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| Bangkok Tattoo | 
 enlarge | Author: John Burdett
Publisher: Roca Editorial
Category: Book
Buy New: $22.95
New (4) Used (7) from $13.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 1217182
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Tra
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 8496284832
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9788496284838
ASIN: 8496284832
Publication Date: July 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of the Royal Thai Police returns in his riveting and smokily atmospheric new thriller.
A farang–a foreigner–has been murdered, his body horribly mutilated, at the Bangkok brothel co-owned by Sonchai’s mother and his boss. The dead man was a CIA agent. To make matters worse, the apparent culprit is sweet-natured Chanya, the brothel’s top earner and a woman whom the devoutly Buddhist sleuth has loved for several lifetimes.
How can Sonchai solve this crime without sending Chanya to prison? How can he engage in a cover-up without endangering his karma? And how will he ever get to the bottom of a case whose interested parties include American spooks, Muslim fundamentalists, and gangsters from three countries?
As addictive as opium, as hot as Sriracha chili sauce, and bursting with surprises, Bangkok Tattoo will leave its mark on you.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...
 "Killing customers isn't good for business" May 10, 2005
46 out of 51 found this review helpful
Chanya, the most profitable lady at the Old Man's Club, is holed up with an opium pipe, her blood-soaked clothes decorating the stairs to her room. A couple of streets away lies is the mutilated corpse of a farang (foreigner) and a single rose in a plastic mug of water. The Thai Royal Police Colonel Vikorn dictates Chanya's statement, phrasing it in such a way as to cover all possibilities when blame is cast. Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep artfully transcribes Vikorn's report, because that is how things are done here in District 8. Unfortunately, the mutilated corpse is CIA and the victim's ID carries inherent problems. The murder could be blamed on Al Qaeda, but how do you justify a terrorist/castration murder?
In Bangkok, where pragmatism rules the day, the Colonel is also a gangster and the police often supplement their salaries by working in brothels. Such is Sonchai's case, policeman by day, dedicated papasan by night. Sonchai is following the path of the Buddha, but constantly challenged by Vikorn's manner of doing business. A Muslim shows up at the club where Sonchai is overseeing the girls as they attach themselves to customers. Disdainful, the Muslim, Mustafa, unfolds a picture of the dead man, then leaves his card. Mustafa's father is an imam, who welcomes the detective, explaining that his network has been tracking the CIA agent. Now the imam is worried about being blamed for the murder, a convenient answer to everyone's problems.
What is so fascinating about this novel is the total immersion in Thai culture, from Buddhist practices to ancient rituals, alongside the very practical approach to the vagaries of human sexuality. This is a country that happily accepts all its differences, a finely tuned morality tempered with understanding for the many challenges that face the people who coexist in a difficult world. To read it is to think it, to experience life surrounded by the exoticism of Eastern values and thought processes. Throughout, advice is narrated to the "farang" reader, explaining the easy order of business in Thailand, "Farang, tell your evangelists not to bundle salvation with the work ethic. It really doesn't play in the tropics."
Bangkok Tattoo is a complicated slice of drama, an angst-ridden CIA agent hopelessly in love, tormented by his duty and religious beliefs vs. his amorous obsession; the Americans' interminable quest to tie every violent act to a subversive plot by Al Qaeda to undermine the moral of the American people; the naturally pragmatic and corrupt system of the accommodations of the Thai personality; and a group of Muslims trying to avert an excuse for war in their part of the country, hyper-aware that they are the bogeymen du jour. The ubiquitous Sonchai watches all unfold, reporting to Vikorn, yearning for Chanya, a dutiful son and conscientious policeman. Sprinkle in a Japanese tattoo artist, the community of katoeys (transsexuals-in-progress), a couple of gruesome murders that include castration and flaying, a dash of karma and mix well. This is the perfect recipe for a spicy Eastern mystery that is uniquely satisfying. Luan Gaines/2005.
 Are you up for this, farang? May 23, 2005
25 out of 32 found this review helpful
"Cynical" seems a wan description of the world of Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Many readers will have a hard time with Sonchai, who advocates prostitution as a worthwhile way for poor Thai girls to get rich quick, and who doesn't bother to conceal his utter contempt for post-911 America and Americans. If you hold your Western morality dearly, better skip this one.
On the other hand, if you're up for a stylish, sexy, rollicking good read with oodles and oodles of plot, dripping with exotica of every description, then welcome to Sonchai's world. Sonchai's mom, an ex-hooker turned clubowner, and the ever-inventive Colonel Vikorn (with his limo blasting "Ride of the Valkyries" through its sound system at all times) are characters who will make you laugh out loud--that is, when you're not squirming over the moral dilemmas they pose (and then leap past, with the greatest of ease). You may think you've read it all on the moral ambiguity front, but Burdett takes all those wised-up detective stories and raises the stakes to another level entirely. When you find yourself rooting for a young male cop to be successful in his sex-change operation, you'll know Burdett has gotten into your head. It's a great ride! Enjoy!
 Where's Sonchai? August 11, 2006
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Like a lot of other reviewers, I read and loved Bangkok 8. What a great read. I was surprised to find- after I finished it, that it wasn't written by a Thai. Sonchai was a real person to me.
Now I read Bangkok Tattoo and I wonder what happened to Sonchai? What comes through is a Brit slamming the U.S. and the west in general through the voice of Sonchai.
What's the purpose of having the CIA being the fools in the story? The female boss of the CIA officers is a lesbian? Why's that? Why isn't MI6 the object of ridicule? Why is the word "farang" in every other sentence? I get it- I get it...it's a derogatory word for westerners, right?
I hope Burdett keeps writing in the series. I also hopes he lets Sonchai act like a Thai Buddhist and not like some political commentator on the Chris Matthews show.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep is back on the Case June 22, 2005
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
In John Burdett's first novel, Bangkok 8, he introduces his protagonist, Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of The Royal Thai Police District 8, a Buddhist with a strange sense of humour when it comes to "farang", the white westerner, and an uncanny ability to see peoples past lives when he first meets them, and a sixth sense, usually dreaming about the case in question, communicated through his dead partner. Sonchai is certainly a bizarre character, a part time pimp for his ex prostitute mother, working their highly successful brothel in the seamy red light district of Bangkok, "The Old Man's Club", and partners in the business with his boss, Colonel Vikorn, the cunning Thai gangster and head of the city's police force. It's business as usual until one of their top working girls, Chayna, comes stumbling back into the club drenched in blood, to discover her "john" back at the hotel room, castrated and skinned. When questioned, the poor girl is stoned on opium, forcing Vikorn and Sonchai to write the confession for her, and quickly get her out of town, because the victim, unfortunately, is CIA.
Bangkok Tattoo is a very entertaining read because the cast of characters, prostitutes, pimps, transvestites, drug dealers, Japanese gangsters, Chinese diplomats, are all written extremely well and highly unusual, making the story out of the ordinary, down right strange at times, and enormously interesting.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep does not care much for "farang", using this word countless times throughout the narrative. (A bit too much) In a word, he believes all westerner's are schizophrenic, media drenched, materialistic, lacking any spirituality, puritanical and hypocritical, and exceedingly stupid. The CIA characters are bumbling and for the most part, lost; and the Old Man's Club clientele are middle-aged sex deprived ex hippies that require Viagra to have a good time. There's not one "farang" in the entire book with any redeeming qualities whatsoever, but I guess that's part of the novel's charm.
I found this novel to be much better than Burdett's last effort. He was finding himself in Bangkok 8, and has settled into the characters with Bangkok Tattoo. He's much more comfortable with his style and it definitely shows in the writing.
If you like the crime/thriller genre from a slightly bent perspective, from eastern Thai Buddhist eyes, you'll like this book. A fast-paced, entertaining read.
Stale Storytelling May 31, 2006
10 out of 16 found this review helpful
I picked up Burdett's first thriller, Bangkok 8, prior to a trip to Thailand and found it brimming with atmosphere but somewhat disappointing in the plot department and marred by a painfully bad ending. This sequel is similarly atmospheric and similarly disappointing. We are reintroduced to Thai police officer Sonchai Jitpleecheep as he manages his mother's bar/brothel on Bangkok's legendary Soi Cowboy. The establishment -- which caters to aging Westerners and opened in the previous book -- has not been the golden goose his mother hoped for and is barely breaking even. So when the joint's top earner, Chanya, is found covered in blood in a nearby hotel room with a castrated and flayed American, Sonchai and his boss (who is also part owner of the brothel), police Col. Vikorn, move quickly to remedy the situation. Here, the murder "mystery" framework is an excellent vehicle for conveying just how different the Thai culture is from the West. They know the woman couldn't have committed the murder because the desecration of the corpse just isn't in line with Thai psychology, but their efforts aren't directed at solving the murder so much as deflecting any attention from it.
Vikorn quickly decides to sweep the matter under the rug and enlists Sonchai's help in creating a semi-plausible "self-defense" confession for the girl and a quick and clean disposal of the body. Unfortunately, it turns out the American was a CIA agent working in Thailand's southern provinces, keeping an eye out for extremist Muslims. Soon CIA agents show up looking for their missing man and Sonchai is sent South, ostensibly to get the lay of the land and try and figure out if maybe al-Qaeda is somehow involved. This is all pretty absurd (particularly the notion that the CIA would send a blond musclehead to lurk in provincial Muslim towns), but it does provide the chance to see a different part of Thailand.
However this is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are plenty of other subplots revolving around Sonchai. Most dangerous of these is the increasingly lethal feud between Vikorn and his army nemesis, General Zinna, for control of a portion of the heroin trade. Then there is the question of Chanya's past, which includes a year in the United States, and how that might relate to the CIA agent's murder. There is also the question of Sonchai's feelings for Chanya -- are they love or lust? And then there's Sonchai's long-lost father, an American GI whom he's never met and is making plans to come to Thailand for a visit. And lets not forget the mysterious Japanese master tattooist... There's simply far too much going on, and the book lurches around awkwardly from storyline to storyline and major elements (such as Vikorn's feud with Zinna) simply disappear at times.
In addition to keeping track of all these threads, one also has to buy into Sonchai's ability to see people's past lives when he first meets them, and his obtaining clues through dreams of his dead partner. These elements end up feeling like more of an unnecessary gimmick than anything else. Another somewhat awkward device is the use of direct address to the reader by Sonchai, which really takes one out of the moment, as well as a pervasive sneering tone toward "farangs" (ie. foreigners). This gets old fast, and it reads like some kind of overcompensation by farang author Burdett, as Sonchai paints all Westerns as bumbling, soulless idiots.
Ultimately, one wishes that Burdett had concentrated on one or two storylines and worked at making them plausible. The rivalry between Vikorn and Zinna, for example, could have made a great plot all on its own. Instead it gets lost in the shuffle and very perfunctorily resolved. Perhaps worst of all was the confirmation of my suspicion that the motive behind the murder of the CIA man was a heavily recycled one. It's actually a plot I've come across THREE TIMES previously: first in Roald Dahl's short story "Skin", then in a Akimitsu Takagi's Japanese crime novel "The Tattoo Murder Case", and lastly, in a recent German film called "Tattoo."
What was fresh in Bangkok 8 has grown stale here. Yes, there's still good Thai atmosphere, but that's about it -- and much of it is the same as the previous book. The plotting is muddled, the pacing is terrible and the overall effect is more yawn-inducing than thrilling. I don't think I'll be back for another visit to Sonchai's Bangkok.
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