High: Confessions of an International Drug Smuggler

This book starts out very poorly written, but you get a sense that this guy started writing in prison, and you are reading a collection of journal entries so you let it slide. Also, the interspersed accounts from his life outside of prison seem to be of better penmanship.Sure enough as the book drags on the writing gets better and better, and really turns out quite well done.It's a very enjoyable story of a mans trials through prison, success and failure as a drug smuggler, and battle with coke addiction.I read it in less than a week, and it seems the deeper into the book you get, the faster it goes by.

I've read quite a few non-fiction accounts of smugglers/drug dealers. This was one of the least interesting. O'Dea just doesn't have a particularly good story to tell, or he isn't revealing the truly juicy parts. I found most of it very tedious.Add to that the book has been unfortunately written in such a way that every other chapter is about his prison time, every other chapter is back in the past in his smuggling days. Makes it hard to read. I don't want to go back and forth.A much better read is Jon Robert's "American Desperado".

“High” is more than a thrilling adventure story; and more than a gripping tale of prison life. It is a philosophical essay on life choices, consequences, loves found, loves lost, loyalty, betrayal, camaraderie, isolation, family....Written in a somber tone, with calm objectivity and devoid of self-pity, O’Dea’s prose simultaneously thrills and frightens the reader. For those of us who’ve lead sheltered lives, “High” provides vicariously the adrenaline rush of the reckless adventurer; it also mirrors to us the soul-crushing loneliness of the downfall, when the smuggler’s luck runs out.A highly recommended read for those who like a sophisticated, multilayered story, that in addition to being vastly entertaining has the merit of being true.

O'Dea really captures the time period and the art of drug smuggling. From start to finish this book has energy and is alive. Very hard to put down. I highly recommend reading this book. The writing is excellent and we are so submerged into the story we sometimes forget we're reading a book. It's really an amazing look at a drug trade now that pot is becoming illegal. It makes you wonder how many people are sitting in jail for something that is now legal.Buy the book now...

I chose this title because I loved the Thai ganja back in the day and the stories of how people crossed the ocean & risked everything to get it to America.I enjoyed the stories of the time Mr O'Dea spent in the US federal prison system and feel bad for all of the unfortunate victims of this country's dismal failure in it's war on drugs- when a person who grows a little ganja garden does more time than an armed robber, you know it is a backwards & unjust system.I have a lot of respect for the author for being one of the few in this ring of ganja men who refused to "debrief" with those thieves and whores from the DEA- I'm glad he got his life back & made it home!‘And if you think our pot laws and mandatory minimum sentences are a good thing, be sure to cast your vote for Mitt Romney tomorrow because he pledges to fight medical marijuana "tooth and nail"! Get used to hearing "La Cuenta, stand up count" five times a day because he'll have us all thrown in prison.

im a huge fan of books about smuggling and drugs. ive read most of the true crime in that genre and love most all of it. nothing particularly bad about this book but it just didnt bring me in and make me fly through it like i am with most books. written more like a criminology book more so than a story

High is beautiful, gritty and honest. I was moved by Brian O'Dea's struggles with addiction and by the compassionate descriptions of the inmates Brian befriended in prison system. He made me feel compassion for each and every one of them.I also liked the sense of how much time went into writing the book. I imagine that forming his experience into such well-crafted words over so many years must have changed him and helped him get through.As good art does, Brian O'Dea's book changed me in some way. I know have a new more human view of the incarcerated.

I read the whole book, and the only thing I did not like about the author was that he went back and forth in his book from jail to his operation with dealing the drugs. So that kind of threw me off when reading. I actually flipped through the jail parts they were boring. That is my honest opinion.