review

Just finished John Burdett’s Bangkok Haunts, the third installment of his series involving Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Rather than give an extended rundown of the story, I think it would be enlightening, to use a phrase, to expound more on the series itself. Burdett has written a very intriguing set of books dealing with the life and culture of Thailand, set around the events of Sonchai, a member of the Royal Thai Police Force. Undoubtedly, the series is primarily literary crime drama, focusing on the Eastern perspective of bureaucracy, corruption, drug abuse and prostitution. However, it is also a profound plea to Westerners to acknowledge the stark difference between east and west in terms of economics, custom, and philosophy, and in turn its own hypocrisy.

Jitpleecheep is a very nuanced and brilliantly written character. A devout Buddhist, he is often described as the only cop in Thailand who won’t take any bribes. Being Buddhist, however, doesn’t exclude the fact that he assists his mother in running a semi-popular brothel in Bangkok, or shall I say Krung Thep. He is always the understated, humble, rational, and weary cop not necessarily easing through life as he is balancing the poverty and politics his decisions and job entail. A marginalized “half-caste”, Sonchai oozes the aura of someone who just doesn’t belong due to his complex parentage, his features, and philosophy. Perhaps he is just too Buddhist for his own good.

Complementing Jitpleecheep throughout the series are a number of bizarrely sublime characters.  One is his his partner, Lek, a somewhat naive and passive sidekick who just so happens to be a ‘katoey’, or one undergoing a M2F gender reassignment.  His American counterpart is FBI agent Kimberley Jones who appears attracted to Thailand only to be perpetually confused by Thai mores and even more by Jitpleecheep.  There’s Nong, Sonchai’s mother, ever the businesswoman catering to the older ‘farang’ tourists escaping the US to look for love Thai-style.  And finally there’s Colonel Vikorn, Sonchai’s superior and chief of Bangkok’s district 8. Vikorn is one of the more interesting characters created by Burdett; an undisclosed police chief by occupation yet drug-trafficking opportunist by choice.  The symbiotic relationship between Vikorn and Jitpleecheep is humorously tense throughout the series as Sonchai is merely a source of entertainment, sometimes expendable while Vikorn serves as Sonchai’s gateway to awakening, both as a cop and Buddhist.

In any case, Bangkok Haunts, like Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo, has Jitpleecheep being assigned to a murder investigation that no one wants solved without him sacrificing either his principles or his life.  It involves a Count of Monte Cristo type theme of revenge, but with a magical twist, as well as a violently described playtime for elephants.  And like the other novels it explores the depths of Bangkok and Southeast Asian culture, both the tragedy and the triumph of the move away from poverty, drugs,  to something, well…better. If not for the suspenseful murder mystery, this series is just as good exploring another way of life.

review

With the intention of padding my blog with extra content, I’ll add another review I recently submitted on LibraryThing. The Somnambulist, by Jonathan Barnes is well worth the time spent reading.

The Somnambulist - Jonathan Barnes

A bizarre, not so modern mystery

Edward Moon is a “conjurer”, an entertainer struggling to preserve what little reputation and income he has left. Among polite society he is now more likely considered a laughingstock than the once promising investigator propelled by his sharpened abilities of examination. Considered past his prime, his Las Vegas-styled evening show, set in Victorian era London, is now only attracting the fanatically faithful. So Moon, along with the Somnambulist, his giant, deathly pale, almost human-like partner in crime-solving and fright inducing sidekick, is bored. Yet that is about to change.

As far as crime solving duos go could this very well be the Victorian era predecessor to our modern day Starsky and Hutch? As far as mysteries go, probably not so much, as Sherlock and Watson might have proven a more apt comparison. At least Watson talked. The Somnambulist, on the other hand, doesn’t; he would rather accompany Moon silently grasping his pints of milk.

If such a bizarre introduction to The Somnambulist intrigues you, then by all means delve deeper than the surface just scratched, as this book by Jonathan Barnes turns more curious by the page. But it is as entertaining as it is strange; Moon is as stubbornly cynical, full of snark as he is determined to solve what is the most important threat facing London. And the Somnambulist is, well, the Somnambulist. But will that threat be The Directorate, an assassin known only as The Mongoose, the fun-loving Prefects, or the very literary Chairman itself? Full of intrigue, murder, and curiosity, this story is all wrapped up into a very sharply-written novel. It’s dark, creepy, and humorously suspenseful. And it’s only the first novel written by Barnes.