Review by Booklist Review
L.A. botanist Miro Basinas prides himself on the quality of his latest batch of homegrown marijuana, Elephant Crush, a wickedly strong pot that tastes like mangoes. When he wins the prized Cannabis Cup competition in Amsterdam, he feels like he has finally hit the big time and is on his way to breaking into the top echelon of cannabis breeders, able to sell his seeds to growers everywhere. His cerebral approach to farming in no way prepares him for the warfare heading his way when the greedy owner of a chain of medical marijuana dispensaries decides to steal Miro's plants and take him out. The cast of outré characters in Smith's latest outrageous blend of gross-out comedy and grotesque violence includes a paramedic with a taste for kinky sex, a young Mormon missionary struggling with his impure thoughts and his sacred underpants, and a vicious gangbanger and his moronic helpers. Although the plots of Smith's novels (including Moist, 2007) often read like the work of someone who is entirely baked, connoisseurs of absurdist humor will find him working at the top of his game here.--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Smith (Moist) misfires with this attempt at a darkly humorous crime novel, which opens with the shooting of botanist Miro Basinas in Los Angeles. A month earlier, Basinas traveled to Amsterdam to enter the Cannabis Cup, a major international cannabis competition, which his strain, Elephant Crush, ends up winning. His valuable commodity attracts predators, and while recovering in the hospital from his bullet wound, he learns someone has stolen the seed supply of his brand. Various improbable characters enter the action, notably Shamus Noriega, a half-Salvadoran, half-Irish gangster, who provides weed to medical marijuana centers, and Mormon elder Daniel Lamb, who struggles with his sexual urges and winds up abandoning his church to work at a taco truck ("people didn't need dogma, religion, or special underwear; people needed a good burrito"). Potheads will have fun, but others may find Basinas's quest for revenge less than compelling. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
If books came with MPAA ratings, Smith's fourth novel (after Moist, Delicious, and Salty) would definitely get an NC-17. But if you can't tell that from looking at the cover (the ARC showed a silhouette of a nude woman with marijuana leaves covering her breasts), rest assured that the novel contains plenty of drug references, drug use, and sexual content. But it's also a tightly plotted, well-paced caper with a message, a la Carl Hiaasen. Miro, our hero, is an experimental botanist who wins the Cannabis Cup (a real competition held annually in Amsterdam) with a new strain of marijuana. From the moment he wins, the plot is set in motion through the world of illegal drug trade, legal medical marijuana centers, and the many cultures of Los Angeles. Crazy characters abound, from a sex-crazed Mormon burrito roller to a cop with the most logical mind, to the improbably named Irish/Latino gangster Shamus Noriega. Verdict Not for the easily offended or the president of your local D.A.R.E. chapter, but an enjoyable ride for the rest of us.-Amy Watts, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Take it from Smith (Salty, 2007, etc.): Winning Amsterdam's coveted Cannabis Cup can be harmful to your health.Miro Basinas thinks of himself as an underground botanist, with a B.A. from UC Davis, or a gentleman farmer. Once his smooth, mellow Elephant Crush runs away with top honors in Amsterdam, an ambitious entrepreneur named Vincent and his Irish/Salvadoran associate Shamus Noriega start to think of him as competition. California's Compassion Centers, which Vincent owns and Shamus supplies with medical marijuana, is doing a brisk business they have no intention of sharing. In their haste to steal Vincent's stash and his prizewinning seeds, drive him out of business and shoot him dead, they don't care about knocking other pieces off the board. Their depraved indifference poses various threat levels to virginal Mormon elder Daniel Lamb, watercolorist Barry White, fading but sexy singer Aime LeClerq and Fran, an Emergency Medical Technician who believes firmly in women on top. Several unfortunates are smoked, along with a good deal of primo weed, and everyone inhales. Meantime, Marianna, a Portuguese scientist Miro celebrated his big Amsterdam win by impregnating, jets out to Los Angeles to reunite with the unsuspecting father, wondering anxiously: "Was he stubborn? Would he convert to metric for her?"Forget the muted ending and enjoy the ride, which is as cockeyed and riotous as Carl Hiaasen on really good dope.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
