Book Review: Bangkok 8

Reviewed By: Dusty Rhoades - RAM

Bangkok 8     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
John Burdett
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller

Sonchai Jitpleecheep is one of the few honest cops in Bangkok's police District 8. He's the half-Thai, half-Western son of a prostitute. He's an occasional methamphetamine user and a frequent ganja smoker. And, oh yes, let's not forget, he's a murderer, sentenced to the police force by a local Buddhist abbot as penance for his participation in the killing of a meth dealer back home.

When Sonchai's partner, "soul brother," and fellow penitent is killed by, of all things, snakes meant for another (American) victim, Sonchai vows to discover the person behind the killing...and then kill them himself.

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in the standard police procedural anymore.

Sonchai is one of the most interesting first-person narrators I've ever run across, a seeker after both enlightenment and vengeance who sees no contradiction between the two, a hardboiled detective who matter-of- factly relates to the reader his understanding of other characters based upon his insights into their past incarnations. His interactions with the female FBI agent sent to investigate the American victim's death comprise some of the best and most surprising passages in the book.

The plot is as twisty as one of the snakes used in the book's initial murder, and the final resolution is one of the more bizarre ones I've ever read. But it makes perfect sense in the context of "Bangkok 8", a book that shows us a world as alien as any found in science fiction..and it's right here on Earth.

Highest rating...five stars.

Dusty Rhoades - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dusty Rhoades - RAM