In 1987, leather-clad tourist Blanca Nul goes missing in small-town New Zealand. Local reporter Ray Moody, washed-up and over-imbibing, gets a scoop the foreigner modelled for a pornographic magazine. He chases the story but crashes his car and loses his job.

A year to the day after she was reported missing, Blanca is mysteriously sighted a second time. Ray sees a chance to revisit the missing person story and revive his career. The doppelganger death is identified as local goth Amber Drake and labelled a suicide, but Ray is not convinced. He discovers Amber was a risk-taker with a darker purpose. She frequented the notorious S&M club Blue Hotel where the rich and powerful engaged their fantasies in anonymity.

As he searches for the real story Ray will learn how desperate, damaged and lonely people from all walks of life can be, and that the truth is hard-won and painful.

Author

Chad Taylor

Chad Taylor was born in New Zealand in November 1964. He grew up in Manurewa, South Auckland and read English and Art History while doing a Fine Arts degree at Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts. ("I wanted to do something creative and I wanted to find out how art worked. Also, all my favourite bands had gone to art school," he says.) While studying he wrote music and film reviews for Rip It Up magazine.

Country of Origin
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ISBN
B0B7HS258F
Year of Publication
Book Source
Reading Pile
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Karen Chisholm
Monday, July 3, 2023
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