Among this summer’s wave of surf books, crime novelist Don Winslow’s new thriller, The Dawn Patrol, careens along the San Diego coast and attracts fans all over.

The story revolves around five friends — among them an ex-cop-turned-private-eye — who meet at sunrise each morning to take the early waves as the Dawn Patrol. “With short chapters, comic characters, hairpin plot turns and snappy dialogue, the novel can feel lighter than air,” writes Scott Timberg in the Los Angeles Times. “But it includes a considerable amount of violence, a heartbreaking subplot and its share of sleazy characters.”

In the North County Times, Becky Freeman says, “Winslow’s latest plotline begins in Pacific Beach, making stops in Ocean Beach, La Jolla, Mira Mesa and Oceanside. Winslow’s narrative slows a bit to introduce each new location, giving the novel a solid foundation, built on reality. With each stop, the plot builds, like the promise of a swell in the Pacific, as well as the promise of solving a crime that is bigger than the main character —- private investigator Boone Daniels —- can imagine.”

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Eddie Muller enthuses: “The Dawn Patrol… might be the best summertime crime novel ever… he writes about surfing as if saltwater flows in his veins.”

Winslow grew up in a small fishing town in Rhode Island and has worked as an actor, director, movie theater manager, safari guide, and private investigator. Two decades ago, he settled in Southern California, moving from Dana Point to San Diego to the remote mountain town of Julian, where he now writes novels fulltime. Winslow made regular treks to the coast to research The Dawn Patrol, his eleventh book. More reviews: January Magazine, The Oregonian, San Jose Mercury News, The Plain Dealer.

The LAT’s Timberg notes in his Winslow story that it’s been a good season for surf-related books. “Spring has seen David Rensin’s All for a Few Perfect Waves, about surfer Miki Dora; Bob Greene’s When We Get to Surf City; and Breath, a coming-of-age novel by Tim Winton, one of Australia’s most decorated novelists.”