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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.… (more)
I normally do not read mysteries or thrillers, but this book captivated me with its devoutly Buddhist narrator and the juxtaposition of sex, drugs, murder, and the underworld crime that spans two continents.
A great book for anyone who wants to read an action adventure with an exotic, spiritual twist. ( )
Sonchai is drawn into more international intrique as a CIA agent is murdered and mutilated in what initially appears to be a new Muslim terror plot; however, the truth is a twisted tale of debauchery and desire, revolving around a beautiful Thai working girl. I find Burdett's constant use of the perjorative "farang" to refer to non-Thais disingenuous and annoying. ( )
Israelites, Christians, and Muslims profess immortality, but the veneration they render this world proves they believe only in it, since they destine all other worlds, in infinite number, to be its reward or punishment. The wheel of certain Hindustani religions seems more reasonable to me. —Jorge Luis Borges, _The Immortal_
What? Could perhaps, in spite of all "modern ideas" and prejudices of democratic taste, the victory of optimism, the achieved predominance of reason, practical and theoretical utilitarianism, like democracy itself, its contemporary—be a symptom of failing strength, of approaching old age, of physiological exhaustion? ...what is the meaning of—morality? ...all things move in a double cycle: everything which we now call culture, education, civilization will at some stage have to appear before the infallible judge, Dionysus. —Friedrich Nietzsche, _The Birth of Tragedy_
Dedication
For Sofía
First words
"Killing customers just isn't good for business."
Quotations
Last words
Be generous and grateful (and honest when you are not), humanity lives at the busiest crossroads in the seven thousand universes, I am yours in dharma, Sonchai Jitpleecheep (there is no ending and therefore no period)
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.
A great book for anyone who wants to read an action adventure with an exotic, spiritual twist. ( )