New York: SOHO Press, (1997). First edition - The author's first novel, preceded by a collection of short stories. "A burnt-out American doper, fresh from a Bolivian prison, starts out conning a naive social worker by helping her find her magician brother - and ends up conducting her on a tour of the hell that is the coca trade, while gradually recovering his humanity. . . An unusual love story, to say the least - and an impressive debut from a writer with a generous imagination and a daring, if deeply weird, sense of character and fate." (Kirkus Reviews) 292 pp.