Less Than Normal

Less Than Normal is not your customary romance novel. It’s a ‘coming-of-age’ story about Larry who was an inconvenience to his parents, had few friends, and found comfort and support in the books he read about gangsters, hustlers, and grifters. They were his heroes and influenced his thinking.
 
Sexually innocent at 16, he was seduced by his mother’s friend Ashley, who made him her toy boy. She acquainted him with the facts of life as well as teaching him the benefits of older women over emotional teenagers. 
 
During a summer vacation in Los Angles Larry met and moved in with a group of hippie surfers who taught him to surf, smoke dope, and become independent. He became involved in an intense romantic relationship which ended in devastating heartbreak and woke him to the realities of life.
 
Larry was intelligent and street wise well beyond his years. His mind worked like the characters he read about. High school studies and social life were uninspiring so he quit school, said goodbye to his parents, and with a hippie friend found the means to make money in a well disguised dope growing enterprise. 
 
Women were never far from Larry’s mind. A romance with an Australian girl and a torrid affair with her mother resulted in startling consequences. 
 
A well thought out scheme of laundering money for those who needed such a service found Larry living tax free in the Bahamas. He was flying high as a well-respected businessman who promoted his playboy image among the tourists and locals alike. Larry had achieved success far beyondhis expectations until he was stunned and shaken by news he never saw coming.