HERBVANA

BRIAN B. DEFOE

Herbvana, by first-time novelist Brian B. DeFoe, reflects a writer with much more experience and ability than almost any first-time novelist. The novel concerns a marijuana shop that had just opened in the state of Washington in 2012 when selling weed became legal and highly regulated. Herbvana is owned by a crooked lawyer, a stoner, and a conniving, attractive woman employee with her agenda as the story opens. The reader quickly discovers that the agent responsible for enforcing regulatory laws has been shaking down the owner of Herbvana for roughly $20,000 a week. In a cash business such as the weed business, $20,000 weekly is just a cost of doing business. However, eventually, the owner and the young woman employee tire of this expense. As the story progresses, the reader is treated to crooked lawyers, corrupt regulatory officials, and a variety of stoners using marijuana daily and perhaps on an hourly basis. The descriptions of the characters and the business are spot on, leaving the impression that Herbvana is little more than a convenience store that happens to sell marijuana.

Herbvana is well written, hangs together nicely, and has a logical beginning, middle, and end, which keeps the pages turning and produces an optimism in the reader that Mr. DeFoe will continue his budding career as a novelist of humor and crime, a mixture proven successful by the likes of Paul Levine, Laurence Shames, Carl Hiaasen, Mike Faricy and others.