Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire [Paperback]

Mark Bowden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000

Doctor Dealer is the story of Larry Lavin, a bright, charismatic young man who rose from his working-class upbringing to win a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, earn Ivy League college and dental degrees, and buy his family a house in one of Philadelphia's most exclusive suburbs. But behind the facade of his success was a dark secret -- at every step of the way he was building the foundation for a cocaine empire that would grow to generate over $60 million in annual sales. Award-winning journalist Mark Bowden tells the saga of Lavin's rise and fall with the gripping, novelistic narrative style that won him international acclaim as the author of the New York Times best-seller Black Hawk Down. "Immensely readable . . . eye-popping . . . a smoothly crafted, exciting, can't-put-it-down book." -- Louisville New Voice

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802137571
• ISBN-13: 978-0802137579
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Bowden is the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, as well as The Best Game Ever, Bringing the Heat, Killing Pablo, and Guests of the Ayatollah. He reported at The Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and other magazines. He lives in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for Doctor Dealer a great book!, July 26, 2004

By 

C Leonard "Dachshund Man" (Chesapeake, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire (Paperback)

This was my first book by Mr. Bowden and I must say I was impressed. The book was very informative and the story never got slow. I was constantly wondering what was Larry going to do next? Larry Lavin was a college kid with nothing to lose and turned into a Kingpin with everything to lose. Book explains the trials and tribulations of Larry and his organization and the addicting effects of cocaine and money. A must read. If you liked the movie Blow, this book reads just like the movie plays out. A+

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Student to Kingpin. A fascinating Tale!!, January 27, 2002

By 

R. Spell "raspell" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire (Paperback)

This book was written in the 1980s about a college student who grows from a small-time pot peddler to a major cocaine dealer. I have one major complaint with this book. Mark Bowden writes in a very detailed style which makes the book slow to read at first. I had the same problem reading Black Hawk Down by Bowden but eventually came to realize that was one of the best stories I've ever read. This one is a very good story also and I eventually couldn't put it down as it read quickly in the last half.

Bowden does very detailed research and this book is no exception. Bowden chronicles all of the characters that help Larry in building his empire. And, more importantly, he tries very hard to get inside Larry's mind to show what made him tick. And that's what makes the story so interesting as Larry had many fine qualities. He clearly would have been sucessful in any field but watching him walk through the minefield of a dealer is really interesting. Through this journey he is ripped off at gunpoint with his wife, ripped off by his workers and ripped off by a financial advisor who sees Larry as the answer to his problems. Other highlights include the lives of his workers, some of who are very eccentric and develop very bad coke habits to the point of humor.

I strongly recommend this book if you like fully researched real-life dramas about life on the edge. While this book was written about 15 years ago, Bowden does a great update in 2001 to revisit Larry and see how his life is turning out in prison.

66 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Companion Piece With "Killing Pablo", February 6, 2004

By 

K. Brown "El Rudo Lucky Pierre!" (Walnut, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire (Paperback)

If you have never read a book my Mark Bowden, start right now. This guy is to current events what Ken Burns is to documentaries; he can take any subject, dig into it, and narrate in a compelling way that few people can.

I highly recommend reading "Dr Dealer" and then follow it up with "Killing Pablo." Originally written in 1987 (this edition has a 2001 epilogue), Bowden follows an unlikely cocaine dealer in Larry Lavin, a preppy dental student who loves the maverick thrill of coke dealing, yet also enjoys the high-scale suburban American lifestyle. This book emphasizes Lavin's naive rationale that while cocaine is illegal, it is a high society party drug that was accepted by a wide variety of socialites (remember when it was called the "Champagne of Drugs?"), and figured that he wasn't hurting anybody by supplying it to people who sought it out. And that seems to be the consensus of his fellow upscale dealers and clients, up until their arrests. "Who are we hurting" seems to be the dealers' key question.

Which is why "Killing Pablo" is a great companion piece to "Doctor Dealer." The story of the hunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar paints a polar opposite portrayal of the cocaine trade. There are no preppy dentists, no white-collar style arrests; you see a multitude of Colombian citizens, from police to politicians to everyday folks from every walk of life, murdered by Colombian drug cartels. It is a brutal answer to the "Who are we hurting?" question, and Bowden does that very well.

Larry Lavin is a fascinating character, but not to the point that you feel sympathy for him. The more he succeeds in the illegal drug trade, the more arrogant he becomes, and the more risks he takes. On the other hand, he is not a ruthless Pablo Escobar who executes every "John Q Citizen" that he thinks might dislike him. In fact, he never kills anyone, nor even roughs anybody up. There are segments where you see some very likable and sincerely charitable sides of Larry Lavin, but they are overshadowed by the con that he truly is.

Bowden very successfully illustrates all of Lavin's fellow dealers, family and underlings, and which ones had a hand in his undoing and why. You see eccentric socialite Mark Stewart con the cons, and you will shake your head in disbelief and frustration when reading about Lavin's wife Marcia, how she stands by her man.

If it weren't for a few of the key players' fumbles, one might wonder if Larry Lavin would have eventually walked away from the cocaine trade unscathed. And while covered only minutely, you will see what role Frankie Smith played in exposing Larry Lavin and Co. to the IRS (yes, the same Frankie Smith who recorded "The Double Dutch Bus!")Mark Bowden even talks about his own personal opportunity to deal marijuana in college (which is how Larry Lavin started) and the temptation to make that quick money, but wisely deciding against it, leaving him years later to wonder if he could have stumbled into the same dangerous trap Larry Lavin thrust himself into.

This is just one of Mark Bowden's great works, and a good place to start if you want to add them to your library.