Two Sides of a Lie

A tale of a Hong Kong journalist's struggle to unravel the truth of a pro-democracy protester's suspicious death, amid the city's political turmoil and its increasingly fragile relationship with its political master, China.

This story is inspired by real events.

It was a chilly September evening when the body of a young pro-democracy protester surfaced in Hong Kong's eastern Yau Tong Bay. The local police quickly concluded his death as accidental drowning but fellow protesters believe it was part of a dark ploy by the authorities to quash the political movement.

James Lai, the Han Herald's senior reporter, is assigned to investigate the mysterious death. Unbeknownst to him, the assignment is a front created by his editors to shift the narrative against leaders in Beijing, unnerved by the intensified public opinion. As he digs deeper, he finds himself coming to close brush with the forces of a power struggle among the Party's top brass. His pursuit of the truth challenges his personal and professional integrity at every step of the way.

Faced with a politically-pressured media environment in Hong Kong and the Herald newsroom that has declined from a once globally respected publication to a propaganda mouthpiece, James can only trust his own journalistic beliefs and dogged reporting to piece together the mystery and bring the story to life.

Nonetheless, the answers he uncovers of the conspiracy are more sinister than he could have imagined.

ISBN: 9789814954075 | Published: 14 December 2021 | Trade paperback | 265 pages