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Florida Palms
New York Times Editors’ Choice
A Best Crime Debut of 2025, CrimeReads
A Best Crime/Mystery of 2025, Library Journal
A Best Mystery Debut of 2025, Sun Sentinel
New York Times Book Review: "An overall vibe of doom — a musky, Florida-specific stew of sweat, blood, swamp gas and amphetamine addiction."
The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy in this gripping debut about a group of young men dragged into a drug-running operation.
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.
A Best Crime Debut of 2025, CrimeReads
A Best Crime/Mystery of 2025, Library Journal
A Best Mystery Debut of 2025, Sun Sentinel
New York Times Book Review: "An overall vibe of doom — a musky, Florida-specific stew of sweat, blood, swamp gas and amphetamine addiction."
The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy in this gripping debut about a group of young men dragged into a drug-running operation.
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.
480 pages, Hardcover
Published July 22, 2025
82 people are currently reading
7768 people want to read
About the author
Joe Pan
12 books80 followersJoe Pan’s debut literary crime thriller, FLORIDA PALMS, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice pick published by Simon & Schuster in July 2025, was called “A must read” in a starred review in Library Journal and “a musky, Florida-specific stew of sweat, blood, swamp gas and amphetamine addiction” in The New York Times Book Review. The novel has been optioned for a TV series by HBO.
Author of five poetry collections, Joe Pan has work that appeared in such publications as the Boston Review, Hyperallergic, the New York Times, and Poets & Writers, and has been profiled by CrimeReads, New York Post, Publishers Weekly, the Rumpus, and the Wall Street Journal. Joe is the founding publisher and editor-in-chief of Brooklyn Arts Press, a small press honored with a National Book Award in Poetry, and is publisher of Augury Books, honored with a Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry. With his wife he co-founded Brooklyn Artists Helping (BAH), which serves unhoused populations.
Author of five poetry collections, Joe Pan has work that appeared in such publications as the Boston Review, Hyperallergic, the New York Times, and Poets & Writers, and has been profiled by CrimeReads, New York Post, Publishers Weekly, the Rumpus, and the Wall Street Journal. Joe is the founding publisher and editor-in-chief of Brooklyn Arts Press, a small press honored with a National Book Award in Poetry, and is publisher of Augury Books, honored with a Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry. With his wife he co-founded Brooklyn Artists Helping (BAH), which serves unhoused populations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
October 3, 2025
If you read my reviews then you know I am a giant fan of what I call Florida Fiction by authors like Carl Haasen, Dave Barry and Tim Dorsey. So when I got an offer for an advance reader copy of this book I assumed it would be of the Florida Fiction ilk but boy was I wrong!
This was more akin to literary fiction and while some of the elements that make Florida Fiction what it is were present, like Characters ingesting drugs then making terrible decisions, the story was serious and dark and there were no Madcap storylines that ultimately intersect.
Someone cleverly described this strong debut as The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy but I wouldn't agree with that. That's not to say it isn't any good, it is but I just think that description is misleading. Set in 2009 along Florida's Space Coast, the story follows Eddy as he makes a variety of terrible decisions after graduating from high school (no spoilers to ruin anything for other readers!).
It's a good story, a bit long-winded and verbose at times but you can tell the author thought about each and every word. I wasn't surprised to learn after finishing the book via the acknowledgments and author bio that he is a poet, and he grew up where the story takes place. Readers seeking uncomfortable literary fiction with hard edges would do well to pick this book up.
Disclosure: Received an uncorrected ARC of this book from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Thank you!) in exchange for an honest review.
This was more akin to literary fiction and while some of the elements that make Florida Fiction what it is were present, like Characters ingesting drugs then making terrible decisions, the story was serious and dark and there were no Madcap storylines that ultimately intersect.
Someone cleverly described this strong debut as The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy but I wouldn't agree with that. That's not to say it isn't any good, it is but I just think that description is misleading. Set in 2009 along Florida's Space Coast, the story follows Eddy as he makes a variety of terrible decisions after graduating from high school (no spoilers to ruin anything for other readers!).
It's a good story, a bit long-winded and verbose at times but you can tell the author thought about each and every word. I wasn't surprised to learn after finishing the book via the acknowledgments and author bio that he is a poet, and he grew up where the story takes place. Readers seeking uncomfortable literary fiction with hard edges would do well to pick this book up.
Disclosure: Received an uncorrected ARC of this book from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Thank you!) in exchange for an honest review.
July 14, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ This is a gritty, slow burn of a crime thriller and I Ioved it! I read that Joe Pan is a poet and it translates to some of the most intensely descriptive prose that kept me absorbed in the story!
Set in Fl in 2009, it focuses on the lives of high school friends Eddy and Cueball. Their lives change forever and they are set on a path of destruction when Cueball’s Dad, Bird, hires them as runners in his new designer drug business.
Filled with characters I loved and hated, I was engrossed in the plight of the struggles of the friends to make their way in a world they found increasingly dangerous.
There is a lot of back stabbing, violence, murder, and mayhem along the lines of Sons of Anarchy. The ending was perfect. Soon to be an HBO series I hear.
Thank you NetGalley, Simon & ShusterPublishers, and author Joe Pan for the opportunity to read an ARC of this amazing story for my honest review.
Set in Fl in 2009, it focuses on the lives of high school friends Eddy and Cueball. Their lives change forever and they are set on a path of destruction when Cueball’s Dad, Bird, hires them as runners in his new designer drug business.
Filled with characters I loved and hated, I was engrossed in the plight of the struggles of the friends to make their way in a world they found increasingly dangerous.
There is a lot of back stabbing, violence, murder, and mayhem along the lines of Sons of Anarchy. The ending was perfect. Soon to be an HBO series I hear.
Thank you NetGalley, Simon & ShusterPublishers, and author Joe Pan for the opportunity to read an ARC of this amazing story for my honest review.
December 6, 2025
2009 noirish,
Coming of Age Story
about two Floridian, teenage boys who, after high school graduation, self-sabotage themselves by getting in the game.
Eddy and Cueball, new high school graduates in Palm Bay, Florida, start "the crazy-ass life they'd imagined for themselves post-graduation".
My audiobook copy was 16 hours long. A dead tree copy would have been 480 pages. Both editions had a 2025 copyright.
Joe Pan is an American poet and magazine writer. This is his first published novel.
The narrator was Charlie Thurston . He's an American actor and voice actor. He did a good job with both the male and female voices.
TL;DR Review
This is a crime novel. Things go from good to bad to worse for two young men who start out as friends. It's chock full of weird, and sometimes wonderful characters, most of whom you wouldn't want to introduce to your family. The prose is a bit too florid overall, coming from the poet author. The story could also have been trimmed by using fewer POVs. A better ending could also have been found. A read not for the faint of heart.
The Review
I’m a fan of Floridian noir. I've also lived in Florida for a while, with a short stint during the Obama administration. However, this book is set in the parts that I mostly studiously avoided. That helped me get into the story. Pan's narrative is not as OTT as you'd think. As an aside, the title comes from the palm tree inked on "The Club" member's wrist.
Pan is a novice novelist, but he has some magazine mileage. Dialogue is good, feeling then hip, although I've forgotten how folks spoke 18 years ago. Descriptive prose was clever, but also wobbly. The author, a poet, waxed poetic too often. Some descriptions need fewer words.
The characters were mostly rough, sometimes bizarre examples of the folks in or on the edges of the Florida drug trade. They illustrate the chaotic, multi-layered hierarchy of the narcotics trade. Drugs, a dog pack hierarchy, easy money, and aberrant behavior make them as volatile as sweaty, old dynamite.
The novel's POVs are: Eddy, Cueball, Gin, Gumby, Del Rey, and Jesse. It's about three too many. Eddy is the first amongst equals of narrators and the nominal protagonist. He's caught between what he wants and what he needs. Still being a kid, with no real parental figure, and on the margins of poverty, he takes the easy way out. Cueball is Eddy's lifelong best friend. He's initially a protagonist. He slides into the trade and becomes addicted right away. It doesn't hurt that his father is a principal in the enterprise and exerts coercive control over him. Cueball's father is also influential on Eddy. Gin is Eddy's love interest and an old soul, also with parental issues. Young love and being "in the game" don't mix. Gumby is a grotesquerie. He's the enforcer for The Club and a psychopath. Del Rey and Jesse are interesting additions, but they unnecessarily lengthen the story.
Antagonists are Bird, Cueball's father, a retired biker and gang member, and Caesar, a very methodical drug lord. Both are ruthless and uncaring about the world around them. Bird makes an exception for his son, Cueball, and Caesar for his nephew, Jesse. (The Club is a family business.)
The story also features a host of supporting characters from "The Game", the demimonde, and the working poor. True to the genre, there's the femme Fatale (Gin's mother), corrupt cops, gaggles of morally ambiguous bikers, gang bangers, thieves, hangers-on, tweakers, dropouts, prostitutes, thugs, and drug lords.
Plotting was problematic. The first half of the book is Eddy and Cueball's story. It's a bog-standard, coming-of-age story about lost youths among the working poor on the Florida Space Coast. It's not pretty, but their struggles are very real. Then the book becomes a business case for the production, marketing, and distribution of designer drugs. Rivalries, betrayals, and violence between employers, employees, and competitors are included. Eddy and Cueball's story gets lost in this, only to surface at the very end. The book was too long on the drug business and too short on the ending.
The story contains sex, drugs, rock' n' roll, and extreme violence.
Sex is descriptive, but shy of graphic. Sex is both gay and straight. "Diverse consensual expressions" are included. Pornography is consumed. Sexual harassment is endemic to the narrative. Tobacco, alcohol, hard, and softcore drugs are consumed in both moderation and in excess. Addiction is a theme in the story. There is a selection of early 2000s Rock and Pop music, as well as video games that were popular among teens. Although none of them were memorable.
Violence is severe. It's physical, edged weapons, and firearms. The violence can be spontaneous at times. Folks take severe beatings, knifings, and gunshot wounds. Note that violence against animals and accidental violence against a child occur. The protagonists endure regular beatings, but are remarkably resilient considering their lifestyle. Resulting trauma is described with moderate detail; the body count is moderate.
The story takes place in and around Palm Bay, Florida . Although there are scenes in Miami, rural Georgia, and rural points west of Palm Bay. I'm familiar with the area, having spent time in nearby Merritt Island, Florida . Although I didn't spend as much time on the cheating side of town as the characters did, Pan's descriptions of locations were apt.
Summary
This story is a noirish crime novel, set amongst the working poor of Florida's Space Coast during the Great Recession.
In places this story reminded me of Elmore Leonard or James Ellroy unleashed in 21st-century Florida.
This was Pan's first novel, so you have to give him some slack. It had some good characters. In places, the prose was vaguely purple, as the poet in the author exerted themselves. (The author should have kept it on a firmer leash.) Events were bizarre, but within the realm of possibility, if you're familiar with what can happen in Florida. However, he loses his story in the back third and provides a poor ending to a long-overdue bad situation.
A reasonable effort, not for the faint of heart, or those looking for a cozy read.
Eddy and Cueball, new high school graduates in Palm Bay, Florida, start "the crazy-ass life they'd imagined for themselves post-graduation".
My audiobook copy was 16 hours long. A dead tree copy would have been 480 pages. Both editions had a 2025 copyright.
Joe Pan is an American poet and magazine writer. This is his first published novel.
The narrator was Charlie Thurston . He's an American actor and voice actor. He did a good job with both the male and female voices.
TL;DR Review
"Bad choices make good stories." -- Margaret TrudeauIn 2009, during the Great Recession , two underachieving, Floridian Space Coast, new high school graduates, Eddy and Cueball, get on board with a new business, The Club, moving a new designer drug. There's big money in it for a young man with small prospects. Their bad decisions eventually lead to addiction, betrayals, and a cascade of increasing violence.
This is a crime novel. Things go from good to bad to worse for two young men who start out as friends. It's chock full of weird, and sometimes wonderful characters, most of whom you wouldn't want to introduce to your family. The prose is a bit too florid overall, coming from the poet author. The story could also have been trimmed by using fewer POVs. A better ending could also have been found. A read not for the faint of heart.
The Review
I’m a fan of Floridian noir. I've also lived in Florida for a while, with a short stint during the Obama administration. However, this book is set in the parts that I mostly studiously avoided. That helped me get into the story. Pan's narrative is not as OTT as you'd think. As an aside, the title comes from the palm tree inked on "The Club" member's wrist.
Pan is a novice novelist, but he has some magazine mileage. Dialogue is good, feeling then hip, although I've forgotten how folks spoke 18 years ago. Descriptive prose was clever, but also wobbly. The author, a poet, waxed poetic too often. Some descriptions need fewer words.
The characters were mostly rough, sometimes bizarre examples of the folks in or on the edges of the Florida drug trade. They illustrate the chaotic, multi-layered hierarchy of the narcotics trade. Drugs, a dog pack hierarchy, easy money, and aberrant behavior make them as volatile as sweaty, old dynamite.
The novel's POVs are: Eddy, Cueball, Gin, Gumby, Del Rey, and Jesse. It's about three too many. Eddy is the first amongst equals of narrators and the nominal protagonist. He's caught between what he wants and what he needs. Still being a kid, with no real parental figure, and on the margins of poverty, he takes the easy way out. Cueball is Eddy's lifelong best friend. He's initially a protagonist. He slides into the trade and becomes addicted right away. It doesn't hurt that his father is a principal in the enterprise and exerts coercive control over him. Cueball's father is also influential on Eddy. Gin is Eddy's love interest and an old soul, also with parental issues. Young love and being "in the game" don't mix. Gumby is a grotesquerie. He's the enforcer for The Club and a psychopath. Del Rey and Jesse are interesting additions, but they unnecessarily lengthen the story.
Antagonists are Bird, Cueball's father, a retired biker and gang member, and Caesar, a very methodical drug lord. Both are ruthless and uncaring about the world around them. Bird makes an exception for his son, Cueball, and Caesar for his nephew, Jesse. (The Club is a family business.)
The story also features a host of supporting characters from "The Game", the demimonde, and the working poor. True to the genre, there's the femme Fatale (Gin's mother), corrupt cops, gaggles of morally ambiguous bikers, gang bangers, thieves, hangers-on, tweakers, dropouts, prostitutes, thugs, and drug lords.
Plotting was problematic. The first half of the book is Eddy and Cueball's story. It's a bog-standard, coming-of-age story about lost youths among the working poor on the Florida Space Coast. It's not pretty, but their struggles are very real. Then the book becomes a business case for the production, marketing, and distribution of designer drugs. Rivalries, betrayals, and violence between employers, employees, and competitors are included. Eddy and Cueball's story gets lost in this, only to surface at the very end. The book was too long on the drug business and too short on the ending.
The story contains sex, drugs, rock' n' roll, and extreme violence.
Sex is descriptive, but shy of graphic. Sex is both gay and straight. "Diverse consensual expressions" are included. Pornography is consumed. Sexual harassment is endemic to the narrative. Tobacco, alcohol, hard, and softcore drugs are consumed in both moderation and in excess. Addiction is a theme in the story. There is a selection of early 2000s Rock and Pop music, as well as video games that were popular among teens. Although none of them were memorable.
Violence is severe. It's physical, edged weapons, and firearms. The violence can be spontaneous at times. Folks take severe beatings, knifings, and gunshot wounds. Note that violence against animals and accidental violence against a child occur. The protagonists endure regular beatings, but are remarkably resilient considering their lifestyle. Resulting trauma is described with moderate detail; the body count is moderate.
The story takes place in and around Palm Bay, Florida . Although there are scenes in Miami, rural Georgia, and rural points west of Palm Bay. I'm familiar with the area, having spent time in nearby Merritt Island, Florida . Although I didn't spend as much time on the cheating side of town as the characters did, Pan's descriptions of locations were apt.
Summary
This story is a noirish crime novel, set amongst the working poor of Florida's Space Coast during the Great Recession.
In places this story reminded me of Elmore Leonard or James Ellroy unleashed in 21st-century Florida.
This was Pan's first novel, so you have to give him some slack. It had some good characters. In places, the prose was vaguely purple, as the poet in the author exerted themselves. (The author should have kept it on a firmer leash.) Events were bizarre, but within the realm of possibility, if you're familiar with what can happen in Florida. However, he loses his story in the back third and provides a poor ending to a long-overdue bad situation.
A reasonable effort, not for the faint of heart, or those looking for a cozy read.
January 31, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the free eARC!
I was a huge fan of “Sons of Anarchy” when it first aired, so when the first line of the description said this was “The Outsiders” meets “Sons of Anarchy”, I knew I wanted to give this a read!
The story centers on best friends, Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse. Three young adults that are trying to come into their own on Florida’s Space Coast during the recession of the late 2000’s. Cueball’s ex-convict, biker dad runs a furniture moving company, so Eddy and Cueball get jobs there, and this quickly turns to a more nefarious job when Cueball’s dad decides to get back in the biker gang life, and has the boys running “shank”, a new designer drug that’s taking the East coast by storm. Both boys are tested, and things go off the rails.
This book was so well written! The writing absolutely absorbed me. I got through this in less than 24 hours somehow. I just couldn’t put it down. Keep in mind, this is a slow burn. It’s not as action packed as “Sons of Anarchy”, but it doesn’t need to be, and it doesn’t make it any less gripping. Can’t wait to read more of Joe Pan’s work!
I was a huge fan of “Sons of Anarchy” when it first aired, so when the first line of the description said this was “The Outsiders” meets “Sons of Anarchy”, I knew I wanted to give this a read!
The story centers on best friends, Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse. Three young adults that are trying to come into their own on Florida’s Space Coast during the recession of the late 2000’s. Cueball’s ex-convict, biker dad runs a furniture moving company, so Eddy and Cueball get jobs there, and this quickly turns to a more nefarious job when Cueball’s dad decides to get back in the biker gang life, and has the boys running “shank”, a new designer drug that’s taking the East coast by storm. Both boys are tested, and things go off the rails.
This book was so well written! The writing absolutely absorbed me. I got through this in less than 24 hours somehow. I just couldn’t put it down. Keep in mind, this is a slow burn. It’s not as action packed as “Sons of Anarchy”, but it doesn’t need to be, and it doesn’t make it any less gripping. Can’t wait to read more of Joe Pan’s work!
July 18, 2025
Florida Palms by Joe Pan. Thanks to @simonbooks #simonbooksbuddy for the gifted copy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Eddie and Cueball have just started their adult life’s after high school but it’s 2009 in Florida and the recession hit hard. When they join a new job shipping a designer drug up the coast, their lives spiral.
When I heard the Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy, I knew I had to read this one. It’s a passionate tale, with action, betrayal, and heart. It is on the slower side and takes some time to read, but it’s worth it. The characters are well done and so is the atmosphere.
“What power responsible for this bright blue empty heaven required so much from them? The crazy-ass life they’d imagined for themselves post-graduation - epic parties and mailbox baseball and fumbling sex in the back rows of the dollar theater - had quickly buckled under the unforgiving gravity of food costs and bills, as they were now expected to pay their own way through life.”
Florida Palms comes out 7/22.
Eddie and Cueball have just started their adult life’s after high school but it’s 2009 in Florida and the recession hit hard. When they join a new job shipping a designer drug up the coast, their lives spiral.
When I heard the Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy, I knew I had to read this one. It’s a passionate tale, with action, betrayal, and heart. It is on the slower side and takes some time to read, but it’s worth it. The characters are well done and so is the atmosphere.
“What power responsible for this bright blue empty heaven required so much from them? The crazy-ass life they’d imagined for themselves post-graduation - epic parties and mailbox baseball and fumbling sex in the back rows of the dollar theater - had quickly buckled under the unforgiving gravity of food costs and bills, as they were now expected to pay their own way through life.”
Florida Palms comes out 7/22.
January 25, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the free eARC.
This is a you had me at hello experience as the tagline for the book mentioned Sons of Anarchy and the outsiders which are two of my favorite pieces of content.
The story revolves around a group of three best friends who live in Florida’s Space Coast during the early 2000’s. The boys start working at a motorcycle shop with a relative and the adventure/action starts from there. There’s drugs, sex, and and rock and roll that ensues.
This book is a total page turner/binge read, but not because every page is lined with shit blowing up. There is more nuance to the story which makes it more enjoyable. Even though the book isn’t all action all the time it’s still one you can read in a few sittings because the plot keeps you wanting more.
This is a you had me at hello experience as the tagline for the book mentioned Sons of Anarchy and the outsiders which are two of my favorite pieces of content.
The story revolves around a group of three best friends who live in Florida’s Space Coast during the early 2000’s. The boys start working at a motorcycle shop with a relative and the adventure/action starts from there. There’s drugs, sex, and and rock and roll that ensues.
This book is a total page turner/binge read, but not because every page is lined with shit blowing up. There is more nuance to the story which makes it more enjoyable. Even though the book isn’t all action all the time it’s still one you can read in a few sittings because the plot keeps you wanting more.
December 27, 2025
I received a copy for review purposes. All opinions are honest and mine alone.
This book arrived in my mailbox during the late summer. It was a substitute for another title I’d won in a GR Giveaway when stock was short. It took months and many attempts to actually get the book read. This is not my type of book but in trying to honor the author and spirit of the Giveaway program, I persevered; here we go.
To spare time, I won’t recap the storyline, the publisher’s blurb is adequate with one giant exception. Nowhere in the marketing material is there any indication of how truly dark the book is. Violence, abuse, (multiple kinds), complete disregard for human life, cruelty and on and on.
Adding to the above is that author, Joe Pan, is a poet. His prose is over flowing with abundance and descriptors that will have even the most astute readers clicking on their dictionary apps for assistance. It’s simply too much, overwritten and lengthened a story that already needed the editor to wake up and do their job.
Characters are the strongest element of this book. They would have even been better if at least one or two of them was granted a bit of growth and success. Pan has been blessed to have this book picked up by HBO to be developed into a series. It will be interesting to see if the focus is on the three friends or the dark underbelly of Space Coast Florida during the recession of 2009.
Recommended for those who read dark noir mysteries, Florida period fiction, coming of age, and all with NC-17 rated violence, sexual content, language, drugs, abuse of humans and animals; this one’s hard core📚
Read and Reviewed from a GoodReads GiveAway with thanks to the author and publisher
This book arrived in my mailbox during the late summer. It was a substitute for another title I’d won in a GR Giveaway when stock was short. It took months and many attempts to actually get the book read. This is not my type of book but in trying to honor the author and spirit of the Giveaway program, I persevered; here we go.
To spare time, I won’t recap the storyline, the publisher’s blurb is adequate with one giant exception. Nowhere in the marketing material is there any indication of how truly dark the book is. Violence, abuse, (multiple kinds), complete disregard for human life, cruelty and on and on.
Adding to the above is that author, Joe Pan, is a poet. His prose is over flowing with abundance and descriptors that will have even the most astute readers clicking on their dictionary apps for assistance. It’s simply too much, overwritten and lengthened a story that already needed the editor to wake up and do their job.
Characters are the strongest element of this book. They would have even been better if at least one or two of them was granted a bit of growth and success. Pan has been blessed to have this book picked up by HBO to be developed into a series. It will be interesting to see if the focus is on the three friends or the dark underbelly of Space Coast Florida during the recession of 2009.
Recommended for those who read dark noir mysteries, Florida period fiction, coming of age, and all with NC-17 rated violence, sexual content, language, drugs, abuse of humans and animals; this one’s hard core📚
Read and Reviewed from a GoodReads GiveAway with thanks to the author and publisher
November 5, 2025
wow, this book is like no other book i've read before. what else, seeing the title and the cover already drew me in. and reading the synopsis? i was like, okay, i'm reading this book. right. now.
i'm not gonna lie to you, it was a bit hard for me to get into this book. but did that stop me? of course not! so here we are. this book gets 5 stars from me. (i already knew it since the first time i saw this book, can you believe that? i had this strong feeling it was going to be real good.)
first of all, i really liked the premise. a coming-of-age story about a drug-running operation, set in a city that's not really overrated and has its own uniqueness? best friends and brotherhood? that's all i need. something different. like gangs, bikers, and drugs. i'm lowkey a sucker for that.
sure, there are a lot of characters in this book, but i never felt confused by them. each one has their own story and unique personality. while reading, i couldn't wait to see how they would act and what they would become, or who they really are in this dangerous plan—the character development! even tho it includes some loss, betrayal, and hurt. but well, that's life. and that's what this book is about.
i really loved how Joe Pan writes the narrative about the setting. it wasn't boring at all. in fact, it was beautiful. it captured the beauty of the city, but also the gritty side of it when the scene shifted from a beautiful sky to sudden gunfire. idk if i'm making any sense or not, but yeah, you get it.
anw, my fav charas are Del Ray, Gin, and Bird! istg there's something about Del Ray (ignore me.)
i'm not gonna lie to you, it was a bit hard for me to get into this book. but did that stop me? of course not! so here we are. this book gets 5 stars from me. (i already knew it since the first time i saw this book, can you believe that? i had this strong feeling it was going to be real good.)
first of all, i really liked the premise. a coming-of-age story about a drug-running operation, set in a city that's not really overrated and has its own uniqueness? best friends and brotherhood? that's all i need. something different. like gangs, bikers, and drugs. i'm lowkey a sucker for that.
sure, there are a lot of characters in this book, but i never felt confused by them. each one has their own story and unique personality. while reading, i couldn't wait to see how they would act and what they would become, or who they really are in this dangerous plan—the character development! even tho it includes some loss, betrayal, and hurt. but well, that's life. and that's what this book is about.
i really loved how Joe Pan writes the narrative about the setting. it wasn't boring at all. in fact, it was beautiful. it captured the beauty of the city, but also the gritty side of it when the scene shifted from a beautiful sky to sudden gunfire. idk if i'm making any sense or not, but yeah, you get it.
anw, my fav charas are Del Ray, Gin, and Bird! istg there's something about Del Ray (ignore me.)
March 11, 2025
Thank you Simon & Schuster and Netgally for the e-arc.
Set during the 2009 recession, Florida Palms is the story of three friends who get pulled into a drug running operation.
Recent high school grads Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse are restless and directionless. Good jobs are scarce. Cueball’s dad is an ex-con biker who teams up with his former boss to put together an organization to manufacture & ship a new designer drug. Cueball and Eddy are recruited to deliver the drugs, while Jesse works on the manufacturing side. The drug operation is supposed to be a brotherhood, but the boys quickly find themselves surrounded by danger and violence.
I liked the premise of this book, but the execution wasn’t for me. I thought it would be a lot grittier and more southern noir. Instead I found it too verbose with many of the characters pontificating for far too long. Every time that happened, it brought the story to a screeching halt for me. There were things about the book I did like especially Eddy and Cueball. There was action and intrigue as the bosses fought for control of the organization. But ultimately, this wasn’t a favorite. My verdict: just ok 😐
Set during the 2009 recession, Florida Palms is the story of three friends who get pulled into a drug running operation.
Recent high school grads Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse are restless and directionless. Good jobs are scarce. Cueball’s dad is an ex-con biker who teams up with his former boss to put together an organization to manufacture & ship a new designer drug. Cueball and Eddy are recruited to deliver the drugs, while Jesse works on the manufacturing side. The drug operation is supposed to be a brotherhood, but the boys quickly find themselves surrounded by danger and violence.
I liked the premise of this book, but the execution wasn’t for me. I thought it would be a lot grittier and more southern noir. Instead I found it too verbose with many of the characters pontificating for far too long. Every time that happened, it brought the story to a screeching halt for me. There were things about the book I did like especially Eddy and Cueball. There was action and intrigue as the bosses fought for control of the organization. But ultimately, this wasn’t a favorite. My verdict: just ok 😐
July 14, 2025
I enjoyed this crime thriller based along the space coast of Florida. So many times youth are the product of their environment and it’s easy to fall into the culture and vibe of the people you are around. This is what happens with Eddie and Cueball. They go to work for Cueballs dad and then find themselves in the dark world of drugs and crime. You wonder why these young men don’t run from this life when they clearly don’t like it. Easier said than done.
I was mesmerized by the gritty and raw interaction between rivals, disloyal members of the group and the attempt at relationship s and coming to terms with your sexuality. There are so many layers to this novel. I never really felt hopeful or happy in this world. It seems like most of the people in this business only get out of this underbelly lifestyle by being killed. No thank you. Not the life for me.
This is a great debut novel for those who like mystery, crime thrillers.
I want to thank the author, NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced ready copy of this novel. This review is voluntary.
I was mesmerized by the gritty and raw interaction between rivals, disloyal members of the group and the attempt at relationship s and coming to terms with your sexuality. There are so many layers to this novel. I never really felt hopeful or happy in this world. It seems like most of the people in this business only get out of this underbelly lifestyle by being killed. No thank you. Not the life for me.
This is a great debut novel for those who like mystery, crime thrillers.
I want to thank the author, NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced ready copy of this novel. This review is voluntary.
July 7, 2025
Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse are fresh out of high school with zero job prospects. When Cueball’s biker dad ropes them into what looks like a simple moving job, it quickly turns into running drugs and dealing with some seriously wild characters, think meth zombies and a blowgun-wielding hitman!
It’s a gritty, no-BS story about friendship, loyalty, and how far you’ll go when life’s got you cornered. Joe Pan nails that mix of adrenaline and heart, making you root for these guys even as things spiral out of control.
⚡️Thank you Simon & Schuster and Joe Pan for sharing this book with me!
It’s a gritty, no-BS story about friendship, loyalty, and how far you’ll go when life’s got you cornered. Joe Pan nails that mix of adrenaline and heart, making you root for these guys even as things spiral out of control.
⚡️Thank you Simon & Schuster and Joe Pan for sharing this book with me!
August 22, 2025
Thank you Simon and Schuster and Joe Pan for an ARC!
Set in 2009 on Florida’s Space Coast during the recession, we follow best friends Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse as they struggle to find their place in a world offering them few options. Things take a dangerous turn when Cueball’s father hires them to work at his moving company, which turns out to be a front for running “Shank,” a new designer drug sweeping the East Coast. What follows is betrayal, violence, and chaos. What more could you want?? Even when Eddy and Cueball realize how dark things have gotten, escaping that life proves far more complicated than simply walking away. My only issue is that the pacing could've been better but still an impressive debut novel! This is also being adapted into a TV show on HBO which I'm absolutely ecstatic for and hope they do this book justice!
Set in 2009 on Florida’s Space Coast during the recession, we follow best friends Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse as they struggle to find their place in a world offering them few options. Things take a dangerous turn when Cueball’s father hires them to work at his moving company, which turns out to be a front for running “Shank,” a new designer drug sweeping the East Coast. What follows is betrayal, violence, and chaos. What more could you want?? Even when Eddy and Cueball realize how dark things have gotten, escaping that life proves far more complicated than simply walking away. My only issue is that the pacing could've been better but still an impressive debut novel! This is also being adapted into a TV show on HBO which I'm absolutely ecstatic for and hope they do this book justice!
July 31, 2025
“The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy”-that line in the synopsis hooked me instantly, and it couldn’t describe this book better. Florida Palms is definitely heartbreak and high stakes. It’s a gritty and often bleak ride through Florida’s Space Coast, where desperation and bad decisions start creeping in one choice at a time. The cover might hint at paradise, but what’s inside tells a different story. It’s so atmospheric, the air feels heavier with each page. Friends go from moving furniture to moving drugs.
It’s a slower paced but layered story. I don’t know a ton about motorcycles but the best analogy I can think of is this: it isn’t a Ducati ripping through sharp turns at top speed-it’s more like a vintage Harley rumbling down a long stretch of road. It’s steady and built to take its time laying the groundwork for one crazy story. Parts of it were hard to read, but the author does a great job showing the reality they’re living in -a world where the choices they make feel like the only ones they’ve got. Options might exist, but in their eyes, they never really looked like options at all.
It’s about loyalty, choices, betrayal, and violence. It’s about how your environment can sometimes seem to shape your fate. It’s about how the people around you…the pressure, the place-all of it pushes you in ways you don’t always see until it’s sometimes too late. The writing pulls you in, the atmosphere is dense, and honestly, I wasn’t prepared to be so absorbed in it. Strong and memorable debut! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It’s a slower paced but layered story. I don’t know a ton about motorcycles but the best analogy I can think of is this: it isn’t a Ducati ripping through sharp turns at top speed-it’s more like a vintage Harley rumbling down a long stretch of road. It’s steady and built to take its time laying the groundwork for one crazy story. Parts of it were hard to read, but the author does a great job showing the reality they’re living in -a world where the choices they make feel like the only ones they’ve got. Options might exist, but in their eyes, they never really looked like options at all.
It’s about loyalty, choices, betrayal, and violence. It’s about how your environment can sometimes seem to shape your fate. It’s about how the people around you…the pressure, the place-all of it pushes you in ways you don’t always see until it’s sometimes too late. The writing pulls you in, the atmosphere is dense, and honestly, I wasn’t prepared to be so absorbed in it. Strong and memorable debut! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 31, 2025
Very excited by this. The description sounds amazing.
June 20, 2025
The description and the amazing reviews caught my attention. Unfortunately this book is not for me. I found the prose overly complicated and hard to follow, and I wasn’t prepared for all the hunting/animal violence prevalent in just the first chapter alone. I found myself skimming to pass scenes I found upsetting. I eventually decided to DNF.
I would still suggest you try Florida Palms if the description appeals to you because I seem to be in the minority with my review. Maybe because I’ve never seen The Outsiders or Sons of Anarchy.
Thank you NetGalley and Simon Books for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
I would still suggest you try Florida Palms if the description appeals to you because I seem to be in the minority with my review. Maybe because I’ve never seen The Outsiders or Sons of Anarchy.
Thank you NetGalley and Simon Books for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
March 17, 2025
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this book! This is the type of book I absolutely devour. I’m a sucker for coming of age novels that follows a crew of teens (or young adults) really getting their footing in the real world.
The book itself was incredibly well written, and something that really hooked me from the start was the voice alone. I will say in comparison to others of the genre, you have to go in with the idea of it being slower on the update. This is the type of book that takes time to build up. It’s not meant to drop you into the middle of the action, but rather help you consider the world around for just a moment. However, when things really started getting going they were GOING SIDEWAYS FAST.
It is a unique style of coming-of-age that really hits home.
The book itself was incredibly well written, and something that really hooked me from the start was the voice alone. I will say in comparison to others of the genre, you have to go in with the idea of it being slower on the update. This is the type of book that takes time to build up. It’s not meant to drop you into the middle of the action, but rather help you consider the world around for just a moment. However, when things really started getting going they were GOING SIDEWAYS FAST.
It is a unique style of coming-of-age that really hits home.
October 19, 2025
I felt that the book was well written while some of the characters seem to be a bit cliché. The book deals with fathers and sons and pseudo fathers and sons in a way that I felt was compelling, but some of the characters motivations seem to change at the drop of a hat and was not consistent with their previous actions. The book really captured the space coast and the cities around there, and I felt that it was a good melt of Elmore Leonard. And Carl Hiaasen in capturing the characters and scenery of Central Florida. Overall, I would recommend the book with the caveat that it may not be for everyone due to the amount of violence. One note would be that the female characters are one note and not very well developed compared to their male counterparts.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review
I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review
July 9, 2025
Florida Palms is the debut novel from Joe Pan. He has previously some poetry volumes.
"It's 2009, the height of the Great Recession. Best friends Eddy, Cueball and Jesse are fresh out of high school with no jobs to be found. They go to work as movers with Cueball's dad. Soon they are moving more than furniture and the money is rolling in - and so are the problems - turf wars, crazed bikers, meth zombies and a blowgun-wielding hitman. The young friends are caught up in the crime life with some tough decisions to make."
This is a gritty crime fiction story. One difference from other crime fiction I've read is that this is all told from the POV of the criminals. There is zero law enforcement presence, except for a couple of corrupt cops at the end. There is one likable character. Everyone else is a drug-addicted criminal making terrible decisions. Pan tries to make them sypathetic with the context of the recession. He asks the question - "Do people have a choice in who and what they become?"
Much of the writing is highly descriptive and lyrical - feels like the author's poet self is poking through. It was a bit much at times. And there's a constant barrage of poor decisions leading to violence and conflict. There's some great character names - Cueball, Gumby.
Interesting debut from Pan.
"It's 2009, the height of the Great Recession. Best friends Eddy, Cueball and Jesse are fresh out of high school with no jobs to be found. They go to work as movers with Cueball's dad. Soon they are moving more than furniture and the money is rolling in - and so are the problems - turf wars, crazed bikers, meth zombies and a blowgun-wielding hitman. The young friends are caught up in the crime life with some tough decisions to make."
This is a gritty crime fiction story. One difference from other crime fiction I've read is that this is all told from the POV of the criminals. There is zero law enforcement presence, except for a couple of corrupt cops at the end. There is one likable character. Everyone else is a drug-addicted criminal making terrible decisions. Pan tries to make them sypathetic with the context of the recession. He asks the question - "Do people have a choice in who and what they become?"
Much of the writing is highly descriptive and lyrical - feels like the author's poet self is poking through. It was a bit much at times. And there's a constant barrage of poor decisions leading to violence and conflict. There's some great character names - Cueball, Gumby.
Interesting debut from Pan.
August 20, 2025
I read this book in 2 days!!! after hearing Mr. Pan speak in Melbourne at the Barnes & Nobles. He was on NPR a couple days before and made a good case for picking it up and I got hooked! I love the "Outsiders" and this is a grownup version. The characters are very memorable. The book is very intense but written well. Poetry in places, and like I said intense. Cant wait for the next book!
August 9, 2025
Great characters and atmosphere, I was so hooked for the first 200ish pages. Starts to get too long winded in like the wrong places, it began to drag for me in areas where I felt like the pacing would pick up but it all kinda devolves. It shows that the writer is a poet with so many gorgeous passages but with that there are just as many overwritten points, moments where characters get too unbelievably philosophical, etc. If it was a slightly shorter, tighter book it would be great. It just starts to grow sideways.
April 28, 2025
Huge thank you to Joe Pan and Simon and Schuster for sending me this ARC and giving me the opportunity to read this amazing thriller. The tag line says it all when its THE OUTSIDERS meets the SONS OF ANARCHY.
The pacing on this book is slower than many thrillers, but in this case works so well for the story leaving time to both develop characters a bit more than the many thriller does. There are many places where the reader is transported to the thoughts of the characters and their emotional states dealing with these devastating and violent events. It also allows for some great descriptive language to be used, which Joe obviously has a knack for.\
The story itself is the tag line. It three boys coming of age while circumstances have forced them inside a criminal organization and they find themselves in the midst of territory wars between rivals and betrayal from friends.
This book is often violent, but not overdone for the sake of being shocking, but lives up to the brutality that would be needed to make the story of a cartel biker gang believable.
I could not recommend this any higher, definitely one of the best reads of the year and sure to be a reading highlight for 2025!!
The pacing on this book is slower than many thrillers, but in this case works so well for the story leaving time to both develop characters a bit more than the many thriller does. There are many places where the reader is transported to the thoughts of the characters and their emotional states dealing with these devastating and violent events. It also allows for some great descriptive language to be used, which Joe obviously has a knack for.\
The story itself is the tag line. It three boys coming of age while circumstances have forced them inside a criminal organization and they find themselves in the midst of territory wars between rivals and betrayal from friends.
This book is often violent, but not overdone for the sake of being shocking, but lives up to the brutality that would be needed to make the story of a cartel biker gang believable.
I could not recommend this any higher, definitely one of the best reads of the year and sure to be a reading highlight for 2025!!
August 8, 2025
Job well done!! 4.5⭐️
October 19, 2025
This was a three-star reading experience for me — well, listening experience since I did audio. GREAT narrator, by the way. It’s a Florida story of guns, drugs, and bad decisions. I’m giving it four stars because the writer is very talented. He really is. I do not like any of his characters, because they are all bad people, but if he ever decided to write a book with characters I liked, I would be all over it. His ear for dialogue is really impressive, and you can’t beat the setting . It is definitely Florida. While I can’t enthusiastically recommend this one because I spent too much time wishing I was almost done with it, I would still read this author again and give him another chance to see if I’d liked his next story better.
August 7, 2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Masterpiece of Literary Crime Fiction
**FLORIDA PALMS** by Joe Pan is nothing short of extraordinary. a novel that transcends genre boundaries to deliver something truly sublime. This is what happens when a poet turns their hand to crime fiction: you get prose so luminous, so precisely crafted, that every sentence feels like it could be underlined.
Pan's writing reminded me immediately of William R. Soldan's work: that same ability to find poetry in darkness, to elevate the gritty and noir into something approaching the sacred. But Pan has his own distinct voice, one that pulses with the humid, electric energy of Florida itself.
What struck me most was how quotable this novel is. I found myself slowing down, savoring passages, sometimes reading entire pages aloud just to feel the rhythm of Pan's sentences. This is a book that demands to be experienced rather than simply consumed. each chapter something devastating and beautiful.
The crime elements never feel like mere plot mechanics; instead, they serve as the dark canvas against which Pan paints his characters' most human moments. The language is so rich, so precisely chosen, that I genuinely paced myself while reading, not wanting to rush through what might be one of the most linguistically stunning novels I've encountered in years.
This is literary crime fiction at its absolute finest. proof that genre boundaries are meaningless when you're in the hands of a true artist. **FLORIDA PALMS** is essential reading for anyone who believes that crime fiction can be both visceral and transcendent.
A genuine masterpiece. Don't just read this book, experience it.
**FLORIDA PALMS** by Joe Pan is nothing short of extraordinary. a novel that transcends genre boundaries to deliver something truly sublime. This is what happens when a poet turns their hand to crime fiction: you get prose so luminous, so precisely crafted, that every sentence feels like it could be underlined.
Pan's writing reminded me immediately of William R. Soldan's work: that same ability to find poetry in darkness, to elevate the gritty and noir into something approaching the sacred. But Pan has his own distinct voice, one that pulses with the humid, electric energy of Florida itself.
What struck me most was how quotable this novel is. I found myself slowing down, savoring passages, sometimes reading entire pages aloud just to feel the rhythm of Pan's sentences. This is a book that demands to be experienced rather than simply consumed. each chapter something devastating and beautiful.
The crime elements never feel like mere plot mechanics; instead, they serve as the dark canvas against which Pan paints his characters' most human moments. The language is so rich, so precisely chosen, that I genuinely paced myself while reading, not wanting to rush through what might be one of the most linguistically stunning novels I've encountered in years.
This is literary crime fiction at its absolute finest. proof that genre boundaries are meaningless when you're in the hands of a true artist. **FLORIDA PALMS** is essential reading for anyone who believes that crime fiction can be both visceral and transcendent.
A genuine masterpiece. Don't just read this book, experience it.
July 19, 2025
Florida Palms is a coming-of-age crime thriller like nothing I've read before. The story focuses on Eddy, Cueball, and Jesse, three friends just out of high school, looking to find their way in the world. But the difficult economy in Florida in the late 2000s means jobs are hard to come by and options are limited. After joining the furniture moving company that Cueball's father owns, a much more lucrative opportunity presents itself. It turns out, Cueball's ex-con father wasn't done living a life of crime after all, and soon the trio hesitantly begin running a new designer drug up the East Coast.
What begins as a great way to make quick money soon goes off the rails and results in betrayal, turf wars, drug addiction, and bloodshed. The Brotherhood fractures as the big picture comes into focus, and the young men struggle with where to place their loyalties. They're tested in unthinkable ways that somehow feel entirely plausible considering their circumstances.
Pan's writing is beautifully immersive, taking grisly scenes and describing them in a profoundly poetic way. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller. The slow-burn story feels like it's meant to be savored, allowing you to pause and appreciate the writing just as much as the story. It's so deeply human, raw, and unfiltered, and it was easy to get lost in the story. I've become an instant fan of Joe Pan, and I can't wait to see what he writes next.
5 stars.
Thanks to Joe Pan and Simon and Schuster for an eARC of this novel.
What begins as a great way to make quick money soon goes off the rails and results in betrayal, turf wars, drug addiction, and bloodshed. The Brotherhood fractures as the big picture comes into focus, and the young men struggle with where to place their loyalties. They're tested in unthinkable ways that somehow feel entirely plausible considering their circumstances.
Pan's writing is beautifully immersive, taking grisly scenes and describing them in a profoundly poetic way. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller. The slow-burn story feels like it's meant to be savored, allowing you to pause and appreciate the writing just as much as the story. It's so deeply human, raw, and unfiltered, and it was easy to get lost in the story. I've become an instant fan of Joe Pan, and I can't wait to see what he writes next.
5 stars.
Thanks to Joe Pan and Simon and Schuster for an eARC of this novel.
June 25, 2025
Three friends who grew up together and went to school together find themselves in search of jobs once they finish school and find themselves in the midst of what is described to them as “furniture delivery”. They go up from the coast of Florida and make several stops along the way up the East coast of the United States. The business grows to include many more people and cover much more territory and of course grows more dangerous. Don’t want to spoil the book so I won’t say more. Interesting read.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.
August 18, 2025
The elevator pitch “The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy” is what hooked me. I would add Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to the pitch.
I really wanted to like Florida Palms, Joe Pan’s debut novel, but I found it to be a mixed literary bag. This novel about three recent high school grads who go to work for a moving company and soon find themselves trafficking a hot new designer drug has many ups and downs. Joe Pan, a well-known poet, offers moments of brilliance with some beautiful descriptive writing that sings on the page. Pan offers a large cast of interesting, memorable characters like Eddy, Cueball, Bird, Gin, Del Ray, Seizer, the twins Duke and Lisbon, Gumby, and Jesse. But much of the good is buried under an avalanche of overly flowery prose that sacrifices sense to literary styling, and rambling passages of philosophical ruminating that brought the narrative to a standstill numerous times.
Florida Palms is an engaging story in need of a good editor who could have cut 100 pages and made it a more streamlined, focused story without sacrificing anything critical. As it was, I struggled to finish the book. Joe Pan is definitely a talented writer and I look forward to his next novel. Hopefully he will learn in his follow-up effort that using fewer words to tell the tale is usually a better approach.
I really wanted to like Florida Palms, Joe Pan’s debut novel, but I found it to be a mixed literary bag. This novel about three recent high school grads who go to work for a moving company and soon find themselves trafficking a hot new designer drug has many ups and downs. Joe Pan, a well-known poet, offers moments of brilliance with some beautiful descriptive writing that sings on the page. Pan offers a large cast of interesting, memorable characters like Eddy, Cueball, Bird, Gin, Del Ray, Seizer, the twins Duke and Lisbon, Gumby, and Jesse. But much of the good is buried under an avalanche of overly flowery prose that sacrifices sense to literary styling, and rambling passages of philosophical ruminating that brought the narrative to a standstill numerous times.
Florida Palms is an engaging story in need of a good editor who could have cut 100 pages and made it a more streamlined, focused story without sacrificing anything critical. As it was, I struggled to finish the book. Joe Pan is definitely a talented writer and I look forward to his next novel. Hopefully he will learn in his follow-up effort that using fewer words to tell the tale is usually a better approach.
October 2, 2025
FLORIDA PALMS is the graphic story of men and boys living in South Florida in the 2000's and their involvement in drug running and dealing with other drug running groups who fight (often to the death) with members of opposing gangs. This gritty novel could also be titled Living on the Edge in Florida.
Heavy into drugs, with little else to do, these men and boys make themselves available to drugs gangs that compete with one another supplying drugs to other gangs along the East Coast.
With many characters, both young and older, two (Eddy and Cueball) stand out as a young man and his younger friend (?) who make good money and meet with almost daily death of members both of their gang and others. Joe Pan wrote: "A lifetime ago, Cueball said if he could ever scrounge up fifty grand, he'd retire on the beach." Not having his young friend for some time, Eddy drives to the beach one night, and parked, hoping to find Cueball. "They'd used him for his usefulness and naivety; he used them to feel loved, which everyone knew should be given freely
only, and never as reward. It felt like no matter whose side you were on, there were always people rooting against you. To survive, you had to catch a break. By making the right play. Growing up in the right neighborhood. Sliding out the right womb. Having the right skin color.
The right gender. Going to the right school. Turning left. Turning right......Maybe we're all just one bad decision away from total collapse and failure."
FLORIDA PALMS is a tough book to read, all 465 pages. Regardless, I could not put the book down. It is gross, full of foul language, of almost daily killings, and sex of all kinds. It is unlike almost any book I have ever read. I guess I'm just lucky that, as a citizen of Florida for the past 25+ years, I have not witnessed events described in FLORIDA PALMS.
Heavy into drugs, with little else to do, these men and boys make themselves available to drugs gangs that compete with one another supplying drugs to other gangs along the East Coast.
With many characters, both young and older, two (Eddy and Cueball) stand out as a young man and his younger friend (?) who make good money and meet with almost daily death of members both of their gang and others. Joe Pan wrote: "A lifetime ago, Cueball said if he could ever scrounge up fifty grand, he'd retire on the beach." Not having his young friend for some time, Eddy drives to the beach one night, and parked, hoping to find Cueball. "They'd used him for his usefulness and naivety; he used them to feel loved, which everyone knew should be given freely
only, and never as reward. It felt like no matter whose side you were on, there were always people rooting against you. To survive, you had to catch a break. By making the right play. Growing up in the right neighborhood. Sliding out the right womb. Having the right skin color.
The right gender. Going to the right school. Turning left. Turning right......Maybe we're all just one bad decision away from total collapse and failure."
FLORIDA PALMS is a tough book to read, all 465 pages. Regardless, I could not put the book down. It is gross, full of foul language, of almost daily killings, and sex of all kinds. It is unlike almost any book I have ever read. I guess I'm just lucky that, as a citizen of Florida for the past 25+ years, I have not witnessed events described in FLORIDA PALMS.
July 20, 2025
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy in this gripping debut about a group of young men dragged into a drug-running operation.
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.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Violent and drug-addled, futureless and betrayed at every turn, the young men in this dreadful life of cat-and-mouse with the law (mostly unseen on the page, a faceless enemy), the rival outlaws, and each other, are dead men walking. There's no hope this side of the grave for any of them. It's a game they can't win. Or even walk away from. If you believe in free will, these guys make the worst choices imaginable...but honestly I came away from the read feeling pretty darn sure they're proof, all of 'em, that free will's an illusion.
Because if it isn't, y'all's controlling god is a rotten, evil entity.
Why read it, why finish it, why keep the misery fresh? Because the philosophical soliloquies coming out of these dead-enders' mouths are just *chef's kiss* and there's quite a number of 'em. Equally fun is the occasional character on the page reading CS Lewis or something equally unsuspected. Kaos and Cueball and Eddy, none of these guys made it out, or if they did it wasn't with everything they walked in carrying. The idea of their lives is to have more. And no one tells them "more" has no end, that's how the addictions they supply and live get their hold.
I think four stars is fair because, if it's not original, it's got honesty and clarity and it respects you as a reader. Joe Pan has put out poetry books before, and it shows. A first novel by a poet doesn't usually come this close to being a good story; it's more usual that there's less plot, more ornament. This is good description, good characterization, solid plotting, and only falls a bit short in the last 10%. I'm not sure how else to end it, though, so the fourth star stays whole.
Never a fan of Florida, I'm pretty sure it's not a far-fetched set of events or an outrageous group of guys, so I'm reinforced in my...less than fond...opinion, just as I'd hoped to be. If you're in the mood for some grit lit, here it is with a Florida twist.
The Publisher Says: The Outsiders meets Sons of Anarchy in this gripping debut about a group of young men dragged into a drug-running operation.
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.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Violent and drug-addled, futureless and betrayed at every turn, the young men in this dreadful life of cat-and-mouse with the law (mostly unseen on the page, a faceless enemy), the rival outlaws, and each other, are dead men walking. There's no hope this side of the grave for any of them. It's a game they can't win. Or even walk away from. If you believe in free will, these guys make the worst choices imaginable...but honestly I came away from the read feeling pretty darn sure they're proof, all of 'em, that free will's an illusion.
Because if it isn't, y'all's controlling god is a rotten, evil entity.
Why read it, why finish it, why keep the misery fresh? Because the philosophical soliloquies coming out of these dead-enders' mouths are just *chef's kiss* and there's quite a number of 'em. Equally fun is the occasional character on the page reading CS Lewis or something equally unsuspected. Kaos and Cueball and Eddy, none of these guys made it out, or if they did it wasn't with everything they walked in carrying. The idea of their lives is to have more. And no one tells them "more" has no end, that's how the addictions they supply and live get their hold.
I think four stars is fair because, if it's not original, it's got honesty and clarity and it respects you as a reader. Joe Pan has put out poetry books before, and it shows. A first novel by a poet doesn't usually come this close to being a good story; it's more usual that there's less plot, more ornament. This is good description, good characterization, solid plotting, and only falls a bit short in the last 10%. I'm not sure how else to end it, though, so the fourth star stays whole.
Never a fan of Florida, I'm pretty sure it's not a far-fetched set of events or an outrageous group of guys, so I'm reinforced in my...less than fond...opinion, just as I'd hoped to be. If you're in the mood for some grit lit, here it is with a Florida twist.
July 22, 2025
Update The Outsiders To 2009 ish Florida And You Have This Book. Seriously, this is one case where the publisher got the first line of the description (at least as it exists on publication day) 100% spot on. While there is perhaps more here than many will be comfortable with allowing even in high schools, much less younger ages, this is also absolutely a book that should be at least on the recommended lists for college level ENGL courses.
Speaking of things that are perhaps a touch rough for younger readers - and that many adults prefer not to read themselves, let's dispense with a bit of a listing here: the entire damn book centers around a drug gang and the relationships within it and on its boundaries. There is a fair amount of sex - not erotica level, and really more "fade to black" than anything, but still, more than most will be comfortable with particularly younger readers being exposed to. The violence is at least as intense as The Outsiders, but with a more gun focus rather than the 50s era knives and fists. There are also some rather graphic and disturbing scenes of hunting, including hunting endangered animals that have only recently been brought back from the brink of full extinction through much human effort.
Aside from the above though, this really is quite a strong book. Yes, at least as strong as Hinton's famous masterpiece - though one presumes Pan would prefer to have a follow up that gets as much acclaim as the first. Based on what we have here, this reader in particular would love to see what Pan can do when he *doesn't* have a lifetime building up to this day - the day I write this review being release day of the book, despite having had it for several months. It happens to be my 98th completed read this year, and I've read 134 books since picking this one up from NetGalley on November 30, 2024.
At nearly 500 pages, this book doesn't *quite* qualify as a "tome", yet is also nearly 50% longer than most books even I read, and certainly one of the longer non-scifi/ fantasy books I've read. Looking back in my records, I've only read 8 books longer than this one that were neither nonfiction nor scifi/ fantasy since my spreadsheet began at the beginning of 2019. But perhaps you're a reader that prefers such longer books. In which case, you're going to love this one. If you're a reader that generally prefers shorter-than-this books... well, I still thought this one worked well even with its length, and I urge you to give it a try. Either way, if you do read it, make sure you leave your own review and let us all know what you thought of the length here. :)
Again, for me this was absolutely a strong debut, truly a modernized Outsiders - which is high praise, as I, like so many Americans, truly cherish that story - and is thus...
Very Much Recommended.
Speaking of things that are perhaps a touch rough for younger readers - and that many adults prefer not to read themselves, let's dispense with a bit of a listing here: the entire damn book centers around a drug gang and the relationships within it and on its boundaries. There is a fair amount of sex - not erotica level, and really more "fade to black" than anything, but still, more than most will be comfortable with particularly younger readers being exposed to. The violence is at least as intense as The Outsiders, but with a more gun focus rather than the 50s era knives and fists. There are also some rather graphic and disturbing scenes of hunting, including hunting endangered animals that have only recently been brought back from the brink of full extinction through much human effort.
Aside from the above though, this really is quite a strong book. Yes, at least as strong as Hinton's famous masterpiece - though one presumes Pan would prefer to have a follow up that gets as much acclaim as the first. Based on what we have here, this reader in particular would love to see what Pan can do when he *doesn't* have a lifetime building up to this day - the day I write this review being release day of the book, despite having had it for several months. It happens to be my 98th completed read this year, and I've read 134 books since picking this one up from NetGalley on November 30, 2024.
At nearly 500 pages, this book doesn't *quite* qualify as a "tome", yet is also nearly 50% longer than most books even I read, and certainly one of the longer non-scifi/ fantasy books I've read. Looking back in my records, I've only read 8 books longer than this one that were neither nonfiction nor scifi/ fantasy since my spreadsheet began at the beginning of 2019. But perhaps you're a reader that prefers such longer books. In which case, you're going to love this one. If you're a reader that generally prefers shorter-than-this books... well, I still thought this one worked well even with its length, and I urge you to give it a try. Either way, if you do read it, make sure you leave your own review and let us all know what you thought of the length here. :)
Again, for me this was absolutely a strong debut, truly a modernized Outsiders - which is high praise, as I, like so many Americans, truly cherish that story - and is thus...
Very Much Recommended.
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