The Final Score
by Don Winslow
DETAILS:
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: January 27, 2026
Format: Hardcover
Length: 284 pg.
Read Date: January 28-29, 2026
Short Novels?
Let’s address this thing that’s been irking me. The title page calls these “Six Short Novels.”
Nope. Just nope.
I know, there are no hard and fast rules about length of a novel, novella, etc. But five of these works clock in around 40 pages. That is not—no way, no how—a novel.
The sixth, “Collision,” is around 90 pages. I’ll buy that as a novella—or a “short novel.” But even that feels like stretching things too much.
Just had to get that off of my chest—it’s been bugging me since I read the Table of Contents.
Also, that’s the last negative you’re going to see in this post.
What’s The Final Score?
Don Winslow un-retires with this stunning collection of six crime stories. Beyond that, it’s hard to describe them all as a group—they all differ in tone, voice, side of the law, style, and how much you’d like to see the protagonist punished/get away with something.
The Final Score
We start off with the “title track”—a story about a man who’s made a career of robbery, trying to go for his final score to provide for his wife as his career is ending. There’s something sweet about it (if you ignore all the felonies and risks to human life).
But there are surprises waiting for him.
This is a solid start to the book—I liked the characters, the pacing, and story. It’s not Winslow’s best, but I’m not complaining about it.
The Sunday List
This is only a crime story by technicality. But whatever it is, I really enjoyed it.
In the shadow of the Vietnam draft, Nick, a teenager with ambition beyond the hippie life his parents live, works hard to make it to college—and will do all sorts of things to get the money for it. Even if that means crossing a few lines.
The North Wing
There’s an old-school mafia vibe to this story. Family ties are tested when a police officer’s cousin gets into legal trouble.
There are so many beats in this story that feel familiar—even if only from Winslow’s oeuvre. But there’s a freshness to it, and Winslow’s ability to make you care about anything that separates this from the familiar.
True Story
Remember the part in Goodfellas where Henry Hill tells us all the names and nicknames of the men he works with? Imagine if that went on for pages and pages—with some digressions for stories about some of the men with those monikers.
In something that feels like it could’ve been a comic-relief in The Sopranos, this features two guys with some sort of mob ties in an extended conversation over breakfast. They’re basically gossiping about various men they know—what they’ve been up to lately, where their nickname comes from, and whatnot.
It was ridiculously fun—and every time you start to think that the shtick might be getting tired, they say something else that makes you get over it.
I strongly suggest making sure that you have enough time to finish this one before you start it—the end of my lunch break interrupted things for me, and it took a little too much effort to get back into the flow of things when I got home. But it was so worth it.
If it weren’t for the next story, I’d say it was the most entertaining entry in the collection.
The Lunch Break
But in any collection featuring Winslow’s Dawn Patrol, just about everything else is going to pale in comparison—at least for me. Boone is hired to watch over a movie star to keep her from getting carried away with drugs, drink, carousing, or anything else that will derail filming of her current film. He brings along Dave the Love God and High Tide to provide around-the-clock observation.
Things get wild from there.
“She sounds like trouble, bruddah.”
“She’s about five-three, can’t go more than a buck-five,” Dave said. “How much trouble could she be?”
Now he knows.
Bad things come in small packages.
This might be my favorite Dawn Patrol story since the first novel. (in a perfect world, Winslow’s next collection would be all his short Dawn Patrol stories with a few new ones thrown in)
Collision
The crowning achievement of the book. From the beginning you can tell that things are going too well, and that just can’t last.
And it doesn’t. What comes next will cause your stomach to drop. Your blood pressure to spike. Your heart to come close to breaking (if not further). I don’t know what to say that won’t take away from the experience for you—and I don’t want to do that.
It’s just so good.
Why did I pick this up? Why did I keep reading?
When I decided that I want to start talking about this kind of thing, I didn’t really think it through. Sometimes, it’s just this simple.
I picked it up because: Don Winslow.
I kept reading because: Don Winslow.
What does this book tell us about humanity?
One thing that seems prominent through all of these stories (with one possible exception) is the human potential, if not propensity, to change.
It’s not always going to be for the best—or even for the better. Sometimes change will just be change. Sometimes change will be for the detriment of the person doing the changing—or those they love.
But the characters in this book are not static, even in these short pages, they evolve, they develop, they show that whatever their lives may be like at one point in their life (not always in their youth), they can—through their choices and actions (frequently pushed by choices and actions of others), their stories, their lives, are not set in stone—they can change the direction they head in.
It’s both inspiring and a warning.
So, what did I think about The Final Score?
Reed Farrel Coleman pays tribute to Winslow in the Foreword to this collection, talking about Winslow’s dedication to the craft, his gifted writing, and the diversity of stories he tells. Which is incredibly fitting for this book—which really just shows off that ability of Winslow’s.
Every story in this collection was a winner, will likely end up in your personal “all time short story canon,” and will make you want to re-read them again and again to fully appreciate them.
I can’t recommend this enough.
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