This non fiction account of Kremmer's extraordinary quest to establish the fate of the Laos Royal Family is gripping in its own right, but even more astonishing when read alongside the fictionalised account of the same events by Colin Cotterill, in his 'Disco for the Departed'. Kremmer is a fine journalist, but here he seems to channel LeCarre's 'Honorable Schoolboy' at his most reckless. How he survived without being shot or imprisoned - or at least deported - is a mystery. As both Cotterill and Kremmer make clear, this is not a subject that the Laotian authorities care to discuss much. The author's website confirms that this story was subsequently updated by Kremmer and re-issued under the title 'The Bamboo Palace'. ( )