The setting of the novel “Kowloon Tong” is the British colony of Hong Kong. The time is on the eve of its transfer to China. Paul Theroux created one of his most exciting books based on this topical material. The story of a weak soul that reached out to the light, but could not resist; a parable about the failure of the sanctimonious West and the resilience of the barbaric East; a thriller with all the horrors of this world.