4 1/2 stars. 20 year old Izzy Reyes is at a loss after high school - he's ambitious, but has no skills and no purpose - until he lights on what only a teen or post teen boy could think was an actual, viable idea - to become a 21st century Tony Montana, following his trajectory in Scarface (minus the spectacular death) replacing the drug business with the immigrant smuggling business. He's written it all down, step-by-step in a notebook, but (surprise) it isn't long until things go off the rails in amusing and heartbreaking ways. This sounds like a plot that could get old fast, but instead it gets deeper and deeper in surprising ways. The tongue-in-cheek narrative voice, with its perfectly placed 4th wall breaks, intensifies the books charms and heartbreaks - and there are plenty of both. Wonderful characters, all show and no tell - most brilliantly done with Lolita, the killer whale who is absolutely not anthropomorphized, yet brought intensely to life. Nearly as good is the character of Miami itself - I've only been there a few times in my life, but Crucet made it feel as familiar as home.