BETWEEN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT - Praveen Herat

Moldova. Dubai. Liberia. London. Phnom Penh, 1998. "You can be different here in Cambodia. Everything is possible," Alyosha tells war photographer "Fearless" Joseph Nightingale, introducing his old friend to the allure of a city on a dazzling rebound after decades of communist terror. Years spent close to theviolence of conflict zones around the world have left Fearless worn, unable to grieve the sudden death of his partner. Unpacking his bags, he reminds himself that he has come to East Asia to escape, and yet his return to Phnom Penh is something he swore never to do. A young Khmer woman hears the stranger's arrival and hours later finds him drugged and near death. Song has also been left physically and emotionally scarred by Cambodia's new possibilities, and she will make sure that Fearless survives. After all, she has kept alive the memory of her twin sister for years. When Song disappears, leaving only a mysterious videotape behind, Fearless must navigate a dangerous web of power brokers, kingpins, traffickers, and arms dealers, uncovering a sprawling network of criminality and corruption in a new, post-Soviet world. As the fog of media wars escalates our exposure to suffering around the globe, Herat asks if it is possible anymore to know the truth about anyone, even those we hold dearest?SOONER OR LATER, YOU HAVE TO TAKE SIDES.