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"To be great, an artist must suffer.

"That's what fifteen-year-old Mike James believes as he curses his easy existence in sheltered Bohemia Bay, California. If he doesn't experience more than his suburban hometown has to offer, Mike will never be a great painter.

"Lupe Diaz knows what it is to suffer. Mutilated by a gang when he was still young, he suffered horribly until he found strength in the weakness of others. Now he is strong enough to repay the suffering upon the man he blames for his pain -- his brother Sal.

"Sal just happens to live down the road from Mike James.

"The unforeseen events of one night of mischief tie together the fates of Mike James and Lupe Diaz, and in order to untie this knot, Mike James will learn more than he ever wants to know about suffering...

"Wildly imaginative and boldly original, The Orchid Eater is a fabulous thriller that confirms Marc Laidlaw's place as one of today's hottest young writers." [jacket blurb, US pbk, 1994]