Mule

June 20, 2011
James is a writer living the good life in "wild and lusty" Austin, Tex., a man who finds himself, "At thirty... suddenly making and spending money in a way I never had." But it's not long after he meets Kate, another bright young thing, that "both of our careers were gone," casualties of the Great Recession. The couple moves to Northern California, where James meets Kate's old friends and quickly realizes that he could buy their marijuana crop cheap, haul it cross country, and make a tidy profit. Things fall neatly into place as James assumes the middle-man role between his California grower and his Floridian dealer and the moneyâalong with big troubleâstarts pouring in. D'Souza does an admirable job of creating likable characters in James and the people around him, but there's only one way that this narrative can go. Or rather, there are any number of possibilities, but one obvious choice. The same actionsâpick up drugs, encounter/overcome obstacles, deliver drugsârepeated too often, and too much time spent on the road, pushes anything but the basic plot into the background, creating a compelling but anemic read. (Sept.)w

August 15, 2011

A young family man escapes the Great Recession by driving marijuana cross-country, raking in good money and bad vibes.

"Drive fast and swerve a lot" is the joking advice drug dealers give mules like James, an unemployed freelance journalist who begins driving pounds of weed from California to Florida to make ends meet when he and his pregnant wife fall out of work. Of course, the job involves a stressful amount of careful attention to detail, not just to the speed limit but to the type of car, its plates and the safest routes. Some early pages shoehorn in an overabundance of detail about the legal complexities of the gig, but the book is largely a propulsive and intense journey into the degradations of living in the black market. James' story begins in the middle of 2006, the start of the U.S. economy's latest stumble, and as the markets collapse he takes some comfort in the large wads of cash he accumulates. But happiness is fleeting and, as D'Souza reveals, ultimately inaccessible. Sub-dealers break promises, which leads to violence; the business demands keeping secrets, which slowly drives a wedge between James and his wife. The book is a departure from D'Souza's previous two novels, 2006's Whiteman and 2008's The Konkans, which focused on themes of race and assimilation, but he eases comfortably into this milieu: He's clearly studied the mechanics of the marijuana trade, and he addresses it in ways that reject the simple moral boundaries of most cinematic portrayals of drug dealers. D'Souza captures the push and pull of James' emotions, his paranoia and his frazzled rationalizations. James has a nerviness that makes him perfect for the gig, but it's agonizingly clear how much he sacrificed to get it.

A smart and bracing ground-level exploration of the drug trade.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2011

In his third novel, D'Souza (Whiteman) provides an in-depth look at the creation of a drug mule. James, a young writer thrown out of work by the recession, delivers a pound of prime-grade marijuana to a friend in Texas as a one-time money-making opportunity. But with his wife, Kate, and a new baby to support, James soon builds a cross-country courier route stretching from California to Florida and finds himself constantly on the road, delivering drugs to an increasingly sketchy and dangerous group of contacts. The money is great, but with each trip the risks--and James's crimes--grow exponentially more serious. VERDICT Despite thinly drawn characters, this gripping novel provides an insider's view of drug trafficking. While in some sections it reads like a how-to for drug mules, D'Souza's careful pacing and narrative style provide a tension-filled ride. Recommended for readers who enjoy crime novels and general fiction.--Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Libs., Fort Collins

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2011
Blissfully happy in a new relationship and orbiting the trendy Austin party scene, James and Kate thought they had everything figured out. When the downturn not yet called the Great Recession and an unexpected pregnancy turn their world upside down, they cut costs by relocating to a tiny cabin in Northern California. There James is introduced to the underground world of primo-marijuana transport, in which the wages for a week's cross-country driving could comfortably support a family for months. After the first payload turns into repeated CaliforniaFlorida trips, James must decide how much time he's willing to devote to his risky new career. Without glorifying or condemning the couple's choices, D'Souza articulates the existential tensions that affect so many of America's recession generation. His authorial voice is sharp and crisp, eschewing flowery prose for a hard-hitting narrative style that perfectly suits the page-turning, drug-fueled tale. Fans of Toby Young and Max Barry and those who follow D'Souza's magazine work will greatly enjoy the timely, witty, fast-paced Mule.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)