The Hidden Pull by Theo Polo

Suffocating from boredom and bureaucracy in a low-level corporate job, he was starved for adventure. By fate or happenstance, a hidden door led him into a secret underground room the likes of which he had never imagined possible. Surrounded by cascading waterfalls of reflected light and oddly sentient plant beings, he knew he'd found his new obsession. There was just one problem: it was all against the law.

What follows is a decade-long coming of age journey in an obscure and forbidden industry: sometimes breathtaking, at times heartbreaking, occasionally profitable, and always with the mandatory sense of impending legal doom. As he struggles to support his medical patients, haggle prices with shady types and barter with loan sharks—all the while flying under the radar—he is forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: this wasn’t actually what he wanted to do with his life, after all.

Ultimately over a hundred grand in debt, he’d need to fight to salvage friendships, take foolish risks just to keep the lights on, and wrestle with doubts and impostor syndrome to finally discover the real reasons behind this bizarre career choice. As with his illicit harvests, he’d once again have to start from scratch, find his voice, and take another kind of risk: cultivating his first words.

Set as a true crime memoir, The Hidden Pull is full of rebellious adventure, humor, and youthful self-sabotage; an entertaining and sincere account of growing up and learning the painfully necessary lessons of finding and following one’s true path.