Don Winslow didn't just write another mob book. When he released the City on Fire book back in 2022, he was basically trying to do the impossible: take the ancient bones of the Iliad and the Aeneid and bury them under the blood-soaked pavement of 1980s Rhode Island. It worked.
Most crime fiction feels like it’s written on a treadmill. Same beats. Same tired tropes. But this story? It’s massive. It’s the kind of book that makes you realize how small most modern thrillers actually are. Winslow spent decades thinking about this narrative, and you can feel that weight on every single page.
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What People Get Wrong About the City on Fire Book
A lot of readers go into this thinking it’s just a "New England version of The Godfather." That’s a mistake. While it definitely deals with the Irish and Italian mobs in Providence, the City on Fire book is actually a retelling of the Trojan War.
Basically, Winslow looked at Homer's epics and realized that the petty jealousies, the "face that launched a thousand ships," and the brutal betrayals of the Bronze Age perfectly mapped onto the organized crime scene of the 80s.
Danny Ryan is our Achilles, or maybe our Aeneas, depending on how you view his trajectory through the sequels. He’s a guy who just wants a quiet life. He’s a dockworker, a husband, a bit player in a massive criminal machine. Then, a modern-day Helen of Troy appears—a woman named Pam—and a single moment of lust between rival factions sparks a war that burns everything down. It’s not just about business. It’s about pride. It’s about how men would rather see their cities turn to ash than lose face.
The Providence Setting is a Character Itself
Providence, Rhode Island, isn’t exactly Las Vegas or New York. It’s grittier. It feels lived-in. In the City on Fire book, Winslow treats the Dogtown neighborhood like a pressure cooker.
You have the Irish (the Murphy crew) and the Italians (the Moretti family). For years, they’ve had a "gentleman’s agreement." They share the spoils. They stay on their own sides of the line. But the peace is fragile. It’s held together by old men who remember the cost of war. The problem starts when the younger generation—the hotheads who haven't bled yet—decide they want more.
Winslow’s prose is lean. Some chapters are barely a page long. Others stretch out, letting the tension simmer until you’re practically sweating. He uses these short, punchy sentences that feel like a heartbeat. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Then, he’ll drop a paragraph that’s as lush and descriptive as a classic poem. It’s a weird contrast, but it works.
Why the Characters Stick With You
Danny Ryan isn’t a superhero. He’s actually kinda tired most of the time. He’s stuck in a marriage with a woman who’s dying of cancer, and his father-in-law is a drunk who used to run the show but now just mumbles into his whiskey.
That’s the brilliance of the City on Fire book. It grounds these epic, mythological archetypes in very human misery.
- Danny Ryan: The reluctant hero. He doesn't want the crown, but he's the only one smart enough to wear it.
- Pat Murphy: The aging patriarch losing his grip.
- The Morettis: Representing the rising tide of a more organized, more ruthless style of crime.
When the war starts, it isn't cinematic. It’s messy. People die for stupid reasons. The "Helen" of the story, Pam, isn't some passive prize—she’s a woman caught in a world of violent men, trying to navigate her own survival. Honestly, the way Winslow handles the female characters in this book is a massive step up from the typical "mob wife" caricatures we see in the genre. They have agency, even if that agency is limited by the brutal reality they live in.
Breaking Down the "Homeric" Connection
If you never read the Iliad in high school, don't worry. You don't need a degree in Classics to enjoy the City on Fire book. But if you do know the stories, the Easter eggs are everywhere.
The inciting incident—a guy taking a girl from a rival faction at a beach party—is a direct mirror of Paris whisking Helen away to Troy. The subsequent siege of the Irish stronghold mirrors the Greeks camping outside the Trojan walls. There’s even a "Trojan Horse" moment later in the trilogy that is absolutely brilliant in its modern execution.
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Winslow has stated in multiple interviews, including conversations with the New York Times, that he spent years studying these ancient texts. He wanted to see if the themes of honor, fate, and tragic flaws were universal. Spoiler alert: they are.
The tragedy of Danny Ryan is that he is a "good" man in a "bad" world. But the deeper you get into the book, the more you realize that "good" is a relative term. To survive, he has to become the very thing he hates. It’s a slow erosion of the soul.
The Practical Impact of Winslow’s Style
You’ll notice something when you read the City on Fire book: there are no wasted words. Winslow writes like he’s paying for every syllable.
This creates a sense of momentum that most 400-page novels lack. You can burn through this book in a weekend, but the imagery sticks. The cold Atlantic wind, the smell of cheap cigars, the sound of a Cadillac engine—it’s visceral.
He also avoids the "tough guy" cliches. There’s no "important to note" or "furthermore" here. It’s just the story. Pure. Raw.
Comparing City on Fire to The Power of the Dog
If you’re a Winslow fan, you probably came here from his Cartel trilogy. Those books were sprawling, international, and deeply political.
The City on Fire book is different. It’s more intimate. While The Power of the Dog was about the "War on Drugs" and the failures of American policy, this trilogy is about the failures of the human heart. It’s about family. It’s about what happens when the people you love are the ones who lead you to your doom.
Some critics argued that moving from the high stakes of the Mexican border to the streets of Providence was a step down. I disagree. By narrowing the focus, Winslow actually upped the emotional stakes. In the Cartel books, characters were often cogs in a machine. In City on Fire, every death feels personal. Every betrayal stings.
What to Do After Reading the City on Fire Book
Once you finish that last page—and believe me, it’s a cliffhanger that will leave you reeling—you need to have a plan. This isn't a standalone story. It's the beginning of a journey that spans decades and continents.
- Grab "City of Dreams" immediately. This is the second book in the trilogy. It follows Danny as he flees New England for California. It shifts the vibe from a "war movie" to a "noir film," focusing on Hollywood and the illusions of the American Dream.
- Finish with "City in Ruins." This is the final chapter. It brings the story into the 90s and early 2000s, dealing with Las Vegas and the final reckoning for Danny Ryan. It’s also Winslow’s final novel before his retirement from writing to focus on political activism.
- Map the Myth. If you're a nerd for literature, keep a copy of the Iliad nearby. Seeing how Winslow adapts specific battles and character arcs is a masterclass in adaptation.
- Watch for the Movie. Sony 3000 Pictures picked up the rights with Austin Butler set to play Danny Ryan. Reading the book now gives you the "I read it before it was cool" bragging rights.
The City on Fire book is a rare bird in the publishing world. It’s a commercial page-turner that actually has something to say about the human condition. It reminds us that while the weapons change—from bronze spears to Glock 17s—the reasons we fight remain the exact same. We fight for love, we fight for pride, and we fight because we don't know how to stop.
If you want to understand the modern crime landscape, you start here. You start with Danny Ryan on that beach, watching the world begin to burn, and you don't look away until the final ember dies out.