Review of ‘The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu’ by Tom Vater

A drug-fuelled adventure, this thriller set on the hippie trail to Kathmandu is set in 1976 and 2000. While there were some aspects of the book that I liked, I became impatient with the story two-thirds through and didn’t care enough about how it would be resolved.

The story follows Dan and his hippie friends as they travel by bus for a drug deal which will make them a lot of money. It doesn’t go according to plan. Years later, Dan and his son Robbie re-visit Kathmandu to meet up with some old friends, or possibly enemies, and recover the money. I have trouble summarising the story because I feel that there wasn’t a lot of it. Evocative and detailed descriptions, however, are a main feature of the book and are very impressive. You definitely feel you are there.

I had some issues with the book. There were several pages I had to skip because they described the tattooing process and I can’t deal with that. The male gaze was very evident as every female character was described in terms of how beautiful or skinny she was. Moreover, I had little sense of the personalities of Dan and Robbie, other than that they appreciate recreational drugs and travelling in Asia. If those are your interests too, the book should be on your TBR. I did find it quite readable and pacy, until I lost interest in the plot.

First published in 2006. Now available as an ebook. Thank you to the author Tom Vater and Henry Roi PR for the review copy.