Jump to content

Best Dean Barrett Novel Set In You-Know-Where ?


gobbledonk

Recommended Posts

I walked past some fairly clandestine bars (never anyone outside, but clearly people inside) virtually every day on my extended stays in 2008/2010, including the bar-we-cannot-name, but it was only when SuaDum pointed to one and mentioned that a Dean Barrett novel had been used the bar as one of its settings that I registered any interest. Hearing from others that the square has always been 'pretty rough' was another piece of the puzzle, but its a landmark that could well disappear before I get back in 2013. Can anyone refer me to the novel(s) in question ?

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3ADean+Barrett&keywords=Dean+Barrett&ie=UTF8&qid=1324344436&sr=1-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B001JX2XAC#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3ADean+Barrett%2Cp_82%3AB001JX2XAC&keywords=Dean+Barrett&ie=UTF8&qid=1324344543

 

I'm thinking its one of the 'Horny Toad' books, but wanted to ask before I put an order in with Amazon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dean had his heroes stay at the Texas Lone Staar in Washington Square. Unfortunately, the Lone Staar shut down earlier this year, and he was wondering where they can stay now.

 

 

 

post-98-0-43961700-1324344964.jpg

 

 

The Horny Toad bar was on Patpong. It disappeared back in the late 1970s, when the Grand Prix next door bought it out and tore out the wall to make one big bar.

 

I'm pretty sure the Lone Staar figures in "Skytrain to Murder".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Flash - I'm really sorry I missed those signings. Only just discovering Hallinan, Cotterill and others via Amazon's 'tie-in' to Barrett. KS put me off Christopher Moore's books when he said that he had never heard two Farang use Thai when their own language would suffice - that appears contrived from the get-go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moore loves dialogue and does it very well, but I was turned off when his first novel I picked up spent the first 3 pages talking about some guy's drippy dick. :p

 

Dean Barrett said to me he'd been reading one of Moore's book and waded through about 6 pages of dialogue with nothing happening. Still, Moore has a fantastic website and sells himself very well. Guys "homesick" for Bangkok snap up his books, since he captures the bar scene quite well. I've only met Moore once or twice, but he seems like a good guy.

 

Get "Kicking Dogs" if you've never read it, Piprell's best book. It is tongue and cheek and definitely should have been made into a movie. It is also not about a bar or a BG, for a change. Flyonzewall used to rant about everyone writing books set in bars, since that was the only side of Bangkok the writers knew. Collin was a lecturer at Thammasat for a few years and has seen another side of Thailand. (So has Tsow, but he writes short satirical chapters. He really pissed off Trink with his "Barney Bonk" spoof. Trink is quite likeable, but he has a very thin skin.)

 

My link

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again. I posted some years back that some of the tales in 'Trip Reports' and 'Relationships' could, in the right hands, be condensed into a very readable work of 'faction' : a lot of it might seem predictable to some of us, but there are some interesting tales buried deep in the stuff I've read, particularly in the early noughties. It wasnt uncommon to see a lot more recollections from the 70s and 80s, and I believe you have some old photos from that era - it would all make for a fascinating history of LOS nightlife.

 

I don't know if KS has ever had the time or the inclination to try to compile any of it, but I assume its now his IP so I wont say any more. I hope he does make a million dollars from it. :grinyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Bangkok photo guide book from around 1970 at home. Wish I had it here. The city has changed so much it is almost unrecognisable outside of the "Rattankosin Island". Thailand has gone from about 40 million to nearly 70 million. That is a helluva a lot more people! Bangkok was under 2 million when I came here, almost no high rises and tree-lined streets with fast traffic. :p

 

Dean Barrett was stationed here in the late 1960s. That's what his "Bangkok Warrior" book is about.

 

For a real oldie, get "Woman of Bangkok" by the late Jack Reynolds. It is about the nightlife in the 1950s! Great read and the hero get screwed over royally. Some things don't change.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

You should try the Dr Siri series of books set in Laos by Colin Cotterill, far better written than any of the Thai books by the above authors.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-Old-Dogs-Siri-Paiboun/dp/1569475016

 

Set just after the communist come to power their light and good fun detective novels about a 75 year old Laos Doctor who just wants to retire but becomes the National Coroner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...