Bangkok Tattoo
- ISBN13: 9781400032914
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
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.
For more information: Bangkok Tattoo
Tags: Bangkok, Tattoo, muslim fundamentalists, chili sauce, farangRelated posts:
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.
Rating: 4 / 5
Bangkok Tattoo
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.
Rating: 4 / 5
Bangkok Tattoo
“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!
Rating: 5 / 5
Bangkok Tattoo
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.
Rating: 2 / 5
Bangkok Tattoo
Bangkok Tattoo is the follow-up to John Burdett’s acclaimed Bangkok 8 featuring Thai police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep.
This novel finds Sonchai investigating the gruesome murder of a CIA operative Mitch Turner - with the twist that the prime suspect, a Thai prostitute called Chanya, works in the strip club part owned by Sonchai, his mother, and the corrupt police captain Vikorn. As he untangles this little mystery he in turn runs across the Muslim troubles in south Thailand where Turner was a CIA operative, the drug trade, the corrupt army, and his corrupt police Captain who he must appease, not to mention the U.S. CIA.
Where does it all lead? In a completely unexpected direction eventually, making for another rather interesting visit with Sonchai. As readers of Bangkok 8 will know, Sonchai is not corrupt, but walks a grey area in the seedy areas of life as he empathizes with the travails of others - particularly given he is the son of a former Thai prostitute who now owns a strip club (read brothel). His empathy for others and his unique outlook make for a rather interesting character where the first person narrative, in which this novel is written, works very well.
Bangkok Tattoo is as good, and in some ways, better than Bangkok 8 and well worth reading.
Rating: 4 / 5
Bangkok Tattoo