Customer Reviews

Bangkok Tattoo

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Chanya, the most profitable lady at the Old Man's Club, is holed up with an opium pipe, her blood-soaked clothes decorating the stairs to her room. A couple of streets away lies is the mutilated corpse of a farang (foreigner) and a single rose in a plastic mug of water. The Thai Royal Police Colonel Vikorn dictates Chanya's statement, phrasing it in such a way as to cover all possibilities when blame is cast. Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep artfully transcribes Vikorn's report, because that is how things are done here in District 8. Unfortunately, the mutilated corpse is CIA and the victim's ID carries inherent problems. The murder could be blamed on Al Qaeda, but how do you justify a terrorist/castration murder?

In Bangkok, where pragmatism rules the day, the Colonel is also a gangster and the police often supplement their salaries by working in brothels. Such is Sonchai's case, policeman by day, dedicated papasan by night. Sonchai is following the path of the Buddha, but constantly challenged by Vikorn's manner of doing business. A Muslim shows up at the club where Sonchai is overseeing the girls as they attach themselves to customers. Disdainful, the Muslim, Mustafa, unfolds a picture of the dead man, then leaves his card. Mustafa's father is an imam, who welcomes the detective, explaining that his network has been tracking the CIA agent. Now the imam is worried about being blamed for the murder, a convenient answer to everyone's problems.

What is so fascinating about this novel is the total immersion in Thai culture, from Buddhist practices to ancient rituals, alongside the very practical approach to the vagaries of human sexuality. This is a country that happily accepts all its differences, a finely tuned morality tempered with understanding for the many challenges that face the people who coexist in a difficult world. To read it is to think it, to experience life surrounded by the exoticism of Eastern values and thought processes. Throughout, advice is narrated to the "farang" reader, explaining the easy order of business in Thailand, "Farang, tell your evangelists not to bundle salvation with the work ethic. It really doesn't play in the tropics."

Bangkok Tattoo is a complicated slice of drama, an angst-ridden CIA agent hopelessly in love, tormented by his duty and religious beliefs vs. his amorous obsession; the Americans' interminable quest to tie every violent act to a subversive plot by Al Qaeda to undermine the moral of the American people; the naturally pragmatic and corrupt system of the accommodations of the Thai personality; and a group of Muslims trying to avert an excuse for war in their part of the country, hyper-aware that they are the bogeymen du jour. The ubiquitous Sonchai watches all unfold, reporting to Vikorn, yearning for Chanya, a dutiful son and conscientious policeman. Sprinkle in a Japanese tattoo artist, the community of katoeys (transsexuals-in-progress), a couple of gruesome murders that include castration and flaying, a dash of karma and mix well. This is the perfect recipe for a spicy Eastern mystery that is uniquely satisfying. Luan Gaines/2005.

In John Burdett's first novel, Bangkok 8, he introduces his protagonist, Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of The Royal Thai Police District 8, a Buddhist with a strange sense of humour when it comes to "farang", the white westerner, and an uncanny ability to see peoples past lives when he first meets them, and a sixth sense, usually dreaming about the case in question, communicated through his dead partner. Sonchai is certainly a bizarre character, a part time pimp for his ex prostitute mother, working their highly successful brothel in the seamy red light district of Bangkok, "The Old Man's Club", and partners in the business with his boss, Colonel Vikorn, the cunning Thai gangster and head of the city's police force. It's business as usual until one of their top working girls, Chayna, comes stumbling back into the club drenched in blood, to discover her "john" back at the hotel room, castrated and skinned. When questioned, the poor girl is stoned on opium, forcing Vikorn and Sonchai to write the confession for her, and quickly get her out of town, because the victim, unfortunately, is CIA.

Bangkok Tattoo is a very entertaining read because the cast of characters, prostitutes, pimps, transvestites, drug dealers, Japanese gangsters, Chinese diplomats, are all written extremely well and highly unusual, making the story out of the ordinary, down right strange at times, and enormously interesting.

Sonchai Jitpleecheep does not care much for "farang", using this word countless times throughout the narrative. (A bit too much) In a word, he believes all westerner's are schizophrenic, media drenched, materialistic, lacking any spirituality, puritanical and hypocritical, and exceedingly stupid. The CIA characters are bumbling and for the most part, lost; and the Old Man's Club clientele are middle-aged sex deprived ex hippies that require Viagra to have a good time. There's not one "farang" in the entire book with any redeeming qualities whatsoever, but I guess that's part of the novel's charm.

I found this novel to be much better than Burdett's last effort. He was finding himself in Bangkok 8, and has settled into the characters with Bangkok Tattoo. He's much more comfortable with his style and it definitely shows in the writing.

If you like the crime/thriller genre from a slightly bent perspective, from eastern Thai Buddhist eyes, you'll like this book. A fast-paced, entertaining read.

"Cynical" seems a wan description of the world of Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Many readers will have a hard time with Sonchai, who advocates prostitution as a worthwhile way for poor Thai girls to get rich quick, and who doesn't bother to conceal his utter contempt for post-911 America and Americans. If you hold your Western morality dearly, better skip this one.

On the other hand, if you're up for a stylish, sexy, rollicking good read with oodles and oodles of plot, dripping with exotica of every description, then welcome to Sonchai's world. Sonchai's mom, an ex-hooker turned clubowner, and the ever-inventive Colonel Vikorn (with his limo blasting "Ride of the Valkyries" through its sound system at all times) are characters who will make you laugh out loud--that is, when you're not squirming over the moral dilemmas they pose (and then leap past, with the greatest of ease). You may think you've read it all on the moral ambiguity front, but Burdett takes all those wised-up detective stories and raises the stakes to another level entirely. When you find yourself rooting for a young male cop to be successful in his sex-change operation, you'll know Burdett has gotten into your head. It's a great ride! Enjoy!

Like a lot of other reviewers, I read and loved Bangkok 8. What a great read. I was surprised to find- after I finished it, that it wasn't written by a Thai. Sonchai was a real person to me.

Now I read Bangkok Tattoo and I wonder what happened to Sonchai? What comes through is a Brit slamming the U.S. and the west in general through the voice of Sonchai.

What's the purpose of having the CIA being the fools in the story? The female boss of the CIA officers is a lesbian? Why's that? Why isn't MI6 the object of ridicule? Why is the word "farang" in every other sentence? I get it- I get it...it's a derogatory word for westerners, right?

I hope Burdett keeps writing in the series. I also hopes he lets Sonchai act like a Thai Buddhist and not like some political commentator on the Chris Matthews show.

Bangkok Tattoo is the follow-up to John Burdett's acclaimed Bangkok 8 featuring Thai police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

This novel finds Sonchai investigating the gruesome murder of a CIA operative Mitch Turner - with the twist that the prime suspect, a Thai prostitute called Chanya, works in the strip club part owned by Sonchai, his mother, and the corrupt police captain Vikorn. As he untangles this little mystery he in turn runs across the Muslim troubles in south Thailand where Turner was a CIA operative, the drug trade, the corrupt army, and his corrupt police Captain who he must appease, not to mention the U.S. CIA.

Where does it all lead? In a completely unexpected direction eventually, making for another rather interesting visit with Sonchai. As readers of Bangkok 8 will know, Sonchai is not corrupt, but walks a grey area in the seedy areas of life as he empathizes with the travails of others - particularly given he is the son of a former Thai prostitute who now owns a strip club (read brothel). His empathy for others and his unique outlook make for a rather interesting character where the first person narrative, in which this novel is written, works very well.

Bangkok Tattoo is as good, and in some ways, better than Bangkok 8 and well worth reading.

I first read about this detective in "Bangkok 8" and was eager to read "Bangkog Tattoo". Even more surprising and pleasing! The detective is the head pimp in a brothel whose manager is his mother and silent partner the local police chief, his boss. The detective is a devout Buddhist. The detective is in love with the brothel's number one call girl whose profits have made her the hero of her home village. The detective sees who you were in your past lives. Confused yet?

It all hangs together positive and upbeat and pokes thoughtful fun at "western" ways and attitudes. A Hollywood starlet forces a factory to release underage kids as workers... so the parents hire them out as sex slaves instead.

I recommend it because it's different, it's entertaining, it's thought-provoking, and it encourages us "Farang" westerners to lighten up a little in our Puritanical ways...

Somewhat overrated

John Burdett's "Bangkok Tattoo" is the follow-up to widely praised "Bangkok 8." It's hard to pigeon-hole these novels, though at their heart they are police procedurals - Thai style. About half-way through "Bangkok Tattoo," you start to wonder just when the story is going to kick into gear. Oh, you've had your gruesome murder in the first few pages (with more to come). But what you've got to contend with is detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep's discursive musings - that seem nearly endless. Sex, the West, Thai culture, sex change operations, the Buddha, police corruption, Burdett lays it on thick in order to establish atmosphere. But he's skillful in this because he always circles back to the main thread of the story: the Why of the death and mutilation of a CIA agent. There are red herrings galore, but when you do finally find out how his death came about, there is a sense of being cheated a bit - which is exactly how I felt after I finished "Bangkok 8." Burdett is too good a writer not to know he is doing this. And as plot device, the red herrings serve the further purpose in this particular novel of further indicting the West's black and white view of reality. (Gee, we're such children. And the Muslims are of course the good guys.)

Anyway, late in "Bangkok Tattoo" his somewhat ineffective detective admits as much as things draw to a horrible, but fitting conclusion: "there's nothing like the Buddha when it comes to anticlimax." And this scene plays itself out wonderfully, very noirish, very bizarre. But what bothers me is the whole set-up leading to this conclusion. Arguably, the clues are all there from page one, providing Burdett the opportunity to rail against the "farangs" for most of the book. It doesn't take long before you start seeing polemical similarities with the latter day (and now lesser) le Carre. One possible twist however, that by novel's end one wonders, in the expletive-like way Jitleecheep slings the term"farang" (foreigner) around, being part American himself, if there isn't some sense of self loathing operating. Until that's clarified, hopefully in an upcoming effort, the detective's dripping cynicism seems unearned or, worse, unbelievable. As a result the cultural makeup of the detective seems tacked on, it lacks the level of cultural integration that, for example, Martin Cruz Smith brings to his wonderful cynic-cop Arkady Renko. You get the sense that Jitleecheep is less a personality and more a Thai connect-the-dots, with authorial cynicism meant to be the glue to hold it all together. In other words, Jitleecheep, despite all his religious posturing, lacks the very center he seems to think most westerners lack. One more, and minor, complaint. Burdett probably needs to familiarize himself better with more realistic pay grades for upper level CIA operatives. Then again, if he's right, no wonder we can't hold on to good talent.

I was introduced to British Author John Burdett via his brilliant, `Bangkok 8' (2003). I was heading to Bangkok and wanted a gripping Thailand-fiction read. He delivered. Burdett has an uncanny ability to shed cultural insights regarding the steamy and seamy streets of Bangkok better that any guide that I took with me. When his follow-up, `Bangkok Tattoo' was released I was in the front of the line.

All of the unforgettable characters remain: Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the main protagonist, a Buddhist police detective with a classical education and the son of an ex-prostitute, Mother Nong, who now owns a brothel in Bangkok, "The Old Man's Club," in partnership with Sonchai's `oh-so-corrupt' Colonel Vikorn.

The East and West, yin and yang, kindness and kinkiness continues. Burdett added a melange of Japanese tattooists, Muslim fundamentalists, American capitalists, street drugs, third world country corruption and of course, sex. It all starts with the macabre murder of a CIA agent in a room in his mother's brothel. What more could you want for the long flight to Bangkok?

Is the book as good as `Bangkok 8'? Almost. Though there is powerful mixture of images and insights, his romanticizing of the Thai society in direct contrast to his Yankeephobia is excessive. The `Silence of the Lambs' spin-off is a given, and, unlike `Bangkok 8', the pace of the writing flags somewhat, half way into the book. So? So nothing. This is still a highly enjoyable, hard to put down, read. Not for the squeamish. Strongly recommended.

Sidenote: consider, as an additional book for your flight bag, the salubrious: 'Sightseeing: Stories' by a new Thai-American writer, Lapcharoensap. Lapcharoensap moves beyond the sex industry of Thailand, and though he doesn't sidestep the grit, the overcrowding, and the poverty within Thailand, he sees another side of Thailand that is nearer to Nirvana.

Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is back. The hero of Burdett's Bangkok 8 is once again called upon to use his wits and intuition to solve a baffling series of murders in Bangkok.

While working at The Old Man's Club, Sonchai's mother's brothel, Chanya, the club's highest earner, is implicated in the murder of a CIA officer. Soon, an attempted cover-up unravels and conflict with the country's Muslim south is too possible. More CIA officers arrive, Sonchai reads Chanya's journal kept during her years in America, and a Japanese tattoo artist on the lam from the Japanese mafia appears. While trying to decipher the meaning behind it all, Sonchai walks a delicate balance between his Buddhist detachment and his ambition to rise in the police force.

Burdett paints a vivid and lurid picture of life in Bangkok. Westerners in general and Americans in particular are depicted as louts at best and schizophrenic at worst. In Burdett's world, Americans have lost theirs souls by embracing the religion known as consumerism, where nothing matters but the continued accumulation of material possessions. In the meantime, they have sacrificed the attainment of anything more meaningful. At one point, Sonchai marvels at an act of extreme benevolence made by Chanya and rather plaintively says that she is a better Buddhist than he is. Americans, on the other hand, don't know who they are. They're a mass of psychotic tendencies. They don't know how to relax. They can't enjoy life because they're too busy pursuing a meaningless consumerist lifestyle, where much is bought but nothing is gained.

By contrast, Thais are laid back. They, too, embody contradictions but do so willingly. By making conscious decisions about their lives, they can mitigate the karma that attaches to them by their wrong decisions. Something Americans are unable to do because they are unable to admit that they might be wrong about anything.

It's a fascinating look at the seamier side of Thai life. As one who is visiting Thailand for the first time later this summer, I am eager to see this vital and thriving city. Burdett notes in a short postscript to his novel that most visitors to Bangkok have a wonderful vacation and never encounter the sex trade, drugs, or police corruption. That's a nice reassurance.

<em>Bangkok Tattoo</em> is a well-written, intricately plotted mystery, and it offers a bit more to the discerning reader. The end of the story nicely sets up the next installment. I hope that Burdett doesn't keep us waiting too long.

After reading this book, I sent copies to my 23- and 26-year old sons, who plan to go to Thailand for Christmas. I warned them that this might change their plans--they might just take the next flight out. This author is a real find. His characters are interesting and complex, and his love for the country and people is obvious. When I read a detective story, I don't want to be able to figure out the ending, but I want the author to be "fair"--not to point me to paths the story is never going to take just to keep me guessing. This is such a story. I loved it. After reading this one, the second of the series, I read the first and pre-ordered the third. Oh yeah--should say that there is some gruesomeness involved if that bothers anyone. E.D.