This book shows the hard facts about one of South America's most brutal regimes and its equally brutal opponents, the Shining Path guerillas. Last year John Simpson embarked on his most challenging and dangerous investigation, a journey into the heart of darkness in Peru. There he encountered drug runners, terrorists, government oppressors and their victims, and was closely on the trail of the leader of the Shining Path guerilla movement at the time of his arrest. This disturbing book reveals how violence breeds violence in a police state whose economy revolves around cocaine, and how amid the casual torture and slaughter, certain brave individuals are prepared to put their lives at risk to report the truth.