Pinoy noir from the dark underbelly of Manila's backstreets, the bottom of the great pyramid of the city's ecology of criminality—a world of vice and corruption where crooked cops, syndicates, private armies, and jail gangs rule—a tale of alternative ethics, pride, and twisted honor. One small girl, Gina, weaponizes her extraordinary powers of sexual attraction to rise above the world of big-time-small-time operators. Queen of her private universe, the Small-but-terrible Gina victimizes her allies and victimizers alike, and considers all men she allows in her universe to be nothing more than "stupid boys." Perhaps she is right. The Small-but-terrible Gina is book one of a trilogy that examines Manila’s ecology of criminality across three generations—fifty years—and across the city’s whole socioeconomic and class spectrum. The two subsequent volumes are Professional Women and Seeking Radiance.