Lightning On The Sun

Rating:
Summary: Been there, done that, got the heroin.
Review: This is a book about heroin, Cambodia, topless bars, bad relationships that you cant get out of, and the New York Racquet Club. I am willing to bet that Robert Bingham was familar with all of these. We will never know for sure since Robert Bingham died of a heroin overdose in 2000.
The story is the fairly usual tale of a drug deal that goes wrong. Asher, working for the press in Cambodia, is looking to score one last deal to help facilitate his travel and adjustment back to the USA. He involves his old girlfriend in New York and an unwitting straight laced courier to make it happen. In the meantime, he has to borrow some cash from a Cambodian crime boss to make things happen. Things dont go as planned, and there are complications, both in the US and in Cambodia.
This is not Robert Ludlum. The plot is a bit erratic and so are the characters, but that is why I loved this book. Bingham did a great job of keeping me in that mindset that left me thinking I knew what was going to happen, but wasnt sure. The characters comments and insights about Cambodia, drugs, even the New York Racquet Club made me feel like I was hearing from someone that knew about the nasty side of all three.