The perils of smuggling usually makes for good reading and A.R. Torsone's Herb Trader doesn't disappoint. Set in the '80s and '90s primarily in Southeast Asia, Torsone was at the center of a ring that imported tons of marijuana from Thailand. But a a trip to Cambodia landed him in a nightmare he barely survived to tell and write about.

While Torsone isn't a professional writer, he manages to hold his own with his deep command and understanding of the book's premise: moving marijuana on the high seas. After several failed attempts to work with Rastas in Jamaica, Arthur (a.k.a. Max) put together a team of players with contacts in the Golden Triangle.

Max soon parlayed his gambit into a multi-million dollar pot operation. Unhappily married with a family in the States (first in Woodstock, New York, then Pennsylvania), he found true love with Ahm, a Bangkok beauty. But once he started dealing with corrupt Cambodian military, politicians and war lords, Max was captured and jailed.

The last quarter of the book is harrowing, like Brokedown Palace or Midnight Express. Ravaged by hunger and sickness, Max barely made it. In 1997, the DEA shipped Torsone back the States where he served a 10-year sentence and wrote Herb Trader.

"I will always work to reform U.S. marijuana laws," Torsone promises in the epilogue. "Take away the black market and you'll take away the crime. It's that simple."

Also see:
T.A. Sedlak's 'Anarcho Grow'
John McCaslin's 'Weed Man'
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