Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Death and Life of Bobby Z

  • By: Don Winslow
  • Narrated by: Darrell Larson
  • Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (10 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Death and Life of Bobby Z

By: Don Winslow
Narrated by: Darrell Larson
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

When Tim Kearney draws a license plate across the throat of a Hell's Angel, he's pretty much a dead man. It's his third crime and, according to California law, that gives him "life without the possibility of parole". Killing a Hell's Angel also makes him a dead man on any prison yard in California. That's when the DEA makes Kearney an offer: impersonate the late, legendary dope smuggler Bobby Z so that the agency can trade him to Don Huertero, northern Mexico's drug kingpin, for a captured DEA agent. Tim Kearney bears an uncanny resemblance to Bobby Z, and, with some training, he might be able to pass.

Or not. But, really, what choice does he have?

So, he's off to a compound in the middle of a desert that's been designed by Huertero's number-two man to look like the Arabian fort in his favorite movie, Beau Jeste. ("The Santa Fe thing had been done to death.") Kearney's surprised when he meets Bobby Z's old flame, Elizabeth, who was never mentioned in his training, and the son she claims belongs to him. It's a short vacation by the pool before Kearney's on the run from drug lords, bikers, Indians, and cops...and the kid's along for the ride. Some of the pursuers want Bobby Z, and some want the considerably less legendary Tim K. Whether he pulls it off, whether he can keep the kid and the girl and his life, makes for a hilarious, fast-paced, and truly touching novel.

©1997 Don Winslow (P)1997 Random House Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

California Fire and Life cover art
The Ranger cover art
An American Demon cover art
Big Maria cover art
Illegal cover art
USA Noir cover art
The Accounting cover art
Armadillos cover art
The Brotherhood of the Wheel cover art
Live Free or Tri cover art
Gumshoe cover art
Artemis cover art
Dance Hall of the Dead cover art
Gone Bamboo cover art
Return of the High Fae cover art
Cold City cover art

Critic reviews

"Winslow juggles black humor, excellent dialog, and numerous plot twists with the ease of an accomplished veteran." (Library Journal)
"Darrell Larson is absolutely terrific....Larson's portrayal of drug world characters is full of sarcasm, wit and clever humor." (AudioFile)
"For all the nasty stuff that Mr. Winslow throws at Bobby/Tim, he maintains the virtue of a comic-book superhero...playing an exciting game of adventure that is good, clean, mindless fun." (The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hugely enjoyable adventure

Another venture into Don Winslow's SoCal world and what a ride this one is. Smart dialogue, nicely interwoven stories and likeable protagonists. This skirts the limits of believability but with such humour it's impossible not to love the entire book from start to finish.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An uplifting, funny, contemporary crime story

This is unlike.any other crime story. An all time loser gets roped into a crazy scheme where he is supposed to take the fall but somehow, someway, finds the luck, courage and decency to make it all the way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!