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Bangkok 8 - Any Good?


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I saw a new Bangkok based mystery in the bookstore today, "Bangkok 8". It got good reviews by Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard, which is promising, but I am wondering if anyone else here has read it and, if so, what they think.

 

I have read several of Christopher Moore's books, and they are OK (certainly better than anything I could write), but I am looking for, well, something that a Carl Hiaasen or an Elmore Leonard might write.

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Bangkok 8 is definitely a cut above most 'Bangkok thriller fiction'. It's well written and it raises some interesting questions....for instance it pits a sensitive Thai Buddhist cop against a tough American feminist. The plot is typical of the genre i.e. basically an entertaining way of stringing exotic locations, sleazy and otherwise, together. The author did his research well and his descriptions of corruption will be familiar to long time residents. I can't say it reminded me of Elmore Leonard much (nobody does dialogue quite like Leonard) and Chris Moore is definitely in a class of his own.

 

The only problem I had was the way Burnett apologized to the boys in brown right at the beginning. I found that a bit disingenuous but apparently he is a lawyer as well as a writer. :)

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Hi Gadfly.

Yes, really enjoyed it and well worth a read. Its great being able to relate to so many locations in the book.

My favourite part was when the two cops were in a hurry and they are stuck at the intersection of Sukhumwit and Soi 4. One of the cops jumps out of the car, runs over to the police box on the corner and bangs on the window of the police box to "wake up the sleeping cop and get him to change the lights to green". You can really imagine that happening!

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>>>You can really imagine that happening! <<<

 

 

i had something like this happening a few years ago at chalern sanit wong. after being stuck for 20 minutes at a read light i got of my bike and had to disturb the cops who were watching football on TV.

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i had something like this happening a few years ago at chalern sanit wong. after being stuck for 20 minutes at a read light i got of my bike and had to disturb the cops who were watching football on TV.

 

FOZW,

All you can say about that is "TIT"... as a former newspaper columnist would say... "any further comment would be superfluous!"

Fly P.

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