THE BOLIVIA FILES
TO LIVE OUTSIDE THE LAW
The Bolivian Files — A True Crime Memoir Series
No guns. No glamour. No bravado.
Just decisions, consequences… and the cost of an outlaw’s life.
These are not crime stories in the usual sense. They are a record of a life lived fully on the edge of two worlds—one visible, one hidden.Over four decades, Simon McCoy moved between them, building, risking, winning andlosing, and, eventually, walking away. Not a gangster. Not a hero. Just a man who stayed long enough to understand the cost.
A Life Lived Between Two Worlds
Over four decades, Simon McCoy moved between visible business and hidden operations across continents. This series follows the early years.
Not the legend.
Not the headlines.
The reality.
Each book captures one stage of a journey that became harder to leave behind.
Why This Story Was Written
This series was written:
For the people who didn’t make it
For the women who stood beside the journey
For the men who shared the road
For readers who want the truth behind the choices
This one stays through the consequences.
About the Author
Simon McCoy was born in Lambeth, the heart of London's east end. An Essex boy before the
Essex girl was invented. Simon joined the merchant navy after being expelled from grammar
school at fifteen. After jumping ship at seventeen in New Orleans, he hitchhiked across hippy
America in the early seventies, the original gap year.
Married at nineteen, he got a mortgage settled down and built a small group of companies in
his twenties. The recession of the eighties unsettled him, and he decided the game was
rigged.
Simon Mccoy
This series is launching independently.
This series is being launched independently.
No advances. No marketing machine. No one else deciding how or where it goes.Instead, we’re building it properly, directly, with the readers who want to be part of it from the beginning.The Kickstarter campaign funds the launch of the first two books: publicity distribution, and the work needed to reach the right audience without relying on the usual gatekeepers.It also does something more important.
It brings the reader into the process.
Early supporters receive limited editions, early access, and their place in the story as
founding backers.
Join the newsletter
Or step in earlier and support the launch as it happens.
Join the Kickstarter
Be part of the first edition.
The Bolivia Files
As Featured On
Complete Series
Follow the Journey Across Five Books
This Is Not a Typical Crime Story
- No exaggeration
- No excuses
- No hero narrative
- No mythology
- Just decisions and consequences
Readers stay for the truth most stories avoid.
Advance Readers Review
Readers aren’t connecting to The Bolivian Files because it glamorizes crime.
They connect because it feels real.
The series strips away the mythology and shows the pressure, ambition, survival, and consequences behind a life lived between two worlds.
From the streets of La Paz to hidden operations across continents, readers describe the story as immersive, cinematic, raw, and impossible to forget.
“Smoke & Mirrors doesn’t read like fiction. It feels lived. The atmosphere, the tension, the choices — every page pulls you deeper into Simon McCoy’s world. It’s rare to find a crime memoir this honest.”
Mike Sendler
Review on Book 1
“This story stays with you because it avoids the usual bravado. There’s no glamour here — only consequences, survival, and humanity. One of the most authentic crime narratives I’ve read in years.”
Charmaine Tobey
Review on Book 1
“The writing feels cinematic from the very first chapter. La Paz, Rio, the underground operations, the emotional pressure — it all unfolds like a film. I couldn’t stop reading.”
Delmar Byers
Review on Book 1
“What impressed me most was the honesty. Simon McCoy doesn’t try to be a hero. That’s what makes the journey powerful. Dark, reflective, gripping, and deeply human.”
Shanna Margolis
Review on Book 1
Upcoming Book
The Alchemist’s Hotel.
At rock bottom, broke, in debt, and running out of options—Simon travels alone to La Paz.
What begins as an attempt to rebuild his life becomes something far more dangerous.
Navigating an unreliable world of suppliers and shifting loyalties, he forms an unlikely
partnership with Sofia, a knitwear manufacturer whose work sparks an idea.
From a quiet hotel room, Simon develops a method that allows him to move unnoticed
between worlds.
Each success draws him deeper. Each mistake carries a cost.
And once the game begins, it is very hard to stop.
