“A masterclass in pace and precision. Crucet can make you cry before you’ve even realized you’ve become invested and make you laugh even through the hurt. Brilliant”
NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH (National Book Award Finalist of Chain Gang All Stars)

"An electrifying new talent - she's funny, she's smart, and she knows how to tell great stories"
CURTIS SITTENFELD

Scarface meets Moby Dick in this groundbreaking, darkly comic novel about a young man's attempt to capitalize on his mother's murky legacy - a story steeped in Miami's marvelous and sinister magic.

Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes - you can call him Izzy - might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying?

Growing up in Miami has shaped him into someone who dreams of being the King of the 305, with the money, power, and respect he assumes comes with it. After finding himself at the mercy of a cease-and desist letter from Pitbull's legal team and living in his aunt's garage-turned-efficiency, Izzy embarks on an absurd quest to turn himself into a modern-day Tony Montana.

Having found his Manolo and his Michelle Pfieffer, Izzy's efforts eventually lead him to the tank that houses Lolita, a captive orca at the Miami Seaquarium. She soon proves just how powerful she and the water surrounding her really are - permeating everything from Miami's sinking streets to Izzy's memories to the very heart of the novel itself.

What begins as Izzy's story turns into a super-saturated fever dream as sprawling and surreal as the Magic City itself. And as the truth surrounding Izzy's boyhood escape from Cuba surfaces, the novel ultimately reckons with the forces of nature, with the limits and absence of love, and with the dangers of pursuing a tragic inheritance. 

Praise for Jennine Capó Crucet

"Jennine Capó Crucet is a wonderful writer... wise and honest... furious and funny"
LAUREN GROFF (author of Fates and Furies and Matrix)

"This is definitely a young writer to watch for-sassy, smart, with an unerring ear for a community's voices, its losses, its over-the-top extravagances, and its poignant struggles to understand itself in a new land"
JULIA ALVAREZ (author of In the Time of Butterflies)