Inside Dope

Former cop, Duane Ricketts, made two big mistakes in his life.

The first was being fingered for buying heroin-laced cigarettes. A mistake that would see him languishing in a Thai jail for a couple of months.

His second mistake was to become friendly with Frank Varty.

Varty is apparently the only preson who knows the exact whereabouts of 10kg of high-grade cocaine from an aborted run into New Zealand by boat 10 years ago.

Then, wouldn't you know it, Varty is killed by the partner of a Thai ladyboy and Ricketts is on hand to hear his final words.

And so now Ricketts is off looking for the lost treasure of the notorious Mr Asia syndicate. But he has no idea what he's letting himself in for...

Throw into the plot a body in a spa pool, a rogue CIA agent, an indiscreet diplomat and an ambitious journalist, along with Det Sgt Tito Ihaka and his superior Det Insp. Finbar McGrail, a crooked lawyer, a whole mob of hoods, Varty's family, the actual "original" owner of the drugs, and, much later, a CIA assassin CC Hellicar and you have one hell of a crime thriller with more complicated twists and turns than you can possibly believe!

Inside Dope proves once again why Paul Thomas is being picked up by more and more new readers every day. This novel is tightly plotted, with terrific (if somewhat eccentric) characterisation, and is the kind of book you can read in one sitting. You certainly won't want to put it down!

Based on the notorious "Mr Asia drug sydicate" scandal that broke in the early 1970s and spanned New Zealand, Australia and South-East Asia, Thomas has delivered an hilarious crime novel that is certainly worth the read.