Roads and Redemption: A memoir of alternative tourism, trickery & murder on the Hippy Trail from Amsterdam to India | Reviewed By Susan Brown for Pacific Book Review

The counterculture revolution of the 1960s launched a movement which challenged mainstream culture. This alternative lifestyle approach brought with it new avenues of artistic expression, political demonstrations, unconventional living arrangements, an increase in recreational drug use and an anti-establishment sentiment that motivated young people to make pilgrimages to exotic places.

The author was one of those young pilgrims. Her rebellious spirit sent her off on the Hippie Trail, a 6,000-mile route that took her from her home in Amsterdam through, hopefully, Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India and Nepal. She left the Netherlands with her boyfriend, Ide, on the “Magic Bus,” a rolling living room without seats, outfitted with a Persian carpet and decorated with clouds, rainbows and aliens from outer space. The author’s “heart is full of visions of nature, beauty, love, peace and sex, drugs and rock-and-roll” as the bus rolls along. With 30 co-travelers she is off on a search for enlightenment … fueled, along the way, with a little help from some good drugs.

Her trip goes south pretty much from the get go. The bus breaks down in Yugoslavia, but, with some help from the passengers, makes it to Athens, Greece. The author, boyfriend, and a new bus-friend find a place to sleep only to awake the next morning where Ide declares, “Shit! All my money has been stolen!” In her anger at him for his idiocy in the matter, Ms. Nunez makes a pact with herself to find a new traveling companion. That sentiment sets the stage for what will turn out to be a life-threatening choice for the author, one that leads to being trapped in a subservient relationship with a man who turns out to be the serial killer, Charles Sobhraj, dubbed the “Bikini Killer.”

The details of this part of the memoir, where Ms. Nunez, basically, is held captive by Mr. Sobhraj, are disturbing. The writing is compelling, evoking a panoply of emotions to the author’s situation – from anger to disgust to admiration for her courage to my vexation with the choice she made to trust Mr. Sobhraj. Although I did admire her survival instincts. The fact that she was able to extricate herself from the situation, albeit after suffering through a shocking betrayal and a horrific imprisonment, is a testament to her perseverance to find a path out of a truly horrendous situation without losing her desire to ”perpetually be on the road, searching for the perfect culture and landscape.”

Although Roads and Redemption is a cautionary tale of what can happen when trust is misplaced, it is just as significantly the story of an gutsy young woman who was enticed by mystique and allure to set off on a journey of romance, personal discovery and  adventure. Did she get more than she bargained for … yes. But as Jack Kerouac, the iconic counter-culture hero said, “Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry.” The author wasn’t!

A powerful mix of adventure, suspense, and reflection, Roads & Redemption is more than just a travel memoir—it’s a journey of resilience, awakening, and redemption in the face of unforeseen challenges. Readers will find themselves immersed in the atmosphere of the Hippy Trail and deeply moved by Nunez’s courage and introspection.