The Godfather Of Katmandu (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
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 struggling in the is usual battle with general Zinna; Hot, libidinous Thai women, brothel life, and even hot, libidinous Tibetan intellectual women. This story has a huge drug smuggling operation, conducted as usual by the good guys. It has a mystical, spiritual Guru, in the person of the amazing Tibetan scholar Tsiesin, who is an amazingly well matched partner to Sonchai in the realm of spiritual development; then - oh, yeah almost forgot- There's an utterly disturbing brutal murder of a famous American that no one seems to be paying any attention to, leaving Sonchai to set aside time from his police work, so the case can be solved. Yes, I think This book perfectly fits the very distinctive formula John Burdett established with Bangkok 8, and fulfills on it wonderfully. "The Godfather of Kathmandu" is classified as a mystery, but about halfway through, I realized that I wasn’t as interested in finding out who killed Hollywood director Frank Charles as I was in seeing how Royal Thai policeman Sonchai Jitpleecheep resolved his spiritual journey. Would he find peace through the Buddhist training of the enigmatic Tibetan Tietsin? And/or would he help his boss make a $40 million heroin deal?Burdett pulls all the story threads together nicely put not too neatly, which fits the delightfully sprawling, morally murky story. Sonchai navigates a complex world of prostitution, drug dealers, high society and relative poverty from Bangkok to Kathmandu to Hong Kong. Along the way, he comments on the spiritual barrenness of capitalism and traces globalism back to Clive of India, who helped the British Empire establish its military might through the opium trade in Asia. Sonchai is wry, funny and introspective (in sharp contrast to the last book I read, Lee Child’s “One Shot”). Sonchai’s inner journey is so fascinating and so at odds with what’s going on around him that I couldn’t stop reading. Or listening, rather. I “read” the audio version of the book narrated by Stephen Hogan. He was exceptional, one of the best I’ve heard. He captures Sonchai’s endearing mix of world weariness and hope very well and does an excellent job of creating distinct voices for all the characters, even the women. Burdett’s descriptions are earthy and powerful. His references to food are especially striking. I came to crave the iced lemon teas Sonchai is always drinking and warning readers not to ever start drinking, they are that dangerous.I’m hooked and can’t wait to read more in this series.
What do You think about The Godfather Of Katmandu (2000)?
Three stars - it was entertaining but strange. A good entertaining book.
—Yummy
