Ryan story. If this is indeed Mr Winslow’s final book, what a way to bow out.