Behind the Scenes:
Crime and Suffering
is the first of a four-book, fact



based-suspense novel
series which exposes the criminal exploitation of the



people behind the facade
of many of the tourist paradises in Southeast Asia.



The books describe how
the poor in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos do their



best to survive, often
by growing opium, smuggling weapons and selling their



daughters to brothels,
sometimes before they are even born.



The plight of these
people is made more complicated because this criminality



is often sanctioned by
official organisations in existence to protect them, not



to take advantage of
them.



Crime and Suffering begins the series focusing on one
poor family from a



small village in Laos
during a time of increasing drama in the aftermath of the



Vietnam War:



- Grandfather Songchai
and his efforts to smuggle a transport of hidden arms



to buyers in west Africa
with the help of old friends and family members.



- Lu, his
daughter-in-law, helps two Americans, Will and Frank, who seek the



remains of US soldiers
lost in the War which means fatal consequences.



- Prim, Lu's daughter,
and her antics with teenage friends Lek and Moa who



end up on a frightening
path heading towards the bars of the sex trade.



The characters' fates
are interweaved in a colourful and harsh narrative that



moves toward its
resolution as relentlessly as the mighty Mekong River flows



forth.



The series is inspired
by real people and based on real life stories.