Snowing in Bali, by Kathryn Bonella (2012)

I picked up this book at the airport on the way out of Bali and started it on the plane. Right from the very start I found it intoxicating as Bonella chooses to open with fast paced stories of hedonism and adventure. Bonella wrote this book off of the back of her earlier journalistic work covering the Schapelle Corby case. Her success here saw her write about the experience in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison, which provided her the contacts to write Snowing in Bali. The Book follows the journeys of key king-pins in the 90s and 00s, and thanks to Bonella’s access to these personalities and her entertaining writing style the book is hard to put down.

Bonella excellently intertwines interviews, reportage and extracts from media to reconstruct a time in Bali where money, violence and danger were easy to find. Her descriptions of the development of the smuggling scene, the breadth of the operation and the interaction with law enforcement was fascinating and felt like a genuine curtain pulling moment. I really enjoyed this book and its presentation of its key personalities, revealing their weaknesses, evils, humour and humanity.