Darling Downs Book Review E-group

One-way Ticket: The Untold Story of the Bali 9
Cindy Wockner, Madonna King
ISBN: 0732283469
Format: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: 09/03/2006
Price: $A29.95

A tragic tale of 9 Australians involved in trafficking drugs from Bali to Australia. On April 17 of 2005, Renae Lawrence, Martin Stephens, Scott Rush, Michael Czugaj, Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen and Matthew Norman were arrested as they were waiting at the airport to come back to Australia. One-way Ticket, deals with the events that lead up to their arrest and the court proceedings that follow. It looks at what these 9 Australians were like before they become the Bali 9.
The book is set in both Australia, where the journey began, and in Bali, where it ended behind bars. Cindy Wockner and Madonna King, go somewhere where most journalists don’t venture, into the Bali 9 lives.
One-way ticket borders on being written like a documentary and then somewhat like a journal of events, thoughts and feelings. Bali 9 members are shown to be nine different people, who were there in Bali to have a good time and to bring home drugs.
The book goes further then news reports, it looks at those left behind in Australia, the families, the governments handling of the situation, and the aftermath of trying to save someone from doing the wrong thing. Only to see it backfire and your nightmare become a reality.
The case is far from over, so I am sure that there will be a follow-up of the Bali 9.
One-way Ticket, is an interesting read and a great deterrent to travelers to Bali thinking about playing with drugs.