Customer Reviews

Asia Hand

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Asia Hand was one of the first books that C.G. Moore wrote about the Bangkok based private investigator named Vincent Calvino and his friend in the Bangkok police, LTC Pratt. The Calvino series are great (easy) reading and many foreign visitors could learn from "Calvino's rules." My favorite Calvino's rule is "only marry an orphan." This novel follows Calvino throughout Bangkok in search of the killer of a foreigner. Hints of the occult and insite into the Thai ways of thinking about life around them makes every page interesting.

Yes,once again Christopher G. Moore has scored a direct hit in his unique--and highly qualified--outlook at the world of expatriates living in Bangkok.Vinnie Calvino and Col.Pratt are back together again going through all the weird-little-worlds occupied by farang expats and the Thai people they both mesh and clash with,particularly the bargirls of Sukhumvit Road.
If you want to see and learn what life is like for the expats, this is the best way to go.If you've lived in Thailand or visit it on a regular basis,as I do,you'll feel very much at home with the storyline,the characters and the general mentality of all those you meet and observe.As other reviewers have pointed out,this tale IS somewhat scary but as far as reading entertainment goes,you'll have fun with this tale,I promise.
What I also find great sanuk,in my usual overly-cynnical manner,is that the worst of the "bad guys" are either Americans or contolled by American forces.I have met both these people and the Vinnie Calvinos--BOTH groups "Asia Hands"--and what can be more than somewhat scary is that,in most cases,the "bad guys" outnumber the Calvinos.Still,even dealing with one Calvino personality reminds me of why I keep returning to my beloved Thailand and why the kingdom WILL be my permenant home in the future.Please read "Asia Hand" and do what most of us do:enjoy the hell out of it!!!

Originally published in 1993, this is the second of eleven atmospheric Bangkok-set Vincent Calvino series. Calvino, a disbarred American lawyer turned tough-guy PI, won't let it go when a sad-sack American neighbor, cameraman Jerry Hutton, is found dead in a park lake during Chinese New Year celebrations.

Hutton who had poor judgment and worse luck, had just happened upon his big break - filming the point-blank execution of three Burmese students by Burmese military. Every news station has picked it up and a documentary filmmaker planned to include it, and Hutton, in a new movie project.

But Calvino thinks there's something fishy about Hutton's footage. Especially after an assassin targets him later that night. Trading coded Shakespeare quotes with his friend Police Colonel Pratt, Calvino keeps kicking roadblocks (mostly human) out of his way as he navigates the alleys, slums, back rooms and scariest of all, the politics, of his adopted country, to expose the crime and the killer.

Moore puts you on the streets of Bangkok, immersing us farangs in the color, confusion and quickly seized opportunities of city life, particularly on the fringes. The prose crackles with classic noir style though Moore never overdoes it. Fast-paced and street-wise, this is a character and place-driven series for anyone who enjoys John Burdett or Timothy Hallinan.

I read this book while living my fourth of five years in Bangkok. This book maps the reality many expats live and fear each day. I could trace my own footsteps through the pages.

Recommended if you want to read the reality and fear the consequences. For those of you wanting an adventure, your stomachs will churn.

Favorite sentence from the book would have to be "Bangkok's not Brooklyn, Vinnie," said Kiko, ... "And respect is the first thing you give up living here."

Mr. Moore should be required reading for any Thailand expat needing a visa extension beyond 60 days. Asia Hand is the second in the popular Vincent Calvino P.I. crime series. The first half of the book I thought had some really good writing. I was prepared not to like when I got to the Hollywood Treatment by Vinnie at the 1/2 way point but that actually worked for me and reinforced the plot lines. I liked the plot and didn't think it was particularly difficult or easy to follow. You had to pay attention.

I like the little things about Christopher Moore's writing style and following a Raymond Chandler 1950's book it made the evolution of crime fiction writing apparent. I doubt Chandler would ever have a chapter like THIRD SHIFT, which highlights the misfits found in Bangkok brilliantly. And who doesn't have a little misfit in them? Chandler paints external pictures well; Mr Moore paints internal pictures well. I prefer internal assessments. An example is his brief but brilliant treatment of the triumvirate of all sexual relationships: commitment, passion and trust. I liked that a lot.

It was dark, believable, nicely interwoven and full of bad guys. The ending I enjoyed. I am a sucker for a Buddhist moral so that worked for me and I thought Moore did a great job of painting the personality of Vinnie's 13 year old daughter, visiting Bangkok with his ex-wife. Vincent describing a truck load of Thai peasant labor to her also stands out as to why Moore is one of only a handful of authors who have the Thailand expertise to write about the various layers of complex Thai society. The whole insider's Hollywood scene I actually liked and learned from, unlike the reviewer who gave this book a 1 star rating. Different strokes for different folks as we say in Thailand. Start out with Spirit House by Moore then go from there. A Killing Smile is also a good read about Bangkok expat life. Pattaya 24/7 and 9 Gold Bullets were also good.

This is the first time in years that I've aborted a book in mid sentence. I only had another 60 pages to finish it and I still couldn't force my way through.
All I could think is that Mr.Moore had just gone through a bad experience with the Hollywood machine and was obsessing over his beating. I felt like I was listening to the last year of Lenny Bruce when he turned his act into a constant diatribe against the legal machine with his obscenity charge(except that Lenny had a point.).
His first book that I read was "the killing smile" which was good enough for me to get another.so I chose Asia Hand, bad choice.
After I read a pulp fiction I toss it into the box to go to the homeless shelter. The only thing worse than being homeless is not having a book to read. This time I doubt if I can subject anybody to a muddle that is Asia Hand.

In his Vincent Calvino detective series set in Thailand, Christopher Moore reveals Bangkok in a way that only a "farang" who has lived there can. Having spent many years living and traveling in Asia, I can attest that Moore's Thailand is real, and gives a vivid portrayal of a country where culture runs very deep and life is cheap. Add to that the wonderful characters of Calvino, his friend police Colonel Pratt, and a fast-paced and well-written plot and delivery, and you have a wonderful series.

Miserable with the flu, I just spent the past 10 days in bed. The ONLY good thing about feeling too lousy to get out of bed is that I just polished off two more of Moore's Calvino novels. Silver lining?

In this 1993 novel, our hero, detective Vinnie Calvino, says that he gives himself, at best, another 20 years. After all, his is a dangerous profession, especially in Bangkok. But if we have to wait 17 years for the novels, then Vinnie will be long dead before we read about his last exploits. Sad, huh? Asia Hand is full of typos and other language mistakes, the characters enter the most improbable of relationships, yet I give it four stars. Why? Because it has charm in abundance. You cannot help but like the good guys in the novel, nor can you hate Bangkok even given its numerous faults- and improbable relationships. The city is alive if nothing else, and Asia Hand entertains despite its faults. And making us wait 17 years is definitely a fault!