Florida Palms

By: Joe Pan

Narrated by: Charlie Thurston

The Outsiders meet Sons of Anarchy in this gripping debut about a group of young men dragged into a drug-running operation on the Space Coast of Florida.

It’s 2009, the height of the Great Recession. Best friends Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse are fresh out of high school and wild at heart, but the economy is in the dumps. With jobs scarce along Florida’s Space Coast, they join a furniture-moving company run by Cueball’s father, a gruff ex-con biker who’s supposedly retired from the fast life. But when a mysterious old boss arrives in town, the payload is switched out, and the young men are coerced into shipping a new designer drug up the East Coast.

What is advertised as a bastion of brotherhood and respect quickly spirals into back-alley deals, bloodshed, and an all-out turf war that will test the bounds of love and friendship. Enticed by larger paychecks, and fueled by burgeoning drug habits, the young friends find themselves trapped between rank opportunists, warring gangsters, meth zombies, crazed bikers, and a blowgun-wielding hitman, all vying for a shot at the big time.

Soaring, ambitious, and deeply humane, Florida Palms is a gritty coming-of-age story with enormous heart and an unflinching vision of the violence and inequities facing forgotten communities. In a relentless race against desperate circumstances, the young friends must fully embrace the crime life or abandon their loyalties and risk ending up face down in the muck of the unforgiving swamps.

Favorite read of the year!

I loved the journey this book takes you on. I felt like I knew each character - I loved some I hated some I love hated Gumby for sure. I was so bought in to the story that I sat staring at a wall for the last two because I felt like I was right there, next to Eddy. Gosh I might just listen again. 100/10 highly highly recommend

Just so good

Artful writing..,spellbinding inevitability of the story… Joe Pan is also a poet, and it shows. Plus, awesome narration.

The gritty raw story lines

Great book through and through keeps you engaged and interested to see what happens next

Masterpiece

I loved this book! Beautiful writing. Coming of age. Great narrator! Reminds me of Steinbeck in his detail and local flavor