(BOOK REVIEW) This book is an autobiography of the author and his 12 year journey through hell and back, in the simplest of summations. In Thailand, they have a little clause in their criminal justice system titled article 27. It is a military law and quite subtly states, that if you are charged with trafficking drugs, you can be executed without a trial, that’s it. Apart from being enforced regularly, you might think that this would be enough to deter the, would-be drug “runner”.
In 1978, at the age of 25 and as predicted by a soothsayer, the life of Warren Fellows descended literally into a gothic like dungeon of doom, when he was caught with 24 bags of grade-4 heroin, in a downtown Bangkok hotel room. Well obviously and luckily for readers of this book, article 27 was never enforced on Warren Fellows, but one month into his term, he was begging for it.
Fellows and fellow Australian Paul Hayward experience a brutal nightmare that even the best Hollywood director could not have concocted, leaving them both emotionally and physically exhausted. Warren Fellows and his “comrades” were without doubt guilty of their crimes, but the shear vengeful torment of their incarceration was a crime against humanity.
The damage done is not intricate, nor is it compiled of any articulate extravagance, its artistic nuance lies in its reality and the simple, own-words account of the author. It is a chronological journal of stupidity, torture and penance.
His descent into evil, begins with a betrayal in India and ends with his capture in a Thai hotel room I end this abstract abruptly with an extract from the prologue of the book Warren Fellows writes: “I do not tell this story to bring pity on myself. I know that many people hate me for what I did and believe that I deserve whatever I get. I can only ask those people to keep reading. If, at the end of my story, you still believe that anyone could deserve the horrors that I saw, then you too, are a criminal. A vengeful and sadistic one. Maybe you haven’t been caught yet.
To rivet the reader to his compelling ordeal, Fellows goes on to narrate an incident whilst in prison as part of the prologue. If this doesn’t keep you reading, nothing will.
