First published 2010
American travel writer Poke Rafferty has built a peaceful life in Bangkok with his wife Rose and their adopted daughter Miaow, a former street child. Rose runs a housekeeping business while Rafferty writes, and their delayed wedding has finally made them a proper family. Then someone from Rose's days dancing on Patpong Road appears without warning, destroying the stability they worked to create. This figure from her past puts their marriage, their home, and their lives in danger. Rafferty has survived Bangkok's most dangerous elements before, but this threat forces him to uncover the complete truth about Rose's history. He must trace her transformation from a shy village teenager into the top performer on Asia's most notorious red light strip. The secrets Rafferty discovers about his wife's former life prove almost impossible to accept and even more difficult to survive. Their love faces its ultimate test as Rose's past threatens to destroy everything they have built together.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, past-coming-back-to-haunt, secrets
Setting: Bangkok, Patpong Road, Thailand
Period: contemporary
312 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, sexual-content