House of Pain is a story about fast boys, passionate women, rough sex, hard drugs, yoga, and human consciousness; about finding peace and love in a sick but beautiful world. This novel draws you down a dark path that leads from the unexpected intersection of yoga and western medicine to the simple truth of a perverted and most kinky universe where pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. When Sim, nicknamed S&M by his friends, takes the deeply compassionate bodhisattva vow to end human suffering, at the same time as a vow of celibacy, the Universe roars with laughter and begins throwing boulder-sized rocks at his House. His idyllic world is interrupted by a brutal attack that turns the surfing community on its head and leaves Sim fighting demons both inside and out. The darker it gets, the more he relies on Tantra, an esoteric and internalized yoga practice, to bring himself, his family and his friends back to light and life. "You had me at Sim. It's an unexpected education hidden in the story of a dark and twisty character that sucks you in and leaves you breathlessly wanting more - and the whole time you're reading, you don't realize what's being undone in you." Jessica Winston