Secrets

Set in the late 1990s, four Australian travellers in southeast Asia become inadvertently caught up in a complex web of suspense, political conspiracy and love, as each searches for the secrets of fulfilment against a background of East Timor's emerging independence. Hack writer Martin Beard is on a two-week holiday, trying to escape from his world of predictable, mainstream journalism as he becomes deeply involved in the lives of three fellow travellers-Sarah, her long-time friend Angela, and Jim, a charismatic and elusive nomad, who has mysterious connections in Indonesia and East Timor. Jim's activities in the region attract the attention of Australia's secret intelligence organisations along with a corrupt Queensland undercover police officer. The complex web created by Jim to disguise his real objective draws all of them inadvertently into the twilight world of drug smuggling. Martin is forced to re-examine the very basis of the journalism practices which have shaped his career, along with his beliefs in the democratic process, as he uncovers an extensive web of corruption and money-laundering involving governments and his own news organisation. Throughout, he is guided by an unknown informer and the good sense of Angela, who can see beyond the limited boundaries of traditional media. This is about the secrets, events and relationships which draw four disparate people together in their search for meaning in journey's end-and in the journey itself.