Mr. Smiley

Book excerpt: Howard Marks has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But determined not to go quietly into the night, he has decided that it is time to release Mr Smiley, the story of his last, and arguably his biggest ever, drug scam at the height of the '90s ecstasy frenzy. On his release from prison in 1995, Howard had made a promise to himself and family that this time he was going to go straight...But some people are just born for the life, and it is not long before Howard finds himself trying ecstasy and rubbing shoulders with some of the king-pins of the pill trade that has set the Ibiza scene ablaze. Incredibly funny, moving and scabrous, Mr Smiley is a free-standing follow up to Mr Nice, which follows a journey to the heartland of the clubbing scene and British crime. It is also a fitting last word from one of Britain's best loved bad boys.