Surfing With "Savages" Writer Don Winslow

ONE of my liveliest conversations with an author came the day a few years ago when I met with the crime-fiction writer Don Winslow. We met in Laguna Beach to talk about what was then his crisp new novel, The Dawn Patrol, which includes a posse of surfers.

Winslow struck me right away as a great storyteller -- he talked about growing up in a Navy family where well-told tales were taken very seriously -- and that gift is paying off these days. His book Savages, set amid the U.S. and Mexico drug trade, has just opened in a film adaptation directed by Oliver Stone. (A prequel to the novel Savages hit bookstores last month, by the way.)

Here is my profile of Winslow.