YOUNG AMERICANS

A troubled marijuana dealer lives a dangerous existence in Colombia and the United States in Rush’s novel.

Twenty-four-year-old criminal Tommy Logan often finds himself in hot water, and his free-spirited college sweetheart, Sandy Carlton, provides his only measure of stability. From his underlings’ business mistakes to run-ins with the police, Tommy’s already dealing with a lot when he gets involved with Sandy’s motorcycle-loving family friend, drug kingpin Harry Burr, who only makes his life more complicated. He and Harry do drug deals in Tampa, Florida, and smuggle cocaine into San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Harry gets arrested for a casino robbery that he didn’t commit. Meanwhile, Tommy is struggling to come to terms with a long-ago rape he suffered at the hands of a Catholic school priest and with his family’s inaction when they found out about it. So when he discovers that Harry’s been sexually trafficking a girl named Kippi, calling her “a whore in training,” he swears to exact justice. But as Tommy continues their drug operation, he’s blindsided when his longtime associate Sal is murdered. Later, Tommy and Harry recruit dentist Ollie Bentley to smuggle cocaine to Bogotá—but once there, they confront Colombian soldiers and new problems. From the outset of this hard-edged novel, Rush’s prose style is somewhat pulpy, and it makes use of some familiar genre chestnuts; at one point, for instance, the narration notes that “Discovering sex had replaced much of Tommy’s pain. But there were always available women.” However, the gritty style aptly fits the world in which these characters live, and Rush’s main characters prove to be compelling and even likable at times. Many readers will find themselves rooting for Tommy despite themselves, particularly toward the conclusion as Tommy deals with an unexpected setup as he prepares to retire from criminal life.

A dark but energetic and satisfying gangster drama.