Books by Mark Haskell Smith and Complete Book Reviews
Mark Haskell Smith, Author . Atlantic Monthly $23 (321p) ISBN 978-0-87113-884-2
Set in a seedy, sun-baked Hawaii that most tourists don't know exists, Smith's frenetic second novel (after Moist
) begins with a flash-forward to a Greek tragedy of a luau. Roasting human flesh was not on the agenda for Joseph when he set...
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Mark Haskell Smith, Author . Black Cat $14 (313p) ISBN 978-0-8021-7034-7
Staking out uncomfortable territory between gonzo humor and something far more serious, this thrill-packed romp from novelist (Moist
; Delicious
) and screenwriter Smith is set primarily in Thailand. While vacationing, unemployed rock star Turk...
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Mark Haskell Smith, Black Cat, $14 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-8021-7076-7
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...
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Mark Haskell Smith. Broadway, $14 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-307-72054-2
Novelist Smith (Baked) travels the multibillion-dollar world of high-end marijuana production from the sequoia groves of California to the cafes of Amsterdam. Smith’s quest is to discover the essence of ”dankness,” that quality which differentiates...
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Mark Haskell Smith. Grove, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2351-0
Throwing both caution and clothing to the wind, novelist and journalist Haskell Smith (Heart of Darkness) strikes a winning combination of personal and journalistic narrative as he investigates the appeal of nudism. Though he’s not above making more
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Mark Haskell Smith. Black Cat, $16 ISBN 978-0-8021-2814-0
An embezzlement scheme goes horribly off the rails in this darkly amusing tale of white-collar crime and its inexpert perpetrators. Bryan LeBlanc is a foreign exchange trader on Wall Street who, disillusioned with his career prospects and his...
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Mark Haskell Smith, Author, Mark Haskell Smith, Author . St. Martin's/LA Weekly $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-30364-8
Scattered body parts, a masturbation coach, the Los Angeles Mexican mafia and the work of Frida Kahlo are spun into a frenetic froth in this gritty, entertaining black comedy. Bob, a slacker working at United Pathology in L.A., is roused from Tetris-
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Mark Haskell Smith. Grove/Black Cat, $14 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2201-8
A goofy streak leavens Smith’s fifth novel, an overly broad satire that takes potshots at reality TV, the Internet, and the publishing industry. Former beach volleyball player Sepp Gregory, who became a household name by winning the steamy hidden-cam
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Mark Haskell Smith. Unnamed, $24 (208p) ISBN 978-1-951213-34-3
Smith (Naked at Lunch) takes an immersive and irreverent dip into ancient Greece to uncover the origins of transgressive humor. Mixing history, literary criticism, and dirty jokes, Smith pays tribute to a slew of forgotten Greek writers: the work of
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