In New York City of 1972, a PhD graduate student, Damian Garcia, gains an education of a different kind in the international drug trade in opium and hashish, a new combination aptly called O/H. Together with his fellow graduate students, Damian puts up a brilliant plan to market the new product making it the professional’s drug of choice worldwide. Told through the eyes of Damian, this is a story about love, friendship, family, loyalty and an extremely discreet drug smuggling business that reaps unimaginable riches in the process.

Chris Mosquera provides the audience a story that is great fun to read. This is an excellent book about graduate students and the opium/hashish network. If you are interested in getting some perspective regarding the international drug smuggling business in New York City in around 1972, and the realities of the Vietnam War of the same year, this is an ideal book to read. This is a truly amazing action/adventure novel that will definitely take you to different places you have never been to. Mosquera shows us a true marketing genius of the time in a compelling and suspenseful storyline. Here is a book that tells you almost everything, if not all, about drug trafficking without spoiling the whole experience. The development of the story core is fast-paced and it therefore guarantees that there are no dull moments. Thanks to the author’s rock-hard realism and relentless insight, we get to experience the thrill of the entire story the way it should be. Are you ready for the ride of your life?

"Damien Garcia: PhD Drug Smuggler" is a novel about a group of poor graduate students in apartment 3A in New York City starting up an international drug ring called O/H. O/H is 25% opium and the rest hashish and made to not flood the markets, making it an exclusive designer drug so that demand increases. The students want to help humanitarian social causes with the profits from the O/H Inc. They all fly under the radar to not get detected and caught and develop a brilliant business model with investor-franchise networks to keep their drug cartel within a select group of people that become close knit family members. Their code is “no gangster stuff,” meaning no violence, no ripping off anyone, killing anyone, and no hurting other people and animals.

Author Chris Mosquera writes a compellingly creative tale about “honest” drug-smugglers and criminals who are actually brilliant graduate students that come up with a way to make money while they are in school. At times, the reader thinks this is a memoir that actually happened because it is so life-like. The mystery will always be there if this is a work of fiction or real life weaved into fiction. All the graduate students are a unique set of dynamic and multi-cultural characters who are all fascinating since they are so intelligent. George Carlin Dog is the most endearing and lovable character, but you have to read about his role as chief of security and director of all things human. This book should definitely be made into the big screen as the tale is so intricate with brilliant details and characters.

Damian Garcia: PhD Drug Smuggler by Chris Mosquera is the story of a “family” of starving grad students who formulate a designer drug and business model that goes global. The story is set in 1970s New York. The rag-tag group of students is broke and looking for a way to stay fed and stay high while finishing grad school. They all bring a different skill set to the group. When they put their heads together and the wheels start turning, they formulate a plan to manufacture and distribute a high quality designer drug they call O/H. The plan starts small but snowballs and grows faster than any of them imagined. Before they know it, their product has gone global and provided them with enough income to live comfortably as well as give to social causes.

I really enjoyed PhD Drug Smuggler. The whole time I was reading it, I felt as if I was watching a movie. I found myself rooting for the characters. In my head I knew they were breaking so many laws but I still found myself rooting for them. There were a few scenes where they had some very close calls. I found myself clenching my teeth until they squeezed by. The characters always seemed to get through any trouble that arose. There was no talk of addiction. There was no ugly side to the drug world in this book. I would almost describe as a light-hearted look at drug smuggling.

I would recommend this book to those with an open mind about the drug world, and willing to look at it from all sides without prejudice.