First novel by Alan Furst, long before his atmospheric European tales of WWII. I skated through this one, could see that it caught the flavor of the early 70s. It's fun mainly to see Early Furst. Wouldn't recommend spending a lot of time on it. ( )

even as well known an author as Alan Furst is.. he still had to have a first novel somewhere along the way. This is it, and one can tell that Mr. Furst came of age in the sixties, with all the sixties fascination with drugs and free love and conspiracy paranoia. A drug dealer somehow gets involved with the CIA, and lots of drugs and free sex later, gets clear, and lives happily ever after. Some Hispanic union politics, radical lawyering, and drug culture dialogue... a bit tiresome to read now, forty years later, but still an interesting insight into the early ideas of a very good author. ( )