The Bangkok Asset
A Royal Thai Detective Novel

It is difficult to know if Burdett is so far out of touch he is creating a science fiction world or if he is so in touch that we are the ones inhabiting a present we know little of. He repeats often during this book that the West has so destabilized itself with its lack of foresight, the corruption......more

I'm not sure how to review this book. Bangkok 8, the firs in the series, is one of my all-time favorite books, and I'm fascinated by the character at the center of all these books, Sonchai Jitpleecheep. That's part of the reason: nothing in the series can ever be as good as that first book, and, at t......more

Let me start by saying 2 stars is generous, and only because I really liked the ending (assuming I understood it.) This is the sixth book in a series about a Thai detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who has been seeking the identity of his G.I. father, about whom his Thai mother and madam will reveal v......more

There are five previous novels in John Burdett's Royal Thai series featuring Bangkok police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, and every one of them is strange. The detective is a devout Buddhist (a former monk) and prey to the supernatural fantasies so common in Thailand. In some of the books, he beco......more

I have been a big fan of John Burdett, ever since his first book, Bangkok Eight. Burdett's writing was fresh, capturing the special mood, feel and smell of Thailand. We were living in Shanghai when Bangkok Eight was published and we had already visited Thailand several times. Reading the book brough......more