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Dealing or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
To rescue his girlfriend, a weed dealer scraps for a score
The suitcase looks like a standard weekend bag. But like the man who carries it, it isn’t what it seems. Lined with tinfoil to mask the smell, it is a smuggler’s bag and will soon be filled to the brim with marijuana bricks.
The smuggler is a Harvard student who has come to California to make his fortune. He hopes to score not just with his connection but with his new girlfriend, a Golden State beauty with an appetite for fine weed. When the deal goes south, she takes the fall, and a crooked FBI agent swipes half the stash. To free his girl, this pothead will have to make the deal of a lifetime.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Michael Crichton including rare images from the author’s estate.
The suitcase looks like a standard weekend bag. But like the man who carries it, it isn’t what it seems. Lined with tinfoil to mask the smell, it is a smuggler’s bag and will soon be filled to the brim with marijuana bricks.
The smuggler is a Harvard student who has come to California to make his fortune. He hopes to score not just with his connection but with his new girlfriend, a Golden State beauty with an appetite for fine weed. When the deal goes south, she takes the fall, and a crooked FBI agent swipes half the stash. To free his girl, this pothead will have to make the deal of a lifetime.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Michael Crichton including rare images from the author’s estate.
238 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
Michael Douglas
3 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Michael Douglas is the pseudonym used by Michael Crichton and Douglas Crichton to co-author the novel Dealing, or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues.
Michael Douglas is the pseudonym used by Michael Crichton and Douglas Crichton to co-author the novel Dealing, or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues.
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May 29, 2020Δείτε την κριτική στα Ελληνικά στις βιβλιοαλχημείες
If this book was not written by Crichton I wouldn't have read it.
It's mainly read by Crichton fans and completists.
It's about a bunch of college kids that in their boredom decide to make money by selling marijuana.
It's set in the Hippie's era between Boston and Berkeley (San Francisco) in the early 1970's.
A distance of 3,089 miles (4,971 km).
It was written by Michael Crichton together with his younger brother Douglas Crichton, hence the shared pseudonym Michael Douglas.
It became a movie in 1972 with a young John Lithgow.
Of course I bought this book as a collector rather than as a reader.
It's an out of print, rare edition book from the first era of Crichton's career. 1960's-1970's
I was lucky to find it on eBay in a very affordable price and it came to me in Cyprus all the way from Miami.
I'm glad I read it mainly because now my bookshelf will be adorned by a rare book I finally read.
June 17, 2011
Seems like I read this serialized in Playboy magazine. Entertaining tale. Date read is a guess.
July 27, 2017
'twould have been better if i had read this long ago;
have learned a few things, anyhow
cheers, michael!
have learned a few things, anyhow
cheers, michael!
July 22, 2020
The first three fourths of the book was full of marijuana smoking, cigarette smoking and drinking and sex. Then there was an interesting operation of tricking a crooked cop. The last pages of the book are why I gave the book two stars and not zero.
August 2, 2021
I picked this book up because it was the basis for a similarly titled Warner Brothers movie, starring Barbara Hershey (also known in her career as Barbara Seagull). The book flowed similarly to the title; a concise plot layered over with too much dialog.
And overall, I found the book a disappointment, Although it was interesting to remember a time when you could access every area of an airport, fly without accurate identification, and when authority figures thought marijuana was the open door to degradation (and heroin), so much was missing.
From my personal experience, which I underscore is only mine, drugs were a part of life in 1960s/1970s college - whether you made them a part of Your Life or not. But they weren't The Point of life. There were other concerns, like the dying environment, racial discord, the Vietnam War, Nixon, music, passing finals, ridiculously oblivious parents and other authority figures, local and broader politics, and insensitive collegiate/political organizations that needed a wake up call.
So Peter's motivation for being involved in dealing, which is a big step from just taking, drugs - economic savings? - didn't ring true for me, especially since he demonstrated no such money management skills and had no collaborative network. It made sense to me for him to have acquaintances at other schools, but to have only one friend at Berkeley with a political interest? also didn't ring true for me. Maybe if I didn't have personal experiences, I would have found the plot more believable. And I might have had lower expectations if I didn't know Michael Crichton was one of the authors.
As it is, the book has a nice plot; interesting enough to read - but the details didn't work. My Bantam edition had 230 pages.
And overall, I found the book a disappointment, Although it was interesting to remember a time when you could access every area of an airport, fly without accurate identification, and when authority figures thought marijuana was the open door to degradation (and heroin), so much was missing.
From my personal experience, which I underscore is only mine, drugs were a part of life in 1960s/1970s college - whether you made them a part of Your Life or not. But they weren't The Point of life. There were other concerns, like the dying environment, racial discord, the Vietnam War, Nixon, music, passing finals, ridiculously oblivious parents and other authority figures, local and broader politics, and insensitive collegiate/political organizations that needed a wake up call.
So Peter's motivation for being involved in dealing, which is a big step from just taking, drugs - economic savings? - didn't ring true for me, especially since he demonstrated no such money management skills and had no collaborative network. It made sense to me for him to have acquaintances at other schools, but to have only one friend at Berkeley with a political interest? also didn't ring true for me. Maybe if I didn't have personal experiences, I would have found the plot more believable. And I might have had lower expectations if I didn't know Michael Crichton was one of the authors.
As it is, the book has a nice plot; interesting enough to read - but the details didn't work. My Bantam edition had 230 pages.
October 21, 2021
I can’t explain why I finished reading this book. Perhaps it’s because the “Michael” in the pseudonym is Michael Crichton, who I greatly admire, the “Douglas” his brother. It’s about college-age drug pushers and users, none of the characters are in any way likeable, who are doing awful things to themselves and others, written in jargon that makes much of the story incomprehensible. Take a pass. It’s not worth your time. 2 stars at best.
April 26, 2016
As I am sure you can guess from the title this story is about smuggling drugs. Marijuana to be precise although there are quite a few different drugs also mentioned in the book and movie. The book starts out with our main character Peter, arriving in Berkeley to pick up a shipment of some “dope” to fly back to Boston with for his friend John. Peter is a student at Harvard and John is a professor or someone who works at the school, I could never quite figure it out. One of the more interesting things about this book is the first person viewpoint that it is written in. I do not recall many of Crichton’s books being written in first person, The Eaters of the Dead and his non-fiction Travels are the only two that come to mind, so I am looking forward to seeing if there are any more on my journey. Peter is pretty much stoned non stop the entire time, everyone in the book is really, and there are lots of “far outs" and other crazy slang from the late 60’s and early 70’s in the book. This novel was actually published under the pseudonym “Michael Douglas” and was written with his brother, there is even a cute picture of the two of them on the back of the book as little kids.
Back to the plot, Peter arrives at the address he is given to pick up the bricks of dope but no one is home. He gets in his car rolls up a joint and smokes it trying to figure out what to do next. He is just about to take off when all of the sudden the SWAT team rolls up to the house he was supposed to pick up the dope from and busts in, he gets harassed by the cops a little and then escapes no worse for the wear. He heads down to the campus to try and find someone he knows from his last visit to Berkeley, so he can use their phone to find John, oh the joys of living in a time before cell phones. He finally recognizes someone after seeing a lot of crazy shit on the campus, protests and such and gets the new meeting place to pick up his bricks. He arrives to meet Musty, the local drug smuggler/dealer and gets his hands on the Marijuana. He lets some speed head borrow his car for some strange reason while he is there, its a rental of course, and decides to pass out in an unused bedroom upstairs and hang out until his flight leaves the following day. Here he meets his groovy chick, Sukie, whom he decides to smoke about 10 joints with in the upstairs bedroom and then have sex with. He falls in love of course, but then is promptly arrested by some cops who randomly show up in the house looking for him. You see the speed head who borrowed his car earlier got pulled over and busted with a bunch of drugs, since he was the rental car owner ol’ speedy decided to try and blame everything on him. He is put through the ringer and here meets the villain of our story Murphy, a tough no nonsense narcotics cop who is out in CA from Boston helping bring those punk ass drug dealers down. They don’t have enough evidence to keep charges on him and have to let him go, eventually dropping all the charges just in time for Sukie to drive him to the airport to catch his flight home with his suitcase full of dope.
He has no problems and makes it back to John with the goods just fine. But he misses his new chick, he has to see her and he doesn’t care how, problem is he has no money for a plane ticket so she can come for a visit. Personally I would have made sure that if I am putting my ass on the line smuggling a bunch of Marijuana in a suitcase across the country I am going to be rewarded handsomely, but Peter seems to have too many other things on his plate to worry about getting paid. His parents find out he is dealing pot and he is harassed by them in a strange scene about halfway through the book, and he is also failing several of his classes, but somehow manages to sweet talk his way out of both situations and comes out unscathed. He then comes up with the perfect solution to seeing Sukie, have her do a run to Boston for John. John at first refuses because “chicks always fuck up” but then he randomly decides its a good idea and sets it up for Peter.
Sukie of course gets busted big time. But the news reports that she was only busted with 20 bricks when in fact she was smuggling 40. Peter and another friend Herbie, John is in hiding by this point he cleaned out his house of all the drugs and decides to vanish for a while since the chick he had doing a run is now in prison facing down major time, decide they are going to blackmail Murphy who is obviously trying to make some extra cash on the side from the other 20 bricks. Peter and Herbie grab a gun and decide to follow Murphy. Up until this point the book was decently paced but full of a lot of randomness, now the action started to come at a rapid fire pace until abruptly ending. They follow Murphy until he drops the other suitcase full of 20 bricks off with some crackhead. They confront and threaten the crack head until they steal the dope back and then get into a gun fight with him as they escape. Now that they have the dope again fresh with Murphy’s prints, the blackmailing begins. It doesn’t work at first and Murphy calls their bluff, but eventually Peter convinces Murphy to let Sukie go and drop all the charges and he will give the 20 bricks back to him. The setup for the final scene was actually really cool and it was probably the best writing in the book. Peter sends Murphy on a wild goose chase, keeps the dope, and gets Sukie back and thats that. The book ended really abruptly, but it did leave me wanting to know exactly what happened so I suppose thats a good thing.
The movie was decent, it didn’t follow the book very well, changing and omitting quite a few things but most book to movie adaptations do that. I did like the ending of the movie quite a bit more than the book, it showed what happened when Peter led Murphy on the wild goose chase and ended in quite a dramatic fashion. The best part of the movie was the fact that this was John Lithgow’s first acting credit and he had a lustrous full head of 70’s hair. It was shot in that strange early 70’s fashion that sort of reminded me of The Terminal Man, but this movie was no where near as awful as that one.
Back to the plot, Peter arrives at the address he is given to pick up the bricks of dope but no one is home. He gets in his car rolls up a joint and smokes it trying to figure out what to do next. He is just about to take off when all of the sudden the SWAT team rolls up to the house he was supposed to pick up the dope from and busts in, he gets harassed by the cops a little and then escapes no worse for the wear. He heads down to the campus to try and find someone he knows from his last visit to Berkeley, so he can use their phone to find John, oh the joys of living in a time before cell phones. He finally recognizes someone after seeing a lot of crazy shit on the campus, protests and such and gets the new meeting place to pick up his bricks. He arrives to meet Musty, the local drug smuggler/dealer and gets his hands on the Marijuana. He lets some speed head borrow his car for some strange reason while he is there, its a rental of course, and decides to pass out in an unused bedroom upstairs and hang out until his flight leaves the following day. Here he meets his groovy chick, Sukie, whom he decides to smoke about 10 joints with in the upstairs bedroom and then have sex with. He falls in love of course, but then is promptly arrested by some cops who randomly show up in the house looking for him. You see the speed head who borrowed his car earlier got pulled over and busted with a bunch of drugs, since he was the rental car owner ol’ speedy decided to try and blame everything on him. He is put through the ringer and here meets the villain of our story Murphy, a tough no nonsense narcotics cop who is out in CA from Boston helping bring those punk ass drug dealers down. They don’t have enough evidence to keep charges on him and have to let him go, eventually dropping all the charges just in time for Sukie to drive him to the airport to catch his flight home with his suitcase full of dope.
He has no problems and makes it back to John with the goods just fine. But he misses his new chick, he has to see her and he doesn’t care how, problem is he has no money for a plane ticket so she can come for a visit. Personally I would have made sure that if I am putting my ass on the line smuggling a bunch of Marijuana in a suitcase across the country I am going to be rewarded handsomely, but Peter seems to have too many other things on his plate to worry about getting paid. His parents find out he is dealing pot and he is harassed by them in a strange scene about halfway through the book, and he is also failing several of his classes, but somehow manages to sweet talk his way out of both situations and comes out unscathed. He then comes up with the perfect solution to seeing Sukie, have her do a run to Boston for John. John at first refuses because “chicks always fuck up” but then he randomly decides its a good idea and sets it up for Peter.
Sukie of course gets busted big time. But the news reports that she was only busted with 20 bricks when in fact she was smuggling 40. Peter and another friend Herbie, John is in hiding by this point he cleaned out his house of all the drugs and decides to vanish for a while since the chick he had doing a run is now in prison facing down major time, decide they are going to blackmail Murphy who is obviously trying to make some extra cash on the side from the other 20 bricks. Peter and Herbie grab a gun and decide to follow Murphy. Up until this point the book was decently paced but full of a lot of randomness, now the action started to come at a rapid fire pace until abruptly ending. They follow Murphy until he drops the other suitcase full of 20 bricks off with some crackhead. They confront and threaten the crack head until they steal the dope back and then get into a gun fight with him as they escape. Now that they have the dope again fresh with Murphy’s prints, the blackmailing begins. It doesn’t work at first and Murphy calls their bluff, but eventually Peter convinces Murphy to let Sukie go and drop all the charges and he will give the 20 bricks back to him. The setup for the final scene was actually really cool and it was probably the best writing in the book. Peter sends Murphy on a wild goose chase, keeps the dope, and gets Sukie back and thats that. The book ended really abruptly, but it did leave me wanting to know exactly what happened so I suppose thats a good thing.
The movie was decent, it didn’t follow the book very well, changing and omitting quite a few things but most book to movie adaptations do that. I did like the ending of the movie quite a bit more than the book, it showed what happened when Peter led Murphy on the wild goose chase and ended in quite a dramatic fashion. The best part of the movie was the fact that this was John Lithgow’s first acting credit and he had a lustrous full head of 70’s hair. It was shot in that strange early 70’s fashion that sort of reminded me of The Terminal Man, but this movie was no where near as awful as that one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 28, 2022It’s an annual tradition of mine to read a michael Crichton novel at Christmas. I am making my way through his early work #Dealing or #theberkeleytobostonfortybricklostbagblues by #michaeldouglas a pseudonym for #michaelcrichton and his brother #douglascrichton published in 1970. Featuring: Wealthy college kids dealing drugs, the authors attempt to show that drugs should be legal, corrupt cops, Crichton’s usual fondness for California girls & the differences between the east coast and west cost of America. This appears to be the literary foundation for some of #breteastonellis work about drugs and wealthy college students. Privileged kids wandering around getting into mischief - it’s become a well known sub-genre - no doubt appealing to a certain age group and demographic. But they do need to get a proper job and take some responsibility. If you don’t want to change the world when you’re young then you have no heart. If you’re not a part of the world when you’re older then you’ve got no brain.
November 7, 2023
I enjoyed this book. I see other people complaining about the characters and saying it wasn't believable. I guess it really comes down to who you've known throughout the years. Michael has a hard time not having Harvard or other ivy league characters in his book since that is what he himself was, and what he knew, and so the main character seems a bit inconsistent at times with being this potential genius but also somewhat of an idiot. But if I imagine the main character as being of a slightly lower intelligence I can definitely imagine him as several people I have known throughout the years. It was probably one of Michael's worst stories, and maybe it is due to the collab with his brother (just in the same way that Micro was not as good because of outside influences), but I still enjoyed reading it anyway. It remained interesting the entire time.
August 5, 2025
"Dealing Or, The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-brick Lost-bag Blues" by Michael Douglas/Crichton is a disjointed tale about the drug culture in the late 1960's/early 1970's. Pete a student at Harvard in Boston, flies to Berkley to pick up several keys of marijuana for his buddy John. Once there Pete falls in love with Suki, gets busted by Murphy, a crooked FBI agent from Boston, gets released from jail without charges & flies back to Boston. Pete can't stop thinking about the girl causing him to fail an exam. John gets Pete to have Suki bring two suitcases of keys of marijuana to Boston. She checks the bags, gets busted by Murphy who steals 20 keys & sells them to a middleman. Pete & Herbie stick up the middleman, take back the marijuana & convince Murphy to release Suki for 6 keys. Too much weird conversation & too little action. 1.5 Stars
February 22, 2022
Started off with some interesting observations, then completely lost itself in a boring and unnecessary plot without any style. There's not any dealing done whatsoever in the book, just a dreadfully tedious plot with bad observations.
4 stars for the first 1/3, and 2 stars for the last 2/3s. Would not recommend to anyone.
4 stars for the first 1/3, and 2 stars for the last 2/3s. Would not recommend to anyone.
March 20, 2018
This was a fucking good read! I don’t normally curse in reviews but seriously this was. My only complaint is the ending is so abrupt. That said crooked cops, sweet college love, and weed make one incredible story, a crazy time in California and Massachusetts. This is brilliant!
March 29, 2019
I think this takes place in the '70s. College students in Boston are dealing in selling Marijuana. One goes to Berkeley to buy some bricks and meets a girl. He loans his car to someone and then is picked up by a Boston Cop. Then the story gets interesting.
December 23, 2018
This book has a low rating, but I enjoyed it when I read it way back when. Written by Michael Chrichton under a pseudonym.
December 30, 2019
Do not read this, but it is well written
Accurate, interesting, but I was waiting for the book to begin, it was as if the entire book was a preamble to a book
Accurate, interesting, but I was waiting for the book to begin, it was as if the entire book was a preamble to a book
May 1, 2021
I've been a fan of Michael Crichton's work since reading Jurassic Park. This is the first story of his I've read that was written under a pseudonym and I thought it was a good, quick and fun read.
May 26, 2023
I read this 50 years ago... love it then. Amusing drug-culture story. I'd love to find a copy now and re-read...
December 31, 2023
2.5. It's not unreadable and definitely didn't actively hate reading it, it had its moments, but it's kind of a corny story
June 5, 2024
Just really wasn't my favorite Crichton novel.
July 22, 2024
Meh. Not as interesting as his other early stuff because there wasn't a mystery, but also relatively lower on the misogyny
January 10, 2025
Only Michael Crichton book I've read so far that I had to force myself through. Hated it.
June 1, 2025
Even the bad Crichtons are worth reading. This one is very encapsulated in a time and place and that alone is interesting, if you don't mind the jive talk.
May 16, 2023
An okay story about how bad the police are and how cool pot smoking college kids are. Story would have been better if it had a decent ending. The big problem is there are no likable characters in this book.
August 2, 2021
I picked this book up because it was the basis for a similarly titled Warner Brothers movie, starring Barbara Hershey (also known in her career as Barbara Seagull). The book flowed similarly to the title; a concise plot layered over with too much dialog.
And overall, I found the book a disappointment, Although it was interesting to remember a time when you could access every area of an airport, fly without accurate identification, and when authority figures thought marijuana was the open door to degradation (and heroin), so much was missing.
From my personal experience, which I underscore is only mine, drugs were a part of life in 1960s/1970s college - whether you made them a part of Your Life or not. But they weren't The Point of life. There were other concerns, like the dying environment, racial discord, the Vietnam War, Nixon, music, passing finals, ridiculously oblivious parents and other authority figures, local and broader politics, and insensitive collegiate/political organizations that needed a wake up call.
So Peter's motivation for being involved in dealing, which is a big step from just taking, drugs - economic savings? - didn't ring true for me, especially since he demonstrated no such money management skills and had no collaborative network. It made sense to me for him to have acquaintances at other schools, but to have only one friend at Berkeley with a political interest? also didn't ring true for me. Maybe if I didn't have personal experiences, I would have found the plot more believable. And I might have had lower expectations if I didn't know Michael Crichton was one of the authors.
As it is, the book has a nice plot; interesting enough to read - but the details didn't work. My Bantam edition had 230 pages.
And overall, I found the book a disappointment, Although it was interesting to remember a time when you could access every area of an airport, fly without accurate identification, and when authority figures thought marijuana was the open door to degradation (and heroin), so much was missing.
From my personal experience, which I underscore is only mine, drugs were a part of life in 1960s/1970s college - whether you made them a part of Your Life or not. But they weren't The Point of life. There were other concerns, like the dying environment, racial discord, the Vietnam War, Nixon, music, passing finals, ridiculously oblivious parents and other authority figures, local and broader politics, and insensitive collegiate/political organizations that needed a wake up call.
So Peter's motivation for being involved in dealing, which is a big step from just taking, drugs - economic savings? - didn't ring true for me, especially since he demonstrated no such money management skills and had no collaborative network. It made sense to me for him to have acquaintances at other schools, but to have only one friend at Berkeley with a political interest? also didn't ring true for me. Maybe if I didn't have personal experiences, I would have found the plot more believable. And I might have had lower expectations if I didn't know Michael Crichton was one of the authors.
As it is, the book has a nice plot; interesting enough to read - but the details didn't work. My Bantam edition had 230 pages.
November 21, 2010
A novel by Michael and Douglas Chrichton set in the late sixties matching the emerging hippie culture with the staid, "clueless" parents and authority figures.
The title represents the hero's girl friend bringing a load of pot across the company and the airline losing the baggage. When she tries to claim them, she is arrested and the hero has to figure a way to get her free. There's a crooked FBI agent who waylaid half the load and the boyfriend knows it.
The title represents the hero's girl friend bringing a load of pot across the company and the airline losing the baggage. When she tries to claim them, she is arrested and the hero has to figure a way to get her free. There's a crooked FBI agent who waylaid half the load and the boyfriend knows it.
June 9, 2013
One of the strangest books I have ever read, really hard to imagine that Michael Crichton is the one who wrote it! Makes me think he had a secret life as a pot head. Regardless, if you want a taste of what it must have been like to be a dealer or a hippie drug dealer in the early 70s, this book is for you. Got it from my dad to read, no therapy needed there! But I found it strangely engaging, and you can really see what a great author Crichton would become.
March 17, 2016
This book starts off really strangely, with a chapter written in second-person and then switched to a first-person perspective that reminded me a bit too much of the "Catcher in the Rye" (one of my least favorite books). However, as I read on I was more absorbed into the story and really enjoyed the story.
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May 7, 2015
The plot is sparse and the climax is weak; the inner monologue of the protagonist is what keeps this book interesting. The slang of the late '60s and early '70s is delightful, and frequently used in ways I we previously unfamiliar with - sometimes to the extent that I wondered if Michael Crichton was just too square to get it right. Not spectacular, but enjoyable.
January 12, 2016
Another blast from the past and a new Michael Crichton pseudonym. I believe he wrote this one with his younger brother, or something like that. I know it's yet another drug novel about kids transporting a huge brick of marijuana across state lines with the hope to sell it. Not that much of a remarkable nor memorable book, but an experience none that same.
danny
danny
June 2, 2013
Not my favorite Michael Crichton work the first two thirds was pretty hard to get through but I really enjoyed the last third. You catch glimpses of his tight narration there. From another author I would have passed on this story but I had to read it for my work on reading all of his stories.
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