Forget Breaking Bad, this is the extraordinary story of the 1970s Welsh LSD ring that supplied the world, told by a cop in deepest cover on the case.
"Life undercover was one great adrenaline rush fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol, hash, weed and some cocaine. I was off the leash."
In the mid-1970s, at the age of 29, Stephen Bentley, a fresh-faced detective, turned himself into Steve Jackson, a dope-smoking, hard-drinking hippie. His time spent undercover with a gang making and distributing LSD helped bring down two criminal networks - but the operation also led to deep personal aftershocks felt long after the case closed.
As we get up-close-and-personal with the people who were the operators of the drug supply chain that fuelled 70s counter-culture, the story becomes laden with heavy drug-taking, blurred lines between cop, criminal and friend, and creeping doubts about who Steve really is. Taking us into the unlikely setting of the rural Welsh valleys and infiltrating the gang that was responsible for about 90% of the LSD production in the UK, Steve Bentley's insider account shows what it really takes to go undercover - to befriend, to betray and to bury your sense of self.
Now in development as an 8-part TV series.
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Maße
Höhe: 216 mm
Breite: 140 mm
Dicke: 18 mm
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ISBN-13
978-621-96190-3-5 (9786219619035)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Stephen Bentley is an award-winning author. Of his first true crime novel, UNDERCOVER, screenwriter and novelist, writer of 'Julie' BBC Drama, Rob Gittins, said, "The fascinating and extraordinary inside story from the man who was actually there."
Of his later fiction works, British crime author, Pat MacDonald said, "I knew when I read the author's first book 'Undercover: Operation Julie' although non-fiction that he could make the transition to writing fiction; I was right. He has an ease of language that lends itself to storytelling; he tells it as if he was there in the plot and why shouldn't he having been an undercover cop in the real world? Not that Steve Regan is meant to be him, but having the experience means he can do whatever he wants with his fictional characters, and they will always be believable."
Like some other authors, his life experience is broad and unconventional. He spent 30 years in the legal system, first as a detective for 15 years then as barrister plying his trade as "a wig for hire" in London and the English provinces. He was a pioneering undercover cop on Operation Julie and as a barrister defended in trials involving murder, rape, drug importation, other serious crimes and defended soldiers at courts-martial.
He worked in a warehouse. Rode a big motorbike as a London courier. He drove big articulated trucks and taught how to drive them. He also worked as a hospital porter twice. He drove chilled delivery vans in London in the 1990s to fund his law degree and bar school studies. He spent the last two years of his working life driving plant and operating heavy filtration machinery for Europe's largest water company. His work mates soon recognised his advocacy skills and elected him as their shop steward.
He has now written over twenty books. Two of them have been optioned and in development; one as a TV drama series, and one as a drama doc.
You can find Stephen at stephenbentley.info
His wife is a better person than him in all regards and is a source of support in his goal of entertaining readers. She has also made him a better person.
