And South America's Strangest Jail - A True Story of Friendship

For anyone from a western country thinking of travelling to South America, Marching Powder provides an amazing insight into one of the harshest elements of Bolivian society. Like all good books, it is a good read and also educational. There is no glorifying of international drug trafficking and no sentimentality about the results if a person is caught and imprisoned. One of the best books I have read in a long time.

Read the novel as it was a selection of one our book club members. Would not have selected the book on my own. About a third of the way through the book, felt I was reading an urban myth. Beautiful Israeli woman, corrupt judges/lawyers, guards, smuggling drugs, etc. Reminded me of the novel/movie "Midnight Express" about similar situation in a Turkish prison. Searched for "San Pedro" prison on the Internet and results seemed to confirm validity of the story. Would not recommend the book.

What an insight into such an unknown world! I had no idea that such status' existed in the jail system. A brilliant story of survival and how to use newly gained knowledge to improve one's position. I am in awe of those who can turn their life around.

I really enjoyed this book. It gives you a good insight into prison life, fortunate for some in this situation. I found this book really interesting, not all bad experiences and some live a comfortable live in this particular jail, but it doesn't always come easy. I couldn't put this book down once started.

English is not my native language but the book was a very easy read. I was absorbed after the first two pages. I kept on reading and finished it in one week-end. The story is fascinating and written in a very casual style. Delightful story.

If you believe everything that McFadden writes, then this is a fascinating tale of a bizarre, corrupt and frightening world.

But I don't believe everything McFadden says. I think he's a professional con artist and his last great con may have been this book. Rusty doesn't arrive on the scene until the very end, by which time McFadden's tours have largely stopped and "Yasheeda" has left the scene. In fact, very little happens after Rusty arrives. Strange, isn't it?

Even if one believes that the essential narrative of the story is true, the recreated conversations and scenes seem highly embellished.

I would love for an objective journalist to track down all the characters in this book and write a more objective account McFadden's life before and during his prison sentence.

If this book is ever made into a movie, the underlying "true" story will attract a great deal of scrutiny. As James Frey can tell you, that's not always a good thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone. My son was reading this book & I picked it up to see what it was about. After reading the 1st couple of pages i couldn't put it down. Very entertaining, an eye opener.

Amazing story of survival. It's funny, sad and disturbing. It's also a quick read as I couldn't put it down. I was recently in LA Paz for a mission trip so I heard about it while there. Highly suggest.

This book was fascinating. Not only was it interesting and entertaining; it was a true story which made it even more amazing. We are travelling to South America later this year and it was certainly an informative wake-up call. A very good read!

This could possibly be the best book I have ever read. The story is so fresh and engaging that you never want to put it down. Every page captivates your imagination of what it would be like to be imprisoned in this place and the challenges of survival as you fight for life and death.

A great read

This was an amazing book. It read like fiction in the sense that I couldn't put it down. Everything was so unbelievable that at first I thought this was fiction! But no, it was all real. Talk about a messed up legal system...

An amazing book. Having been to Bolivia, I found this book to be incredibly insightful and true! Readers will be amazed by Bolivian culture, their way of life, both inside and outside of the prison. I cant recommend this book enough. I loved it.

Very easy and interesting read. Make you really wonder how this jail system works. Makes you want to visit Bolivia and see the country for yourself, to understand it from your own perspective as well. It is not entirely clear if every little detail is attached to reality but the general story seems to be candid and is very intersting. I would highly recommend.

This book was a great insight into life in prison, the up's n down's of life on the inside,the harsh conditions, corrupt guards and the fear of not knowing whats around the corner and having to look over your shoulder 24/7

Thank goodness this is over.

This is not a particularly bad book, and I can understand why other people like it, but I just found it drab, uninteresting and lacking emotion.

Marching Powder is the true story (dictated memoire) of drug trafficker Thomas McFaddan and his 4+ years in a Bolivian prison. The description of the unusual prison system was interesting, and the politics within the prison were also interesting, when well explained.

This book is something backpackers who want to visit this prison might enjoy reading. I am not one of those people. This book does not make me want to visit, tour, or stay at the prison, but I'm sure it has enticed many of its readers. I have no desire to be around or read about cocaine, criminals and corruption as it pertains to the like. I have very little patience for the drug trade and guilty people associated with it. This book glorifies what I find horrific. And, it does so in a quite boring way. I switched back and forth between the audio book and the Kindle edition. Neither held my attention for very long. It isn't sloppy or poorly written, just bland (and the subject itself doesn't interest me).

I would probably recommend this book to backpackers who are into this sort of thing. For me, if I'm going to read about prisons, I prefer to read about wrongfully prosecuted and/or political prisoners who actually deserve to have their stories told.

Great Book. The criminal activity that goes on in San Pedro Prison is a known secret among La Paz people. A secret no one had been brave enough to reveal before. At least not formally.
This book describes how the most corrupt police force in the world is involved in crime world. Prision tours are real, drug dealing is real...
What I liked the most about the book, is how it doesn't slow down. It traps you right from the beginning to its last Word.

Pretty fun book to read, but at times it went on and on. I would have omitted some of the sections of the book - just not all that interesting. Was hoping for it to be a bit better, but happy to have finished the book today.

Like some of the others said, I think the 'true' story is not really all that.

While you would think a book about such a bizarre South American prison couldn't help but be compelling Young and McFadden manage to turn out an absolute yawn. On top of that, my impression is that McFadden is a b.s. artist. Too bad.

It has been some time since I've been as absorbed in a book-length character study as this. I was totally taken in by the strength of Rusty Young's storytelling here, but he is not the star of this book. Instead, it is a biography of an English drug trafficker, Thomas McFadden, who was imprisoned in Bolivia's San Pedro prison on drug charges. It's far from a normal prison: Australian author Young met McFadden when he visited San Pedro as a tourist and sampled the cocaine made in-house. "He sniffed a line, slid the CD case over to me and then started talking," Young writes in the first chapter, which is the only one told from his perspective. "Soon, I did not want him to stop."

From that point on, 'Marching Powder' is a fast-paced and entertaining tale of McFadden's years behind bars. The drug trafficker is an expert storyteller, and Young's narrative is so immersive that I found myself sketching mental pictures of San Pedro before too long. Inside the prison, there's an corrupt economy that McFadden can barely comprehend at first. Inmates are expected to buy their cells from real estate agents; shops and restaurant operate behind bars, and women and children live with their imprisoned family members. These inner workings are laid out in colourful detail, and once you're invested in the weird world of San Pedro, you have no choice but to keep reading to know what happens next.

"If prisons are no more than schools for further criminality, then San Pedro prison was the International University of Cocaine, where you could study under some of South America's leading professors: laboratory chemists, expert accountants and worldly businessmen," McFadden notes halfway through. The entrepreneur decides to capitalise on the knowledge and experience of his fellow inmates by offering guided tours to wide-eyed visitors, like Young, and these visits become a big part of how he manages to stay positive throughout most of his time inside, though he is bit by periods of depression for his seemingly hopeless plight.

Importantly, McFadden is self-aware of his storytelling skills, too. In the midst of a massive, all-night party held in his 'cell', he shrugged at the sight of some cocaine that was accidentally spilled onto the carpet by a remorseful New Zealand tourist. The Kiwi's punishment? To cut up ten more lines of coke, as quick as he can, to make up for lost time. "I knew that everyone in that room would be telling the story everywhere they went for the rest of their lives," quipped McFadden, and that remark could also apply to the extraordinary story captured in this book.

“Marching Powder” is not the type of book that would have normally caught my eye. In fact, it was a gift and I felt compelled to read it even if only to be polite. But this was a wrong-headed view. “Marching Powder” is a captivating tale of prison life in the San Pedro jail in La Paz. It’s a genuine page-turner.

“Marching Powder” tells the tale of a convicted cocaine trafficker, Thomas McFadden, who was serving a five year term in San Pedro. What makes the narrative so fascinating is the jail itself. Prisoners are required to pay a fee for entering the jail, they must buy their own cells and feed themselves. Visitors are very welcome and some families, including children, reside within the jail’s walls. Also, everything has a price. The justice system in Bolivia is absolutely and totally corrupted.

The book’s author, Rusty Young, came to meet McFadden when he learned that the convict was offering jail tours as a way of making ends meet. The two developed a firm friendship. Indeed, Young, who had completed a law degree before backpacking around South America, assisted McFadden against a series of additional trumped up charges.

The upshot is that I was unexpectedly delighted by Young’s telling of McFadden’s jail experiences. Some parts are happy, some mundane and some quite terrifying. However, do not think this is a book of prison squalor and evil deeds. The book is both uplifting and insightful. I can highly recommend it to all readers seeking a new perspective on the human condition.

What a fantastic but absolute horrifying read. The corruption within the Bolivian justice and prison systems simply astounded me. Rusty Young has written Thomas’s story with depth and at times gruesome detail. It did make me wonder why anyone apart from greed for money would ever subject themselves to trafficking or drug muling when there is always that huge risk that they would be caught and end up like Thomas in a foreign jail with little or no support.

Rusty Young's 'Marching Powder' is the real-life account of Thomas McFadden, a black Englishman and cocaine trafficker, and his nearly five years in the San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia. What is bizarre and unusual and incredible about the book is the nature of the San Pedro prison. One is used to hearing about notorious third-world prisons where corruption, crime, violence and inhumanity is rampant. Police brutality and corrupt judges are generally the rule. San Pedro has all these and so that is not unusual. But San Pedro also is a prison where the prisoners have to buy their own cells in which they live. The cell is bought just like any other piece of real-estate in the outside world. Inside San Pedro, prisoners live with their wives and children and the children go to school outside as if they are living in a regular suburb! Some prisoners run grocery shops or restaurants. Side by side, there are laboratories which make pure cocaine which is sold to inmates as well as to the outside world. All of this goes on under the nose of the prison guards and governor who are, of course, bribed. As if this is not enough, Thomas McFadden also runs tours of the prison for backpackers visiting La Paz and backpackers get to spending even nights in the prison to get the 'full experience'! The prison also has annual elections where inmates are elected as representatives.
Rusty Young is one of those backpackers who gets to meet Thomas McFadden and eventually ends up spending three months inside the prison and writing this book on San Pedro and Thomas' life inside. McFadden eventually gets released after bribing the judges and spending nearly five years inside.
For people on the outside like us, who live a regular life and mostly being law-abiding citizens, the book is exciting to read as it opens up a world that we are not purview to. I was fascinated by the first chapter itself where McFadden describes the process of packing cocaine in suitcases so that even the sniffer dogs cannot find it and how he surveys an airport and identifies who the drug-busting security personnel were and how he will conduct himself to throw them off his trail. Elsewhere he describes the process of sending small amounts of cocaine by regular postal mail without the customs finding it and how he uses probability as one of the tools. Other interesting aspects of the book are the concern the inmates have for children inside the prison and how they would avoid violence in the presence of children. When a young six-year old girl gets raped and murdered inside the prison, the inmates vow to catch and punish the perpetrator with a sense of determination that is not found in civil society outside.
The book is sympathetic to Thomas McFadden and generally paints Bolivia as a corrupt, violent and cruel society as seen from the prison. But a reader cannot escape the feeling that McFadden was ultimately a cocaine trafficker and he was caught red-handed in Bolivia for which he was sent to prison. The narrative does not indicate that he really repented for the act of trafficking because he trades in cocaine till the time he was released.
But there are some questions which nag me as the reader. Thomas talks about a beautiful Israeli girl named Yasheeda who is a backpacker and eventually becomes his girlfriend. Thomas claims to love her very much. However, Yasheeda fades away gradually in the latter couple of years of his stay in San Pedro. In the end, there is no mention of Yasheeda and whether Thomas tried to catch up with her once he was released. In these days of emails and Facebooks, it is hard to believe that Thomas could not find her again on the outside. I am left with the doubt about Yasheeda being a figment of imagination of Thomas and/or Rusty in order to spice up the book. The book has photos of backpackers visiting the prison and many other inmates but there is no photo of the beautiful Yasheeda. There are no indications that Rusty really tried to corroborate Thomas' accounts of Yasheeda and test its veracity. He needed to do that because Rusty stayed there only three months and that too only towards the end of Thomas' prison term.
The book is a bit lengthy at 371 pages. Once the novelty of the San Pedro prison was exposed in the initial 150 pages, the narrative loses its zip somewhat as the rest of the book is about prison life in general. The only mystery that one looks forward to then is how Thomas gets out.
The book is certainly worth a read and most readers will find it gripping overall as I did. It would have been a great book had the author taken more pains to reduce the doubts on the reliability of some of the accounts.

Perhaps it’s because my expectations were too high. Or perhaps it’s because I’ve already lived in South America for long enough to not be as shocked as others, by the “reveals” in this book. Whatever the reason, I did not get as much of a thrill from "Marching Powder" as I’d thought I would. Don’t get me wrong ... it’s a great story about a very weird, shocking, and eye-opening place ... and as evidenced by the many positive reviews here, a lot of people LOVED it, whereas I only LIKED it. :) Kudos to both Thomas and Rusty though ... they both seem like remarkable guys, who would undoubtedly be fun to hang out with. You simply don’t end up in situations or friendships like this by being boring, conventional, or unadventurous. So, in closing, I can recommend the book ... I just can’t rave about it the way I really wanted to. Enjoy! :)

Marching Powder is the story of Thomas McFadden, a British cocaine trafficker who was imprisoned in Bolivia's San Pedro Prison for almost five years. San Pedro Prison is like nothing Western readers have ever experienced: prisoners have to "buy" their own cells, food, and clothing and they have to find a way to make money to pay for those things.

McFadden is a crook, but he is engaging. He freely admits that he was a cocaine dealer and he explains in detail how he got caught. Once imprisoned, McFadden's ability to make friends eases his time in prison.

Readers will not believe the descriptions of San Pedro. Prisoners without money die; rich prisoners buy plush accommodations and permission to leave prison for several hours. Many inmates - rich and poor - move their wives and children into their cells.

Prisoners spend their time drinking alcohol and using pure cocaine. McFadden spends much time recounting these wild parties. Consider the following passage:

"In addition to the weddings, birthdays, and baptisms inside the jail, the prisoners celebrated all the traditional festivals and holidays on the outside: Christmas, Easter, la Noche de San Juan, la Entrada de Gran Poder, Bolivia's Independence Day, Peru's Independence Day, Ecuador's Independence Day. In fact, any country's Independence Day or anyone's ex-girlfriend's birthday that we could remember. And if there was ever a dispute as to the correct date, we would have two celebrations - just to be sure that we hadn't miscelebrated" (p. 265).

The book lets readers draw their own conclusions about McFadden and the war on drugs. The descriptions of Bolivia's justice system are amazing. Everything is for sale and a defendant's guilt or innocence is irrelevant. Inside San Pedro the prisoners administer their own rough justice. The book contains a nightmarish description of how the prisoners' treated a group of rapists.

Marching Powder is a fantastic adventure story. I highly recommend it.

Whether or not you like the prison lit genre, this is a must read. The setting is the surreal and bizarre world of the notorious San Pedro prison in La Paz and the main character is Thomas McFadden, a busted drug smuggler, who despite being broke, with his charm, charisma and strength of personality manages to not only to carve a comfortable lifestyle in a prison where inmates have to buy everything, even the bed, but to develop an entire niche industry, a proto-dark tourism. There was a period in the late 1990s where people came to Bolivia to see Machu Pichu but ended up staying in La Paz the entire time because McFadden's parties in San Pedro were so good. Having access to the best cocaine in the world helped, of course, but one still can't help but love and respect McFadden. One of those rare books that you're looking forward to every minute of free time to read it, a true page turner.

Thomas McFadden is a drug trafficker. Oh don't worry, he freely admits to it in this book and he was actually caught trying to smuggle drugs out of South America when he was double crossed by a customs official.

What I found in this book was a surprisingly funny, yet also dark account of life in Bolivia's San Pedro prison. Basically if you don't have any money to bribe the guards you don't even get food to eat let alone a cell to call your own. That's right, you have to pay for your own cell like it was real estate!

The book is written by Rusty Young, an Australian backpacking in South America who had heard of a guy in San Pedro who was giving tours and overnight stays in the prison, for a price. Three months later Rusty emerged with Thomas' story of mob justice, violence, bribery, drugs, women, love and even a night out on the town.

Thomas never really apologises for anything he has done, and if anything he gives us quite an insight into the global drug trafficking business. But most of the book focuses on Thomas' time in San Pedro and his often fight to stay alive. I'm not normally a non-fiction fan, but I have to admit this book was VERY interesting!

When I read this book, I realized I had visited the San Pedro Prison in La Paz about the time events in this book were taking place or shortly thereafter. We didn't have Thomas for our guide. We did have to leave our passports at the gate and were frisked before entering. George, our guide, took us to his (tiny) room and offer to get some cocaine for anyone who wanted it. I remember seeing them feeding the prisoners who had no means and it was some really bad looking swill for sure. We saw lots of small businesses set up inside the prison. There were kids living there who go to school every day from the prison. It was quite a surreal experience. Conditions were quite rickety in George's section and we went on through 4 of 5 more sections which were increasingly nice. Apparently the prison had originally been a series of convents or some such thing. Our last stop was the chapel.
The book brought back the whole experience to me and I found it fascinating.

In 1995, Thomas McFadden was arrested at El Alto airport in La Paz in Bolivia for drug smuggling in a sting operation set up by a local policeman. Thomas was then sent to the local San Pedro prison after almost being starved to death by the local police because he didn't have any cash on him to pay for food in their holding pens.

San Pedro prison turned out to be the strangest place Thomas had ever been in his life. It was a microcosm of the entire Bolivian economy. People ran shops, made and traded drugs, bribed all the police and guards on a daily basis and had their wives and children live with them in jail.

Thomas is honest and straightforward in stating that before his arrest he was a professional drug smuggler and after his introduction to prison a regular cocaine taker as well. He's not an angel, but this is a fascinating story of good times and bad times and the friends and enemies of life in the strangest prison you'll ever read about. The moral of this story is - if you have to go to prison in South America make sure its San Pedro and that you are rich and any of other nationality aside from USA. "Gringos" can survive these prisons but they can also be brutal to people that they hate and this book shows you both the light and dark sides of San Pedro prison and a place that was at one point one of South America's strangest tourist attractions.

I read Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail over one wild, windy weekend, only getting up off the couch to eat, say hi to my long-suffering partner and sleep. Then I read the reviews.

Strange, but I agreed with both the 5-star and the 1-star comments. It's a fascinating, page-turning story, told in a simple, easy-to-read style. It has touches of surreal comic brilliance, as it tells of the narrator Thomas's survival through incredible hardships and injustices of his 4-year sentence for drug-trafficking in a Bolivian jail. The first-person narration allows Thomas to gloss over the enormity of his crimes, not only of the original trafficking offence, but his subsequent drug-use and drug-dealing inside the prison, his bribery of prison and court officials, and his bashing of other inmates (described by horrified visitors as torture).

Whereas some readers have seen Thomas's crimes and apparent lack of remorse as a flaw in the story, I see it as a strength of the book's real author, Rusty Young, who allows "Thomas" to speak for himself, to spin his yarns of prison life in a way that is engaging, but not totally believable - Thomas is the archetypal unreliable narrator and readers can judge him for themselves.

Although I missed some contextualising by the "Rusty" character at the end - some hint that we're not meant to swallow Thomas's story uncritically - it wasn't hard to read between the lines. The overall impression I got is that Thomas the person shares the personality profile of many successful criminals: a sociopath - a narcissistic manipulator who charms people and gets them onside, but always manages to see to his own needs; someone who ultimately has very little moral sense of culpability of responsibility for the hideous crimes he's perpetrated against others.

Far from being a weakness, I see this narrative choice as one of the story's strengths. But because of Thomas's unreliability, I'm not so sure the book should be characterised as "non-fiction" or "biography".

I picked this book up based on the cover design, then read the back jacket and decided it was a book for me! I love "true life" stories and this is one of the more bizarre ones you will ever read.

This is the story of a prisoner as told by a man who came to befriend him over repeated visits to the prison. The plot centers around the man's 4+ year stint in Bolivian prison, but tells so much more than this story. "Marching Powder" delves into the rampant corruption inside the prison, the bizarre, surreal microcosm of the prison, and one man's odyssey to be released from prison and continue with his life. If you have seen the film "Midnight Express," this book is reminiscent of it.

The story takes place almost entirely inside a Bolivian prison. Life inside this prison has its own set of rules and regulations, and is unlike anything you could imagine. The prison has its own economy, its own neighborhoods, and a cast of characters (including a crack-addicted cat) that could have come out of a movie.

The book moves quickly, the writing is fluid and vivid, the characters are larger than life, and some of the details can be jaw-dropping.

Marching Powder was given to me by a good friend of mine who came back from a massive trip to South America. I've never been to South America and have never really had a desire to go either however my friend threw this book on me and told me I had to read it. One of the places she travelled to was Bolivia which is where this story is set.

This true story is about an english drug trafficker who gets caught in Bolivia trying to smuggle 5 kilo's of coke out of the country. He gets sentenced (I won't tell you how long because it'll give some of the book away if you decide to read it) to one of the craziest jails in South America, La Paz. In La Paz the prisoners pay everything themselves, their food, their housing, everything. Children and families are allowed to stay in the prison and inmates can start up businesses like restaurants and convenience stores inside the prison to pay their way through their sentence. It's pretty crazy, and this book tells it as it is.

It was definitely an eye into South American culture to which I know really nothing about. The book self proclaims on the back that it's a 'dark comedic account' or something along those lines and I'd say that's not too far off. Thomas, the protagonist, is an Englishmen and seems a real funny guy. Many times his narrative had me in stitches and his interactions with all the characters he meets inside and outside the prison are pretty crazy.

Thomas' time there touches on heaps of stuff, drug addiction and corruption as the two biggest things, but also looks at issues of love, loss, kindness, insanity and freedom. It definitely got me thinking about these things for me, on a pretty deep level.

The book however is quite brutal in points, so just a heads up.

Rusty Young, the writer who met Thomas in the prison is alright. He writes in first person. There are times I feel that Rusty's brushstrokes don't encompass Thomas' character, but I guess it's hard to say when I've never met the guy. The writing is pretty standard story telling, easy to read, good flow.

Overall a satisfying read, recommended.

Having travelled throughout Latin America, I can report that the way in which the jail is run is not so strange, and is actually common throughout the poorer countries of the continent. The need for outside assistance and money is required in order to have any chance of long-term survivorbility. In countries where public funds are scarce, it makes common sense to the population that inmates should fund their own incarceration.

A good read, nonetheless. One thing that I wondered after having read the boom was what happened to McFadden after his release. I can't find anything about him online. It left me with the impression that he had gone back into the business of drug smuggling. Iw wrote to the author about this and I was assred that McFadden was living a drug-free life in Colombia. I have my doubts, being that McFadden continued to use and deal drugs throughout his prison sentence.

This book opened a I window into a world I hopefully will never know. The corruption is mind boggling, and the culture in Bolivia seems to accept that.Though I think the violence, also horrific, is probably not that much different in all prisons. I was amazed to learn of the details of the prison, ie families living there, owning your own cell all the drugs and alcohol that appear easily available.
The writing could be a little better but a fascinating peek into a prison from another culture.

I really enjoyed this book.

Unlike other reviewers I didn't feel like the writer was encouraging me to sympathise with Thomas, which meant I took a more objective view of the story than I usually find myself doing when reading first person narrative. Thomas clearly deserved to be in San Pedro as he committed a crime, and continued to be a criminal throughout his incarceration dealing drugs and bribing officials. I didn't feel that the writer Rusty Young was under any illusions about that. As to the truth of the tale, my guess is that while Thomas' anecdotes emphasising his own connections or significance may be exaggerated, some of the more horrific external events ring true. For example during the incident with the gang rapists at 'la piscina', I believed the violence was real, but my impression of Thomas was that his sense of self-preservation would be too great to protest against the mob.

A lot of the book was shocking and saddening, but I was surprised by how depressed I was by the descriptions of the wild cocaine fuelled parties attended by the Western tourists. It typifies the worst aspects of 'gap year' culture that tourists were (and are still?) paying to gawk at criminals in prison in a third world country, blythly taking cocaine actually in San Pedro. It seems these people condone blatant, criminal drug use as well as police corruption because they are travelling, as though being in South America with a backpack excuses them from upholding the personal standards and ethics they impose on themselves back home. I bet tales of bribing police to get into prison to take drugs with the inmates won't make it onto many UCAS or grad scheme applications. All the while their actions are perpetuating the drug trade that has got many of San Pedro's inmates into trouble in the first place. Supply follows demand. I'm not claiming to have all the ethical answers, but I do find this part of the story quite sad.

The book was in fact riddled with hypocritical attitudes, including Thomas's own outrage at being double-crossed. However this only makes the book more fascinating. After all, you could read the facts about San Pedro from any newspaper account, but Marching Powder gives a gripping insight into the minds of people able to justify to themselves their involvement in large-scale crime.

I remember first hearing about both San Pedro and Rusty's book when I arrived in Cartagena. Going down the typical hostel trail, I kept hearing about the book over and over. Finally, in Peru someone gave me the book. WOW. Although I am never much of a reader (especially when traveling) I tore through this in one sitting.

If you have ever backpacked/hosteled/traveled you NEED to read this book.

If you are stuck in some office with dreams of traveling, this will be the motivation you need.

Wow! Simply put: this book is great.

I generally enjoy non-fiction and this book didnt dissapoint. It is the story of a drug smuggler who gets caught and finds himself living in a Bolivian prison. The prison is nothing like one would expect a prison to be which is the crux of the book's charisma.

It is written very simply, which makes it easy to read and understand. The detail given in the book is sufficient to garner decent imagery of what life was like in the prison.

I found this book very enjoyable and recommend this highly.

In early 1998, while traveling solo through South America, I was told I had to visit Thomas McFadden when I got to LaPaz. After I visited Thomas, I told two other travelers, so I can see how his tour business was so large. When I came back to the USA, I only told a few people about visiting Thomas because being a female traveling alone it wasn't the smartest thing I ever did. So, when I read about this book in Oprah, I was so excited to read his story. I thought the book was very well written, easy to read and very entertaining; I think everyone who reads this book will like it.

Some of the reviews don't believe his is for real, but I know he is. As far as embellishing I can't comment on that, but he is a very likeable guy. I spent the day with him as his visitor. He was extremely courteous and nice. In the afternoon, I didn't know how to repay him for showing me around so I asked what I could do for him. He wanted a pizza from outside the prison. When I came back with the Pizza it was when visiting hours were ending, so Thomas bribed the guards to let me in. I didn't know all this until later. I was brought to his section and locked in. At that moment, I was pretty scared. But, once I found Thomas, we had a fun time eating p

Rusty Young provides us with the astonishing story of a drug-smuggling Brit named Thomas. He is caught at the airport in La Paz with a considerable amount of pure coke and put in custody. He asks the police if could please be taken to prison, since custody is literally killing him. He arrives the gates of the San Pedro prison in the Bolivian capital in a taxi and is asked to pay the fare himself! From here we follow Thomas' fight to survive and adapt to the micro-capitalistic and micro-sociological conditions in San Pedro's weird world.

The Australian writer guides us with just the right distance and the right amount of empathy for us to enjoy the ride. A great reading experience! This is a direct and fragmented snapshot of Bolivia's darkish gutter.

This book opened a I window into a world I hopefully will never know. The corruption is mind boggling, and the culture in Bolivia seems to accept that.Though I think the violence, also horrific, is probably not that much different in all prisons. I was amazed to learn of the details of the prison, ie families living there, owning your own cell all the drugs and alcohol that appear easily available.
The writing could be a little better but a fascinating peek into a prison from another culture.

I really enjoyed this book.

Unlike other reviewers I didn't feel like the writer was encouraging me to sympathise with Thomas, which meant I took a more objective view of the story than I usually find myself doing when reading first person narrative. Thomas clearly deserved to be in San Pedro as he committed a crime, and continued to be a criminal throughout his incarceration dealing drugs and bribing officials. I didn't feel that the writer Rusty Young was under any illusions about that. As to the truth of the tale, my guess is that while Thomas' anecdotes emphasising his own connections or significance may be exaggerated, some of the more horrific external events ring true. For example during the incident with the gang rapists at 'la piscina', I believed the violence was real, but my impression of Thomas was that his sense of self-preservation would be too great to protest against the mob.

A lot of the book was shocking and saddening, but I was surprised by how depressed I was by the descriptions of the wild cocaine fuelled parties attended by the Western tourists. It typifies the worst aspects of 'gap year' culture that tourists were (and are still?) paying to gawk at criminals in prison in a third world country, blythly taking cocaine actually in San Pedro. It seems these people condone blatant, criminal drug use as well as police corruption because they are travelling, as though being in South America with a backpack excuses them from upholding the personal standards and ethics they impose on themselves back home. I bet tales of bribing police to get into prison to take drugs with the inmates won't make it onto many UCAS or grad scheme applications. All the while their actions are perpetuating the drug trade that has got many of San Pedro's inmates into trouble in the first place. Supply follows demand. I'm not claiming to have all the ethical answers, but I do find this part of the story quite sad.

The book was in fact riddled with hypocritical attitudes, including Thomas's own outrage at being double-crossed. However this only makes the book more fascinating. After all, you could read the facts about San Pedro from any newspaper account, but Marching Powder gives a gripping insight into the minds of people able to justify to themselves their involvement in large-scale crime.

I remember first hearing about both San Pedro and Rusty's book when I arrived in Cartagena. Going down the typical hostel trail, I kept hearing about the book over and over. Finally, in Peru someone gave me the book. WOW. Although I am never much of a reader (especially when traveling) I tore through this in one sitting.

If you have ever backpacked/hosteled/traveled you NEED to read this book.

If you are stuck in some office with dreams of traveling, this will be the motivation you need.

Wow! Simply put: this book is great.

I generally enjoy non-fiction and this book didnt dissapoint. It is the story of a drug smuggler who gets caught and finds himself living in a Bolivian prison. The prison is nothing like one would expect a prison to be which is the crux of the book's charisma.

It is written very simply, which makes it easy to read and understand. The detail given in the book is sufficient to garner decent imagery of what life was like in the prison.

I found this book very enjoyable and recommend this highly.

In early 1998, while traveling solo through South America, I was told I had to visit Thomas McFadden when I got to LaPaz. After I visited Thomas, I told two other travelers, so I can see how his tour business was so large. When I came back to the USA, I only told a few people about visiting Thomas because being a female traveling alone it wasn't the smartest thing I ever did. So, when I read about this book in Oprah, I was so excited to read his story. I thought the book was very well written, easy to read and very entertaining; I think everyone who reads this book will like it.

Some of the reviews don't believe his is for real, but I know he is. As far as embellishing I can't comment on that, but he is a very likeable guy. I spent the day with him as his visitor. He was extremely courteous and nice. In the afternoon, I didn't know how to repay him for showing me around so I asked what I could do for him. He wanted a pizza from outside the prison. When I came back with the Pizza it was when visiting hours were ending, so Thomas bribed the guards to let me in. I didn't know all this until later. I was brought to his section and locked in. At that moment, I was pretty scared. But, once I found Thomas, we had a fun time eating p

Rusty Young provides us with the astonishing story of a drug-smuggling Brit named Thomas. He is caught at the airport in La Paz with a considerable amount of pure coke and put in custody. He asks the police if could please be taken to prison, since custody is literally killing him. He arrives the gates of the San Pedro prison in the Bolivian capital in a taxi and is asked to pay the fare himself! From here we follow Thomas' fight to survive and adapt to the micro-capitalistic and micro-sociological conditions in San Pedro's weird world.

The Australian writer guides us with just the right distance and the right amount of empathy for us to enjoy the ride. A great reading experience! This is a direct and fragmented snapshot of Bolivia's darkish gutter.

The story behind San Pedro's prison is very interesting however this book drags on far too long with so much unnecessary information, could easily be half the amount of pages. Quite poorly written resulting in the main character failing to come across as the likeable, interesting, charismatic person he apparently is. Instead he comes across as self-absorbed, self-entitled and sympathy seeking.
Read up about San Pedro prison somewhere else in a more concise format, just as informative and will save yourself the 380 pages.

This is an amazing story. It really opened my eyes to whole nother world. Well written, never boring, this fascinating true story reads more like a novel than non-fiction. The main character, Thomas McFadden is a very likeable person. He seems very down to earth and very easy to relate to. I saw a lot of myself in him. The way he handled situations and his thought process is very similar to my own. I couldn't put this book down. I picked it up and stayed up til 6am reading it. Very impressing. I would reccomend this to anyone.

Really enjoyed Marching Powder.

Some people complaining it seemed 'pro drug' and rated it low because of that. It's a book about cocaine smuggling. What did you expect??

I also was surprised at the level of writing. At least one reviewer said it wasn't the greatest writing. And that's true, it won't win any awards for top notch writing...But it was far better than I expected and certainly above average. One strange thing I found, was the writer described someone making the quotation mark sign with fingers when mocking a word as "upside down commas"..and referenced it using this phrase a couple times. Besides that, the writing was quite good I thought.

I also think the motive for writing the book as stated is a bit strange... [To let the world know the conditions, level of corruption and the fact that inmates had to buy their own housing]... The way things are there allowed him to party through his 'bid' and own his own shop and run tours of the jail. Agreed that for someone without means it must be a horrible experience, but for the subject of the book I think it worked out quite well for him...haha

Anyways...That doesn't have much to do with the story itself.. I give it a 4 out of 5. Good writing, and a very original and interesting, true story.

Didn`t know what to expect and having just visited Bolivia really enjoyed this book.

Real page turner, sex, drugs, violence and thouroughly fascinating.

Two minor criticisms though. Firstly Thomas does play the victim a bit - let`s get real, he was a drug trafficker and no matter how unfair his treatment, if you break the law in another country you should be prepared to accept the consequences, not that Thomas hides the fact he is guilty, but he does unwittingly gain sympathy.

Secondly, it is a bit hippy, traveller, everybody loves everybody, which I guess is no criticism but if you are a cynic like me...I would find it hard not to take the piss more out of the people that came on his tours having met several crusty niaive travellers myself, but this would not stop me recomending this as a must for anyone visiting Bolivia!

I bought this book because I was desperate for a read, and there weren't any other biography-type books in the bookstore. Its not really my type of book. However, when I started reading it, I couldn't put it down! I found it absolutely fascinating. The San Pedro prison sounds more like a resort than a prison. Some of the stories told in this book will shock you.

I read this book about 3 years ago. I never read a book with so much interest as this. It was very interesting, entertaining, frightening and attention grabbing. I am not sure if the story is 100% true but it certainly made a good read. I am planning to read the book again sometime soon.

Marching Powder was one of those rare finds for me... I had never heard of it before, but it turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read. It recounts the story of Thomas McFadden, a convicted drug trafficker, and all his struggles and reversals of fortune inside the worlds craziest prison. This true story is often intense and intriguing and has most of the elements of a prison tale including the hardship and suffering that goes on, but not in the conventional sense... and you'll find out why if you read it! Thomas recounts the bonds formed with his friends and enemies along the way, and comes to understand the true meaning of friendship, freedom, and redemption.

What a great story - Once you begin reading it, you won't put it down until it's finished! Well written and very interesting all the way through, the book shares stories that you will find most surprising and almost unbelievable. I can't compare the substance of the story to anything else I have read - it is a mix of eye-opening surprise, awe, adventure, humour and sadness. When we travel, it's always facinating to see how other people live, and this book provides the reader with an amazing glimpse of life in a unique situation. Highly recommended.

Marching Powder is a ghost written account of an Englishman's incarceration in an Bolivian jail.

Whilst the book is no great work of literature, the amazing world that it uncovers is worthy of reading about, and intriging enough to make you want to read on and on.

Unlike other prison memoirs that I have read, such as The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison (highly recomended) - this prison is not the ultra violent place you might imagine.

As long as you have the money, prisoners can live a reasonably comfortable life, set up businesses, have friends over to stay, even go out night clubbing!

A good read - purley for the insight into such a weird world.

Really enjoyed the book reading it over a two day period. One thing that puzzled me that I haven't seen commented on in other reviews is that he never mentions his family. Never. Did he not have one? Did they not visit him or wonder where he was for almost 5 years? This has struck me as strange and I can't think of a reason for it. Any ideas?

This is the true story of how one man survived Bolivia's famous San Pedro prison. It's like 'Oz' meets 'The Jeffersons' when the criminals are allowed to run their own businesses and furnish deluxe prison cells that they own and sell.

It reads like a journalist wrote it so there's a certain point where the story lags a little, but in the end you can't help but root for Thomas. The first and last acts of this book make it hard to put down.

I coldn't put this down once I started it. The three other people I lent it to, felt the same way. It is an amazing story of one of the most bizarre prisons in the world and what it took to survive there for 4+ years.

I agree with the minority of reviewers that the story seems as if it was all a figment of Thomas McFadden's imagination. I'm sure the corruption and violence was very real but the way the story is told just doesn't ring true. There's no depth to any of the characters including Thomas. Its written in a very 2 dimensional way where all of the characters seem stereotypical goodies or baddies. He himself wants to be seen as this poor naïve young thing who doesn't deserve any of this but he does deserve it. He committed a crime in a third world country and prided himself on being the best drug trafficker ever, if he is to be believed. He paints himself as a morally upstanding character yet we all know he was a hardened criminal. He reckons in all the years of being the most successful drug trafficker ever he had never ever tried cocaine until he succumbs to peer pressure from a beautiful woman in the jail. Call me cynical but it just seems like he's trying to paint himself in the best possible light. His girlfriend disappears as quickly as she appeared with no satisfactory explanation. I think the theory that Rusty Young didn't really believe most of what he was told is why the book reads the way that it does and Young is leaving it to the reader to decide if it is all a big con. Well Rusty, I for one was not taken in! Its a moralistic fairy tail with loads of flaws.

I don't give a book 5 stars to often, but I have to say this is an excellent book. I couldn't put it down and finished over the weekend. This book is written very well and makes you want to keep reading. The fact that all of this is true makes it so much more interesting, also the pictures that were included were a nice touch. It just made the book that much more real. I would definitly recommend.

After visiting San Pedro prison on a 'prison tour' in 2003. I heard about the book and couldn't put it down until the last page. The description of the prison is very true, but the account of the daily life is very surreal. It's a really interesting read and Rusty had some guts to stay in the prison for the length that he did.
After traveling though South America in early 2008, every backpacker was reading this book. It really is a book for anyone on the 'Gringo trail'
Buy, read and be amazed.

this book is a pretty good read. i enjoyed it but it wasn't a page turner. i'm not certain i believed all the incidents described and i think the writer embellished and downright lied at certain points for the sake of entertainment. still it is interesting and if half of what was written is true then it is a fascinating glimpse into prison life in bolivia.
worth a read but don't expect to be riveted.

Marching powder was a great book to read. Not only was it easy to read it was enjoyable & I struggled to put it down. The descriptions in the book were great & made me picture particular people, locations items etc

I bought this book based on hand written review in a book shop & I'm so glad I did.

It is a fascinating story of a drug trafficker imprisoned in Bolivia & his experiences during his stay, some of which is almost unbelievable.

Marching Powder was a great read. Despite the actions that led Thomas McFadden into the San Pedro prison system, you root for him to succeed in this sub-world that is ruled by the best and worst of capitalism.

A two star review called this book a yawn. I also struggled to get through it because the writing style was at an 8th grade level, which I found odd for a book about such a mature topic. Uninspiring writing gets tiresome at 370 pages. It would be nice if someone rewrote this story with fewer and better chosen words.

I purchased this book because I currently live in Latin America and have spent many years researching the drug trade. The book is an easy read, not particulalry well written and much of the information in it is difficult to verify, so you have to take the authors word. I found several important details that were inaccurate and the book itself seemed more about making the second author look good than providing a detailed account of San Pedro.

Thomas McFadden is an unrepentant criminal of questionable morality. He was a cocaine trafficker and still seems to be quite proud of his accomplishments in his past life. Throughout the book he seems proud of his efforts to bribe and corrupt various officials throughout in Bolivia. He talks about the country and it's people as though they are something to be used for his purposes. His discussion of the Mormons is at best inaccurate and at worst malicious. Any student of religion knows that the LDS church does not have paid clergy and has very strict standards for its lay clergy. The book suggests that Thomas is paid clergy for the Mormon church, which they don't have.

I would not recommend this book to anyone.

This is not a worthwhile read; the author's prose was mundane, stilted and exploitive in nature. The subject is just another drug world atrocity. I bought the book because my dog chewed up the library copy that I had read only a 1/4 of prior to abandoning it to return it to the library; the dog knew something. So I bought a new copy from A. to replace the damaged library copy.