I thought this was another excellent installment in the Thai Royal detective series. It has all the essential elements: Morally Ambiguous duties within the line of Sonchai's police work, Which threatens his future karma for lifetimes to come; Col. Vikorn In his usual role as authoritarian top cop...
So I enjoyed this book as well, but less than the first three. Again, we have the mysterious and fascinating woman character key to the plot, which is getting a bit repetitive in the series. The soul searching of the main character and his religion, trapped between corruption and personal tragedi...
Pretentious. The author (or should I say a cheap salesman/opportunist he claims himself to be?) talks as if he knew it all about Thailand and its way of living or thinking. If you want a glimpse to the real Thai, this is not the book you're looking for.Before I get to the part when I express my d...
Overall Rating: Culturally InterestingtI am a longstanding fan of Burdett’s work, so let’s acknowledge my positive bias before I delve into the details. The immediate aspect that strikes me as a Western inhabitant in Burdett’s books is the reflection of Western culture as seen and occasionally ad...
324 pages into this book I read this line: "Survival on earth (sic) is our true god, or we would have migrated to less challenging planets millennia ago." Actually Mr. Burdett, no. No 'we' wouldn't have. This sounds like a lofty sentiment, but really today in 2010, in 2006 or so when this book...
I was really looking forward to John Burdett's follow up to the entertaining Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, and while I enjoyed it, it had some serious flaws. I guess I was pretty satisfied until 3/4 of the way through, when his plots started to wear thin. This might also be where the sneering anti-w...
”This system carries with it the unspoken implication that once someone has been defined as an ‘object,’ it is automatically assumed to be ‘promiscuous’ in the sense that it may be bought and sold like any other object, even if the object in question is somebody’s kidney or liver--or whole body. ...
Once we’re on the road, the obscenity of the women’s jail, and Rosie McCoy’s disintegration, weigh on both of us, though I suspect for different reasons. I pay little attention to the unusual number of times the driver looks in the rearview mirror, though I’m vaguely aware of his nervousness. Lek...
Given his repertoire of personalities, I was curious as to who he might be after his opium binge. What I found first was an elderly and kindly sage, in awe of the life he had led. As an identity it was not particularly convincing; as a posture, though, it was highly attractive. I was put in mind ...