Poontown: A Novel of Chasing Tarpon and Glory

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Nicolas Mercado

If you have ever stood in a flats boat at dawn watching a hundred-pound tarpon ghost through gin-clear water, you already understand the particular madness that Poontown is about. If you have not, L.M. Weeks will explain it to you in a way that is funny, propulsive, and oddly moving, because the obsession he describes turns out to be about considerably more than fish.

The novel takes place over five days during the Sabalo Cup Invitational, a fictional tarpon fly-fishing tournament in the Tequesta Isles billed as the most prestigious of its kind in the world. Five teams compete, and Weeks deploys a wonderfully mismatched cast: a burned-out lawyer angling for one last shot at something he cannot quite name, a French magnate who somehow looks rested regardless of how late the previous night ran, and a retired exotic dancer turned psychologist whose own self-doubt keeps surfacing at the worst possible moments. Around them, the tournament generates the kind of chaos that only competitive fishing can produce: naked Frenchmen, jet ski disasters, crocodile encounters, midnight rescue missions, and the constant, humbling reminder that the fish have no idea anyone is competing.

Weeks draws on decades of his own tarpon tournament experience, and it shows in every detail. The ecology of the flats, the culture of the guides, the particular etiquette and rivalry of elite fly fishing: all of it rings true in a way that only an insider could manage. But what elevates Poontown beyond a niche read is the emotional honesty underneath the comedy. These characters are chasing something that the tarpon merely represents, and Weeks is generous enough to take their pursuit seriously even as he is making the reader laugh.

Fast, funny, and surprisingly tender about the things men seek when they disappear into the water for a week, this is a novel that earns every endorsement it has received.

About the Author

L.M. Weeks

L. M. ("Mark") Weeks is the award-winning author of Bottled Lightning and Poontown. Before turning to fiction, he spent more than three decades as an international technology lawyer, advising companies from around the world on their cross-border legal matters. For more than ten years, he served as Managing Partner of the Tokyo office of the global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Born in Alaska and raised in Idaho, Mark has spent nearly half his life in Japan. An International Rotary Club Scholar to Japan during high school, he later graduated from International Christian University in Tokyo before earning his law degree from Fordham University School of Law. He speaks, reads, and writes fluent Japanese.

The settings, characters, and legal issues in Bottled Lightning draw heavily on Mark's professional experience and decades of living and working in Japan. His second novel, Poontown, draws on another lifelong passion: saltwater fly fishing.

One of the world's most accomplished competitive tarpon anglers, Mark is a three-time tarpon tournament Grand Champion, a two-time winner of the prestigious Don Hawley Invitational Tarpon Tournament, and an eight-time IGFA world record holder. He also served as Chairman of the Don Hawley Invitational Tarpon Fly Tournament.

When he is not writing, Mark can usually be found on the bow of a skiff in search of the next great tarpon.