Hello, Shadowlands

Inside the Meth Fiefdoms, Rebel Hideouts and Bomb-Scarred Party Towns of Southeast Asia

By: Patrick Winn

Narrated by: Patrick Winn

Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Essential to understanding Southeast Asia in the 21st century, Hello, Shadowlands reveals a booming underworld of organised crime across a region in flux - a $100 billion trade that deals in narcotics, animals and people - and the staggering human toll that is being steadily ignored by the West. From Myanmar’s anarchic hills to the swamplands of Vietnam, jihadis are being pitted against brothel workers, pet thieves against vigilantes and meth barons against Christian vice squads.

Hello, Shadowlands takes a deep plunge into crime rings both large and small. It also examines how China’s rise and America’s decline are creating new opportunities for transnational syndicates to thrive. Focusing on human stories on both sides of this crime wave, the acclaimed Bangkok-based broadcaster and journalist Patrick Winn intimately profiles the men and women of the region who are forced to make agonizing choices in the absence of law.

©2019 Patrick Winn (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Reads like a thriller you can't put down.” (Buzzfeed News)

Eye-opening exposé of hidden corners of life

This book was amazing. The author peaks behind the curtain in several parts of Southeast Asia's underbelly to give amazing insight into how those parts work and the experiences and motivations of the players involved. He also does a great job providing context for these stories, especially historical and geopolitical context, and i found that very interesting and enlightening. Great book if you're interested in Southeast Asia in particular or simply like learning about obscure aspects of the human condition that you don't usually hear about.
My only gripe is with the narration. He speaks really slowly. I listened to it at 1.25x speed and it was much better.

This is the embodiment of true journalism

A fantastic book that covers all sides of crime in southeast Asia in a way that uplifts humanity. The world would truly be a better place if we had more fair and thorough journalism like this. I wish I could buy Patrick Winn a drink.

Stop reading reviews and read or listen to this book.

Great View Inside a Hidden Realm

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I was originally searching for stories on drug trade in Southeast Asia (which parts of the book do cover) and assumed I would listen to those and neglect the rest. But the stories themselves - as diverse and improbable as they are - as well as the narration read by the author kept me listening. Not only was this highly entertaining, but also very informative. I feel I understand Southeast Asia on a whole new level now. Wish there was more great journalism like this out there (or I was at least aware of it).

Fully recommend!

Compelling, unique stories

Very entertaining and informative trek through some of the more troubled parts of SE Asia. I liked the narration and every chapter except the one on Korea which felt shoehorned in and lacking compared with the rest of the book.

Incredible!

I absolutely loved this book. Extremely well written (and well read by the author), informative, and best of all, interesting. An excellent mix of facts, history, and humanity.

a cry baby author

This entire book simply speaks about how bad America is and how ashamed he is to be from there. a true cry baby. an entire book about complaining... this book had great potential if the author would simply report on his findings rather than compare countries and how dumb Americans are. if you spend your life as a victim, this book is for you.

Author has too high opinion of his own opinion

Smug, flippant eagerness to mete criticism there and absolution here. Patrick imagines his loose moral perspective is the best qualification to judge history and culture.

I was interested to hear about the shadowlands, but the author’s witty hipness was excessive and tiring.

Could not finish