The Power of the Dog is a 2005 crime/thriller novel by American writer Don Winslow, based on the DEA's involvement with the War on Drugs. The book was published after six years of writing and research by the author.
Plot summary
Winslow's novel describes three decades of the United States war on drugs by following several main characters: The DEA agent Art Keller; Adán Barrera, who controls large parts of the drug trade from Mexico to the United States of America; the prostitute Nora Hayden; and Sean Callan, a gangster from the streets of New York. Keller becomes obsessed with the Barrera family after they tortured and killed a DEA agent in Mexico. Trying to avenge his colleague, Keller discovers massive involvement of the US and the Mexican government in drug trade operations. The CIA prevents him from taking revenge on the drug cartels to combat left-wing activists in Latin America. Winslow shows the brutality of the war of drugs with very graphic scenes involving torture and massacres. He also explains with many details how the drug trade worked and how the different organisations collaborated to achieve their respective goals, from the Mexican drug cartels to the Vatican.
Characters
Arthur "Art" "Arturo" Keller: DEA agent, participant in the Operation Condor, obsessed with hunting down the Barreras, and other people responsible for killing his friend. Husband of Althea, father of her children.
Güero Méndez: Drug trafficker, first an ally, then an enemy of the Barrera family. Husband of Pilar and father of her children. Based on Héctor "Güero" Palma Salazar.
Allusions to actual history, geography and current science
The Power of the Dog starts in 1975 and follows the DEA's War on Drugs and various aspects of Operation Condor, with CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking being central to the book's plot. It includes the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and its far reaching consequences for Mexico into the plot, and portrays the Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio's murder in Tijuana on March 23, 1994. Aspects and some of the resolutions of the Cristero War are also mentioned.
Film adaptation
In 2015 20th Century Fox paid $6 million for the film rights to both The Power of the Dog and its sequel, The Cartel, with Ridley Scott producing.
Sequel
In 2015 the first sequel The Cartel, was published. It follows Keller from 2004 to 2014 as he continues to track down Barrera after he escapes from prison. In 2019, the second sequel The Border was published. It follows Keller as head of the DEA in the aftermath of Barrera's death.
