Product Description

Nicholl relates his trip to Colombia in the early eighties with madcap energy as he careens from shantytowns and waterfront barrios to steamy jungle villages and slaughterhouses in his quest for “The Great Cocaine Story.”

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157564 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-30
• Released on: 1998-06-30
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 7.81" h x .75" w x 5.12" l, .56 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 334 pages

From Amazon.com
Charles Nicholl is on a quest for "The Great Cocaine Story." The time is the early eighties and the place...Colombia. The story actually begins twelve years earlier in the tiny, scruffy seaport town of Santa Marta, described by some as "a victim of its privileged geographic location." "The town had the feel of a tropical smugglers' den. It was a rakish, seedy, avaricious little place, but somehow exhilarating in the way it lived according to its own laws." The Fruit Palace, a dismal whitewashed café that legally dispenses tropical fruit juices, has another purpose as the meeting place for a variety of black market activities and the place where Nicholl unwittingly begins his quest.

He returns to Colombia in 1983 "on assignment." His research is thorough, the risks he takes are serious, and characters he encounters--colorful, cranky and always looking older than their years--are so thoroughly fleshed out, you almost forget you're reading nonfiction. Nicholl survives dangerous encounters with powerful drug lords, fever, earthquake, solo treks through treacherous jungles--all to deliver this decadent and compelling journey through the cocaine underworld of Colombia.

From Publishers Weekly
Nicholl's acclaimed chronicle of his travels in Colombia includes a new introduction.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In the tradition of Hunter Thompson, Nicholl makes fact read like fiction. With an offbeat sense of humor, a tendency to laugh in the face of danger, and a flair for suspense, he is the "intrepid reporter on the trail of the Great Cocaine Story" in Colombia. Part travelogue, part adventure story, The Fruit Palace is as enjoyable as it is revealing. Through friends and potential enemies, Nicholl uncovers South American folklore and history as well as the ins and outs of the drug trade. The information comes in the form of stories told by a "who's who" of drug contacts, suppliedfor a priceby an old friend. The making of cocaine is described by a cocaine "cook," Rosalita the "mule" tells how she smuggled coke, and Nicholl himself uncovers some interesting practices and policies. While Nicholl barely touches on the negative consequences of cocaine use, interest in the topic and his knack for storytelling should make this a popular title. Susan Avallone, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.