You should totally get Baked.
I love crime capers. I gobble them up like buttered popcorn. My favorite of this genre in recent years is Mark Haskell Smith, who was kind enough to accept my Facebook friend request even though I could totally be a cyber-stalker, which I’m not. I don’t have that kind of time on my hands. If I did, I would definitely stalk Mark Haskell Smith.
He’s my favorite because he keeps getting better and better. Some of my other once-favorite authors have let me down in recent years. It’s like they start coasting once they have a multi-book deal and they churn out crap. Mark Haskell Smith is a writer’s writer. You can tell he enjoys his craft and he wants the reader to enjoy his work. I’ve read all four of his novels and he’s never let me down.
Mr. Smith’s latest novel Baked opens with the line “One bullet can really fuck up your day”. It’s the perfect start to one hellava fun book.
Miro Basinas is a passionate botanist who develops a genius strain of cannabis that he dubs Elephant Crush. His super-weed wins the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. He’s on top of the world until he’s shot in his front yard after returning to his LA home. He recovers to find his house ransacked and his entire crop of award-winning weed gone. Miro has to figure out how to rebuild and stay alive. He’s only a botanist and not sure how to deal with the greedy men who want him dead.
There is an exciting range of bad guys and good guys, including a psychopath gangster named Shamus Noriega and a Mormon boy with a flair for bondage.
Smith takes us to the gritty under belly of LA, full of drug dealers, thugs and taco stands. His ability to transplant the reader into places unknown is nothing short of magic. He’s a natural storyteller. His novels are crazy thrill-rides with shockingly depraved characters and rich settings. The worst thing about his novels is the sorrow I feel when I finish one.
You have a limited amount of time, so why spend it reading about things that suck or are only kind of okay? Favorite thing EVER is not a review site. We're unrepentant fans, and this is the stuff we love. Hope you like gushing, because we're about to embarrass ourselves.
Sounds delicious! I’ve got to say I’ve enjoyed all kinds of books I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise because one of you crazy kids recommended them.
He actually has a novel called Delicious. It’s very good as well.
I could use something crimey and fun.