Bangkok Tattoo

Who reads a novel to be hectored? Especially a detective novel. There may be a masochistic few who actually enjoy being addressed as farang (Thai for “foreigner”) and then repeatedly lectured on the colossal failure that is Western civilization. But why take it from a $24 book when the rest of the w......more

Once again I seem to be at odds with my co-reviewers; a glitch in my own system, I'm sure. When I started this book, I hoped it would be as good as Burdett's first. But as it progressed, I discovered that it was far more than an excellent whodunit. Burdett's insights into Buddhism and the way the disc......more

This is really a very good book, and the best of the Sonchai Jitpleecheep mysteries I've read so far (although I read Godfather of Kathmandu first, and so didn't quite understand the backstory then -- I would definitely recommend you read them in order, and after the next one I'll probably reread Go......more

This is the second entry in Burdett's series about a Bangkok detective whose mother runs a brothel, and an even wilder ride than the first one. (See my review of Bangkok 8.) Sonchai Jitpleecheep is the product of a Vietnam-era liaison between a Thai prostitute and a U.S. GI; his mom now runs a Bangko......more

Yuck. The first in the series, Bangkok 8, is described as "a thriller with an attitude to spare" and I was expecting something similar. The attitude is quite present in the first maybe 25%. The attitude is a "hey farang [Thai for western foreigner], our culture is better than yours and has been arou......more