Smuggler

2019 IndieReader Discovery Award Winner

When twenty-something post-grad Nick Fillmore discovers the zine he’s been recruited to edit is a front for drug profits, he begins a dangerous flirtation with an international heroin smuggling conspiracy and in a matter of months finds himself on a fast ride he doesn’t know how to get off of.

After a bag goes missing in an airport transit lounge he is summoned to West Africa to take a fetish oath with Nigerian mafia. Bound to drug boss Alhaji, he returns to Europe to put the job right, but in Chicago O’Hare Customs agents “blitz” the plane and a courier is arrested.

Thus begins a harried, yearlong effort to elude the Feds, prison and a looming existential dead end…. Smuggler relates the real events behind OITNB.

"Incredible, cinematic visual details ... An alluring and adventurous ride through a criminal underworld." —Kirkus Reviews

"From Provincetown to Chicago and Paris to Jakarta, SMUGGLER pulls off a seemingly impossible mix of visceral, emotional, and psychological realism—all without sacrificing the thrill of vicarious transgression or entertainment. Protagonist (and author) Nick Fillmore's reflection and restrictive interactions never bore and—like the narrative—are rich with cutting insight." –IndieReader

"Smuggler starts glamourous and slow and then accelerates into a dark world where actions have consequences. Nigerian gangsters, black magic, international travels, heroin smuggling, moral justifications, and a descent into the inevitable. Excellent writing, believable characters ... an interesting read narrated by a very competent writer." –NetGalley review

"This isn't your run-of-the-mill crime story but a work with true literary style." –Books Direct

"Riveting." –BookBub