Between this World and the Next by Praveen Herat (Restless Books)

Song and Sovanna are two halves of an exquisite whole, twin sisters whose beauty is perfectly mirrored in each other’s faces, until a misplaced attack leaves Song with only half of her face unscarred. Disfigured, Song works as an enslaved housemaid in a Phnom Penh guesthouse while Sovanna is imprisoned as a sex slave. 

A war photographer with the nickname of Fearless comes to Phnom Penh at the invitation of an old friend, a man who once was his “fixer” in Bosnia. Recently widowed when his wife died in a car crash, Fearless is certain he has nothing left to lose. His friend Federenko has put him up in a guesthouse, a place where a young housemaid has half of her face deformed by scars. 

Song has a single goal, to find her twin and return with her to their home in rural Cambodia. In her attempt to achieve this, she finds an unlikely ally in the guest who has recently arrived. While Fearless agrees to help her, he’s puzzled by Song’s warning, “Don’t tell your friend.”

Fearless has known Federenko since he hired the boy long ago. The two of them have a battle-tested friendship that has bred the kind of trust that lies between brothers. But Song has evidence that this trust is misplaced. She has found a videotape that implicates Federenko in the cruelest form of sexual atrocities and although Fearless tries to deny the evidence, he’s told by his friend’s bodyguard in a veiled hint that Federenko’s help will lead to a trap.

This is not an easy book to read. It begins with a rape, continues with the murder of children, and lapses into torture. “Our ability to exterminate makes us who we are,” Fearless observes at the beginning of this novel and this seems to be the underlying theme. It’s Song who gives the plot a twist that somehow lights it with hope and love which carries through to the end.

Every detail in this intricate story is important. Vicious acts that seem random are all connected in a story that ranges from Cambodia to Liberia and is ensnared in the devious machinations of Dark Money. Characters who are drenched in violence become saviors and friends become enemies. 

Praveen Herat lived in Phnom Penh for years. Plot elements that may seem melodramatic to some readers are ones that are much too true. Parents have sold their daughters in an effort to keep their families from starving to death. Young beauties have had their faces destroyed by jealous wives hurling acid. Methamphetamine addiction is common among those who are exploited and poor in Southeast Asia. Russian mafioso have been a feature in Cambodia for decades with money laundering as one of their essential tools across continents. And Fearless isn’t the only Westerner who “did his best to make the facts do his bidding.” Innocence has been a liability and a danger long before Graham Greene pinpointed that in The Quiet American.

Herat has written a thriller that zeroes in on truths and reveals dark secrets held by those who are irreparably damaged and those who manage to survive. It’s going to hurt you and haunt you. Read it if you dare.~Janet Brown