Bangkok 8

Rating:
Summary: Well developed characters and fast paced plot???
Review: I, like the protagonist of the book, am half-thai and have spent a large portion of my life living in Bangkok. I was excited to get this book, looking forward to immersing myself in a story set in Bangkok, as I haven't had a chance to go back for a visit in a while. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

I found the characters to be one-dimensional caricatures. The calm, thoughtful, straight-laced Buddhist police detective; the sex-hungry female FBI agent who spends most of the book coming onto the detective or wondering why he won't "do her"; the psychotic rich American; the list goes on and on (I could continue, but don't want to ruin the book by revealing certain things about characters, in case you want to read it).

Personally, I found very few things to be accurate descriptions of life in Thailand. I was never treated differently for being half-Thai, and other than monks, I don't know a single Thai person who is so introspective about Buddhism. The author portrays Thais as being very sexually open and promiscuous, but I've found this to be FAR from the truth. My mother, like her 7 sisters and many friends, is a total prude and has never even discussed sex with me, my American dad had to take on this task.

The author also claims that alcoholism is tolerated and not condemned by Thais, but one of my mother's brothers-in-law was an alcoholic and was ostracized by the family.

So, I would not recommend this book. I found the story slow and plodding, the characters to be unrealistic, the portrayal of Bangkok to be inaccurate, and I seriously doubt a doctor in a top medical center would use the c-word in describing genitalia.

Hope this helps in your decision.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating thriller from a fascinating city
Review: Bangkok 8 is a fascinating thriller from a fascinating city that has surprisingly seldom been the setting for a thriller. In this book, Bangkok is more than just a setting. The author, although himself a farang, depicts the city vividly through the eyes of a Bangkok cop, Sonchai Jitpleecheep. The reader gets drawn into the dark and frantic, yet so sunny and friendly city, where sold sex and illicit drugs exist alongside utmost beauty. John Burdett portrays Sonchai as a very human, thoughtful and likeable person. His Buddhist world view is contrasted with the self-centered impatience of the female FBI agent named Jones who is sent to Bangkok to partner with Sonchai to solve the gruesome crime at the heart of the book. Burdett also shows that police corruption is not confined to Thailand. The FBI's hands are tied due to the high-level political connections of a suspect.

The book is fast paced and the reader is sucked into the steamy atmosphere. Burdett writes with a flair, conveying the sights, sounds and smells of the place and its humanity. Furthermore, there is a lot of substantive information about many of the topics that the book deals with, be it Thailand, Buddhism, jade, transgender issues or the like. Even the less-than-perfectly moral characters, like Sonchai's mother and his boss, the police colonel with whom she becomes business partners, are so warmly portrayed that the reader understands and sympathizes with their actions. The only problem I had with the book is that it becomes somehow rushed towards the end, as if Burdett would have been in a hurry to close all the loops and finish his fine book.

Rating:
Summary: Buddha mind, East-West mystery
Review: This is a great read, particularly for the reader who has been to Bangkok - a mysterious, dark yet lovely city, perfect for mystery writers but which has produced no truly good English-language detective stories to date that I know of ("The Big Mango" - published in Bangkok - was disappointing, even for a first attempt). What I have enjoyed the most about Burdett is not just his plot, but the writer's ability to portray the inner workings of the Thai mentality for westerners, as well as accurately describing the sights and sounds of various neighborhoods in the City of Angels. There is a nice balance of hidden details in the story that show the author's attentiveness to nuances of Thai culture (e.g. that the now-departed Pichai's favorite music was Carabao) without getting too bogged down in trivia. Kudos for bringing this city to life, and creating a unique and interesting protagonist. I am looking forward to reading Burdett's next Bangkok novel.

Rating:
Summary: interesting and fun read
Review: This book was fun to read and quite informative. I could not leave it after I started reading. The horrific story is told from the perspective of an unusual Thai police investigator. Towards the end, the story accelerates with many unexpected twists and turns that are possible partly because the main character's Budhist approach to life (e.g., physical death is merely a transition to another existence) opens up otherwise unconceivable courses of action. Even though the murderer is known quite early, details of the context keep emerging that change the interpretation of the facts and the projections of the reader about where the story is actually going, pretty much mirroring the investigators own discoveries. I am giving it four stars only because i would have liked to have had a little bit more character development, setting development, and more even coverage of some of the situations. While Burdett is very good at eliciting imagery with pithy descriptions, I am not sure whether that rich imagery would have happened had I not been to Thailand (e.g, know how the Oriental hotel looks like, the difference between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, etc.). All in all, worth while the reading if you can stomach the dark story.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent if you have experienced Thai culture
Review: This is an excellent read. A good story with a good "introduction" to the thai way of life. It is very helpful to have experienced Thailand and dealing with Thai people, it enhances the experience and clarifies a lot of the Thai culture.

Highly recommended for someone who has been to Thailand or has some understanding of different cultures.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable
Review: As someone who has been to Bangkok, I was glad to come across this book. The premise upon which it was built was quite interesting -- a murder in the red light district that the protagonist is trying to solve. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, though the end got a touch far-fetched.