I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the relatively weak ending.


Far more than a thriller   November 1, 2005
 19 out of 21 found this review helpful

The thing I enjoyed most about this unusual novel is that it works on multiple levels, certainly as a thriller, but also as a modern morality tale and, more subtly, as a spoof of American noir detective stories a la Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler. The hero is a Thai policeman who is, not incidentally, a devout Buddhist and who finds himself in the thick of a tangled plot by a debauched American mogul who is hung up on jade and a lethal --at least for the women involved --sexual fetish.

While the overall subject matter of the plot is most definitely not funny, John Burdett somehow manages to weave some very comic asides and angles into the plot, most of them revolving around the cultural and religious differences between the Thai police hero and several American FBI agents. The agents, as one might expect, are so very Western in their thinking that half of the time they haven't a clue as to what the Thais are saying to them outright, let alone the motivations of the Thai characters.

Yet the Thai characters are not portrayed simplistically as superior to the Westerners. Indeed, some of them -- notably the mother of the policeman hero -- are quite decadent, although practically so. Burnett seems to want us to understand that the mother comes from a place, both geographically and intellectually, which requires certain utilitarian attitudes if one is to survive. She accepts that reality and works within it, rather than gnash her teeth over things she cannot change, as the Western characters are wont to do. This holds true for her detective son as well, a meditator and serious believer who nevertheless manages to avoid throwing up his hands and surrendering to fatalism.

I won't attempt a cogent summary of the plot, since it is too bizarre to wrap into a sentence or two. But it all makes sense in the end and it leaves the reader with some serious things to ponder -- about love, loyalty and the way culture shapes them both. I am eager to move on to the next novel in this startling and inventive series.


Bizarre meets the Ridiculous; Every Cliche in the Guidebook   October 22, 2006
 19 out of 28 found this review helpful

A thirty year Marine Sergeant is being tailed by the "only" two honest cops on the force. They lose him in traffic and when they find him again he is dead. Moments later one of the cops is also dead, both killed by hyper snakes. The one detective swears to avenge his partner's death. Through the unfolding mystery you will come across lady boys, prostitutes, corruption, drugs, jade, wealthy westerners, Khmer assassins, crass FBI agents and more. This book is a pretty decent read until you get to the end, then everything falls apart into a ridiculous plot.

I have lived in Thailand for some time now and reading this books was fun at first because I was pretty familiar with just about every spot mentioned and well aware of the Bangkok culture that was introduced. I started noticing something as I read this book though. It seemed as if someone made a list of everything eccentric Bangkok has to offer and then tried to integrate it all into one far fetched story.

I can just imagine the researchers that helped the person write this book. He would ask about some stereotype that he read about in Lonely Planet and they would go along with him and not really explain what the reality was, a term known as greng jai. In the end you get a book that thoroughly reinforces stereotypes of Bangkok and does nothing to refute them.

Some inconsistencies in the book:

The hospital mentioned is really Bumrungrad Hospital. It is a world class hospital made for Medical tourists. I spent a month at the hospital and saw only 1 gatoy the whole time. In actuality the people that get the sex operations done are Thai and cannot afford this hospital. It is primarily for very wealthy Arabs and Westerners. The whole Arab community is thriving around this area. No way was this hospital built primarily for sex change operations as this book states.

No 30 year Marine would attain the rank of Sergeant. While the practice of referring to this generic rank is popular in the Army it is not tolerated in the Marines. No way would anyone at the embassy refer to him as a sergeant. They would state his full title.

Who in their right mind would get an apartment on Khaosan road? This place has nothing redeeming whatsoever. It is full of tourists (or freaky freaks) fresh of the plane. It is hard to get to and noisy all of the time. This would be the last place a Marine Sergeant would want to set up his place of operations. I dread having to go to Khaosan personally and never go there willingly.

For the tourists that visit 2-3 tourist dominated cities and pick up more STDs than they do Thai vocabulary this book will be enjoyable, realistic, and entertaining. For Travelers that actually learn the language and the real Thai culture that exists outside of Bangkok they will find this book sophomoric and insulting to Thais.



Common Thriller in Uncommon Setting   July 14, 2005
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

A Thai detective and his partner in Bangkok are assigned to follow around an American marine sergeant for reasons unknown to them. They lose him in traffic, then catch up to him in time to see him being devoured by a python which somehow made it into his car. His partner runs to help, and in turn is attacked by a dozen or so cobras, which, needless to say, kill him. Don't worry, no plot giveaways here, all of this happens in the first chapter.

This kind of thing is pretty typical of the thriller genre. Start off with a bizarre, grisly murder, then sit back and watch as the smart-aleck/wise-cracking/clever/anti-establishment/unscrupulous/alcoholic (take your pick) detective unravels the diabolical murder and reveals corruption at the highest levels of society/government/police/CIA/FBI/business/clergy (take your pick). Terrible and unusual things happen along the way, the hero detective is almost killed a few times, a sexy agent he is ambivalent about is assigned to help him, and the ending is shocking, just shocking.

That's how it usually works and that's how it works here, but the novel rises a little bit above the genre due to its locale, which is Bangkok, and the author's thorough knowledge of it. The plot is sprinkled liberally with discussions about the differences between the east and west and Buddhism and Christianity. It's pretty interesting, occasionally humorous, and only rarely condescending, unlike a lot of other novels with subject matter of this type, which gleefully and spitefully describe how pathetic and meaningless our empty little lives are here in the west.

The scene description is excellent. We get the full load of Bangkok and its denizens and the way they live. It all rings true. The detective himself is the progeny of a Thai prostitute and an American serviceman he never knew, so there is also a load of talk about the prostitution industry, which Bangkok is justly or unjustly famous for, and some of it is quite thought-provoking. "Prostitutes do not make good wives as a rule, but it has nothing to do with fidelity. Usually, the last things such girls want is an extra-marital affair, in which they would probably be expected to play the sex goddess all over again. What they want is the right to be irritable and charmless, which they lost the moment they started in the game." Never thought of that. And there is a whole bunch of stuff just like it in the novel.

But, in the end, it's a thriller, no more, no less; told by a likeable narrator, to be sure, with an ability to convey his unusual locale and his unusual lifestyle. But eventually the bodies and improbabilities start piling up, as does the reader's desire to get to the end of this.