I've had this in my wishlist for a long time but I am not sure where this came from as it doesn't seem to be a widely read book. I suspect it might have been a recommendation from either Goodreads or Amazon as I can't see it being a personal recommendation. The blurb advertises it as a non-fiction account of a backpacker's adventures in south east Asia and this is probably best summed up as 'The Beach but for real'. I loved The Beach by Alex Garland and also liked the movie based on it so I had high hopes for this books.

Firstly I will deal with the positives. The book is well enough written, sure it will never win any literary prizes but it flows well and trots along at a decent pace. There was more than enough adventure and detail to keep me interested throughout and did made me wish I was back in SE Asia myself. However there are quite a few negatives. Firstly this is written entirely with the mindset of an immature young man and it is dripping in casual racism and misogyny. All the Asians speak with r's replacing their l's when they talk, eg "herro" instead of "hello", and after a while this gets very tiresome. Every female character bar none is basically a sex object and the stereotypical SE Asian party girl. I don't mind books about the darker and seedier side of life, in fact I often find them enjoyable, but this is just cheap titillation with no end point. There are several Asian countries included in the tale and they are all potrayed in the same way.

Despite these negatives I read it fairly quickly so it would be unfair for me to give it 1 out of 5. Realistically it's probably closer to 1.5 than 2 but that's the nature of giving books scores. One final point, there is no way this book is a true story, it is pure fantasy and it is dishonest to pretend otherwise. ( )

Backpacking, such an innocent thing for those on a gap year to do. You may be slightly worried as you wave them off at the airport, but you think that they are fairly level headed and aren’t going to do anything stupid. Are they?

If you have any concerns at all then I wouldn’t recommend reading this one.

John Harris has just arrived in India with his girlfriend. Even though her parents are Indian, she hates the country, and after a bit of a row, she decides to head home. Harris is in a bit of a quandary about what to do, but his more pressing need is to do something about the man pointing a knife at him in the train station toilets. He is saved by Rick, who manages to persuade him that his present plans are a bit boring and he needs to live a little more. Next step Thailand.

The Thai island of Koh Pha-Ngan is a tropical paradise with its warm seas and golden sands; but there is a much darker side to it. The first time they visit, their new friends Dave finds a freshly severed finger in the undergrowth at the back of the beach. They soon forget about it though as the wild parties, drugs and beautiful women have much more appeal. They are pretending to be rich aristocrats, but soon the game is up and they are trying to get out of Thailand to escape the clutches of the mafia. They make it into Malaysia. They decide to keep moving, travelling to Indonesia and Singapore before making the most foolhardy decision of their trip, and steal a boat…

This is not a travel book for the faint of heart. Harris and his two conspirators seek hedonistic excess at any cost, indulging in drink, sex and drugs as well as theft and taking huge risks. It is well written though; at times it reads like a thriller as you race through the pages to see just what is going to happen next. There is the head in the hand moments too, when he does yet another dumb thing and you are sitting there thinking, why? I think that it reflects more of what happens on backpacking holidays too, much more that you will ever know as a parent. A good read, but also quite a worrying book. ( )