Thanks to the South China Morning Post for a great review of Chris Thrall’s crystal meth memoir!
A triad-controlled nightclub, of course, is not a clever place to work if you’re addicted to a drug with a tendency to induce horrifying paranoia. A lot of bad stuff is going to happen and it’s very easy for an Ice-addled mind to imagine that even worse stuff is also going on. This is at the heart of Thrall’s nightmare and it’s a narrative device that makes Eating Smoke work so well.
… Before his downward spiral begins, there’s a lot of enthusiastic reminiscing about long, intoxicated nights in Wan Chai nightspots, both as doorman and patron. Thrall is refreshingly unapologetic about the main reason for his drug addiction: before the madness took hold, he really enjoyed taking drugs. He’s an engaging narrator whose charm and essential decency are first twisted and then eventually dissolved by his addiction.
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