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| Bangkok Haunts | 
 enlarge | Author: John Burdett
Publisher: Bantam Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $13.43
New (2) from $13.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0593055446
EAN: 9780593055441
ASIN: 0593055446
Publication Date: May 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 John Burdett continues to satisfy June 27, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a member of the Royal Thai Police force, is perhaps the only Bangkok cop not on the take in one of the most corrupt police departments in Southeast Asia. The Buddhist monk son of an infamous Thai madam and a Vietnam-era American soldier is detective fiction's most complex cop, as enigmatic and exotic as his nearly unpronounceable name. We john met the multicultural Sonchai in BANGKOK 8 and BANGKOK TATTOO, John Burdett's two bestselling novels that so vibrantly bring to life one of the world's oldest and most fascinating cultures.
In this third installment, Sonchai has settled down in domestic happiness with his pregnant girlfriend in his modest Bangkok apartment. He finds on his doorstep a hand-addressed package. In it is a snuff porn film starring Damrong, a well-known prostitute who once worked in his mother's Cowboy District brothel, with whom he had carried on a brief dalliance. When he checks on her whereabouts, he discovers she is missing and comes to the realization that the killing was not an act --- the murder portrayed in the film was genuine and performed live in front of the cameras.
Damrong's ghost begins to haunt Sonchai's dreams as he launches an investigation into the identity of the film's producers. Over the objections of his superior, General Vikorn, he calls on his FBI colleague, American Kimberley Jones, for help after he learns that she is in Thailand following a lead on the growing number of snuff films being produced in the increasingly lucrative Southeast Asian sex trade. Together they hunt down the highly placed officials and businessmen at the top of a billion-dollar porn industry.
Sonchai's relationship with General Vikorn, who is the epitome of elegant corruption with a penchant for exquisite art collections and high living, is a study in Sonchai's ability to adapt his stringent Buddhist faith and its karmic effects to the harsh realities of crime fighting.
BANGKOK HAUNTS is the darkest of the three novels, which all provide a fascinating portrayal of modern life in Thailand. The clash between East and West is nowhere more deftly portrayed than by Burdett, whose longtime residency in this multicultural society provides him with the background for vivid authenticity in his literate portrayal of its people. The reader is treated to a splendid, intricately plotted thriller replete with the sounds, smells, cuisine and fascinating examination of Buddhism that is at the core of everyday Thai life.
Newly arrived among the venerable handful of literary detective mystery writers, such as James Lee Burke, P.D. James and Elizabeth George, John Burdett continues to satisfy with a series character who grows with each page-turning novel.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
 Bash Americans, Rant about global warming September 30, 2007
7 out of 19 found this review helpful
I would love to love this book. The characters are interesting. The insight into the mind set, customs and interests of the characters is fascinating.
And the first eighty pages sets the scene for a good mystery. So far there is some mild dissing of Americans, then the writer tells us that there are racial implications in the meanness of spirit the absent father exhibits. "Would he have been so neglectful of a white American girl," the mother wonders. So are all mean spirited people racist or just mean spirited Americans?
A few pages later he gives us a lecture on global warming telling us that now scientists employed by the United States government think we will fry ourselves into extinction. He doesn't mention that many scientists don't believe this. He disses the newscaster for not speaking with the urgency that he deems necessary and proceeds to tell us what disasters will befall us. Of course it is English speaking countries that will threaten to nuke third-world countries.
Perhaps I over react but I am sick of picking up a novel and being lectured to by the author. If an author has political views, let them be so subtle that it only dimly registers in the back of my mind. I don't want to be slapped in the face with it. Or lets start declaring on the jacket, "This is a novel that wants you to believe the earth is flat." Or let authors write non-fiction books expounding on their ideas of government, morality, global warming or what have you. At the very least, if one can't refrain from trashing Americans let us know before we buy the book.
Exotic thriller that will take you to a different place.... June 20, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I picked this book up last week as I always enjoy a good mystery in an exotic setting and this one filled bill on a number of levels. First off the writing, plotting and character development are excellent. It also is a tight mystery/thriller that kept me guessing, but more importantly this book truly takes the reader to another world. Sonchai Jitpleecheep, is a police detective, a Buddhist and a part owner in a whorehouse. Starting to get the picture? The story starts out with Sonchai showing a female FBI agent, who is also an old friend, a horrific film of an old lover of Sonchai's being murdered. The story takes off from here and there is nothing traditional about this book. I don't want to say more and spoil your fun. But if you are looking for something different this is the book for you! I now have to go back and read this authore earlier books: Bangkok Tattoo Bangkok 8: A Novel.
John Burdett provides his audience with a great Thai whodunit June 11, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Bangkok District 8 police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep shows his FBI friend Kimberley Jones a nasty snuff film that stars the killing of his former lover Damrong, whom he never stopped loving. The Thai cop and the American agent agree to investigate the homicide.
They start with the victim's residence and should continue with her family, but Jitpleecheep delays that for personal reasons. Instead they visit Damrong's former husband Baker, an English teacher living in Thailand; he is hostile by the mention of his ex-wife who he insist caused him all sorts of problems when they lived in Florida. The investigation takes the two sleuths to the Parthenon's exclusive men's club, but seems to be going nowhere in spite of nocturnal visits by Damrong's lusty ghost to Jitpleecheep. He struggles with his feelings while he lives with Chanya, who is carrying his child, and with his interfering dishonest boss Colonel Vikorn, who orders Jitpleecheep not to let a homicide investigation get in the way of his prime assignment, establishing a pornographic movie business.
The third Bangkok police procedural (see BANGKOK 8 AND BANGKOK TATTOO) is an excellent mystery that also provides insight into Buddhism, the Thai culture, and its bureaucracy. Obviously the entertaining story line is owned by Jitpleecheep, but the support cast brings him and his surroundings to life. He struggles with his desire for Damong's ghost and his feelings for Kim while living with Chanya; he struggles at work with a boss who has recently become a big supporter of globalization especially the capitalist's creed of easily making money regardless of legality and ethics. Even his assistant serves more as a chaperone than a cop. John Burdett provides his audience with a great Thai whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
 Creeping Redundancy November 20, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'm a fan of this series...even have been gifting the first two to friends. This one disappointed me. Too much of the "same," the only variation the crime. Maintaining a consistent (and distinctive) voice for major series characters is one thing, conceptual and structural redundancy another. Crime procedurals are, for the most part, entertainment not "literature" (see Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson)...so maybe my expectations were too high. Will read the next installment before abandoning the series.
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