Thanks to its wicked style and pacing, Mule lets me forget Im reading serious literature while I follow its terrifying story into the land of the all-American damned. Walter Kirn, author of Up in the Air Mule is swift, taut, and relentless, both a rip-roaring drug tale and a fascinating portrait of a decent human being whose morals slowly disintegrate under unbearable financial strain. Lauren Groff, author of The Monsters of Templeton James and Kate are golden children of the late twentieth century, flush with opportunity. But an economic downturn and an unexpected pregnancy send them searching for a way to make do. A friend in Californias Siskiyou County grows prime-grade marijuana; if James transports just one load from Cali to Florida, hell pull down enough cash to survive for months. And so begins the life of a mule. A page-turning, Zeitgeist-capturing novel that plunges us into the criminal underworld with little chance to take a breath, Mule is about young people trying to make do in a moment when the American Dream they never had to believe in because it was handed to them, fully wrapped and ready to go at the takeout window suddenly vanishes from the menu. With adrenaline-infused sentences and a seat-gripping story line, Mule is a novel that illuminates contemporary American desperation, both its dangerous precipices and its thrilling, overwhelming freedom. Dean Bakopoulos, author of My American Unhappiness