Customer Reviews

A Nail Through the Heart : A Novel of Bangkok

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Brutal torture and equally brutal empathy define this excellent, if sometimes familiar, thriller from Hallinan (The Bone Polisher). Poke Rafferty, a travel writer turned detective, intends to settle down in Bangkok with his ex-prostitute girlfriend, Rose, and a young urchin, Miaow, when Miaow brings her troubled friend Superman into the household. While dealing with this intrusion, Rafferty takes on dual sleuthing assignments to help pay for adopting Miaow. The first case involves finding Australian Claus Ulrich, a hardcore bondage aficionado. When Rafferty meets the powerful and rich Madame Wing while investigating Ulrich's disappearance, she offers him $30,000 to find an envelope and the Cambodian man who took it. The only catch? If Rafferty opens the envelope, he'll learn information about Madame Wing that will force her to kill him. Rafferty stumbles through the clues like the foreigner he is, always on the outside looking in. Despite an overly leisurely ending, the rich depictions of Bangkok's seedy side recall John Burdett's visceral mysteries. (July)

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If you like a novel in an exotic setting with an affable, affecting, imperfect hero, spend some hours with A Nail Trhough the Heart. Author Hallinan has divided his time between California and southeast Asia for the past 20 years, thus his descriptions of Bangkok are vividly drawn, alive with authentic sights and sounds. His knowledge of the Thai people and respect for their culture ring throughout, which invites the reader to share his affection for this land.

As Hallinan has said there is a saying in Thailand, "gilding the Buddha's back." Temples throughout Thailand have large statues of Buddha covered in gold leaf. Purchased in small squares by believers, this gold leaf is pressed on the statue until it appears to be entirely covered in gold. If you look at the back of the statue, you will see that the back of it is as richly ornamented as the front. Gilding the Buddha's back means doing good in private, where it will not be noticed. Isn't that a moving thought? And, after relating this saying and its provenance Hallinan said that in treating Thai culture carefully in his book he hoped that he had in some small way gilded the Buddha's back. He has, indeed.

Our imperfect hero is Poke Rafferty, a travel writer, who has gone to Bangkok to write. He's penned a series of travel related pieces titled Looking for Trouble. Bangkok is where trouble finds him in the form of Rose, a former go-go girl with whom he falls in love, Miaow, an eight-year-old orphan who lived on the streets, and her friend, a rather frightening skinny street boy with the unlikely nickname of Superman. We learn how harsh life on the streets can be on the young.

It is Poke's hope to marry Rose and adopt Miaow. Problem is that Poke hasn't mastered the art of saying no. So, when a policeman seeks his help in finding a woman's uncle he agrees. This chase leads to a meeting with MadameWing who offers a substantial amount of money if he will help her find someone who stole from her. The money is too tempting - it would enable Poke to help Rose with her business and adopt Miaow.

However, all is not as it seems as Poke finds himself caught in a web of deceit.

Hallinan is an astute author drawing readers in with brilliantly crafted descriptions of places and personalities. As he describes a person's physical appearance, one is also given a glimpse of his or her emotional state. Although he describes Bangkok with respect, he doesn't diminish its darker side. Thus, A Nail Through the Heart is not always an easy read; it is a compelling one.

- Gail Cooke

This an excellent book and has something for everyone over 18, especially males. This book captures all of the exotic ambiance of Bangkok-- the good, the bad, and the ugly-- while taking you on a world class thrill-ride. It pulls you in from page one and leaves you hanging at the end of the bonus material, waiting with baited breathe for the pending release of the next book in the series. The plot twists in so many directions that when you think you know what is going to happen next, you don't; and when you don't think you know what is going to happen next, you do. Up is down and down is up and everything is inside out. This was my first experience with this author and he is one of the most promising thrill writers that I have found. Great piece of virtual pulp fiction. Warning: This book has some similar subject mater as say something like the movie 8mm with Nicolas Cage, without the snuff. So, be warned if you are especially sensitive to violence.

I have read every novel this author has written and loved them all, but with "A Nail Through the Heart," a Bangkok tale, Timothy Hallinan has hit a new level in his writing that is simply heart-wrenchingly beautiful. With a somber and poetic use of wit, metaphor and simile, this first story in Hallinan's new Poke Rafferty series is a doozy. All the characters are so clear. All of them have such depth. And thus, long after the book is finished, they still live in my head. And further, because the prose describing Bangkok is so sharp and detailed, I feel as though I was actually there, experiencing all its beauty and its degradation; all its humanity and its juggernaut evil; and all its fatalism and its hope. This is a great story about people and far-away places and how they survive, while still trying to do the right thing.

A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, the first of Timothy Hallinan's Bangkok thrillers, balances family, love, loyalty, and hope against evil that destroys the spirit and sacrifices innocence to perversion.

I read A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART a few years ago. Tim's post, "Behind the Smiles", on the Murder is Everywhere blog, sent me back to the book and I am glad it did. I found things I missed in the first reading and I understand some things better because of what I have learned about Thailand through Tim's posts.

In the blog, Tim writes that Bangkok is the "meat market where the children of the poor, both male and female, go to sell their beauty." The men who use them believe "there has to be something real, something genuine, behind smiles like those. And there are: poverty and powerlessness."

A NAIL IN THE HEART is about family, love, loyalty, hope, and the future but it is also about the debasement of the most innocent of humanity and the evil which kills beauty because there is no need for beauty when power is all that matters. Poke's search for a missing man and his maid leads him to Madame Wing who offers Poke the money he needs to speed along adoption process that will make Miaow, and 8 year-old street child, legally his. The money will help his love, Rose, establish her business. Madame Wing wants Poke to find an envelope but he must not look at the contents. One man did and had to die for doing so. The threads come together in the end to a satisfying, almost, conclusion.

This is a book that the reader won't want to put down. Since I first read it, I have thought, on occasion, of "Growing-Younger Man", the man whose face is so tight Poke wonders how he chews. Why do people try so hard to pretend that they haven't experienced life? Why is youth so envied when it is the young who haven't yet had the time to develop the life-skills that allow us to keep living?

But that is a minor issue compared to what the author is really serving up. Child pornography is financed by the people who buy it. Anyone who does is as guilty as the men who perform the abuse. They do it for the world wide audience who know without question that what they are seeing on the screen isn't pretend. And then there is the ultimate question: When is the taking of a life not a wrong? Are all murderers equally guilty? How should society respond when, as Poke says, "The victims were guilty....and the murderers were innocent?"

Finally, the book reminded me that I haven't told my children enough about the killing fields of Cambodia. As the victims of the holocaust should never be forgotten, neither should the victims of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. We have an obligation to them as well.

Timothy Hallinan's "A Nail Through the Heart" is a powerfully written novel set in Bangkok, a city of both beauty and degradation, where the senses are assaulted by the blare of vehicle horns, the traffic, the rush of people, the smells, the heat of the day and the neon of the night. Here the face of evil is both banal and horrific, encompassing individual depravity and the inhumanity of the Khmer Rouge regime. It is a story concerned with love and evil that ultimately asks if love can be a redemptive force, even in the face of great evil. A remarkable novel and impossible to put down, it is disturbing, challenging and beautifully plotted and written. The horrors of the past, the realities of the present and the promises of the future are seamlessly interwoven. Hallinan is a writer's writer.

I couldn't put it down. It's wonderful, my favorite book so far this year. I read it in one sitting. He took my into the heart of a world I knew nothing about and held my attention with engaging, interesting, original characters. It's a hair-raising adventure with a really scary villain, unexpected twists and turns, and a terrific finish. What's not to like? This looks like it will be a great series and I can't wait for the next one. He's a sensational writer.

I gobble up 2 or 3 books a week so I have some basis to compare. This is one of my favorites of the year.

This book has everything you are looking for: exciting plot development, likeable characters that you become attached to, a bit of Thai philosophy and a feel (quite accurate) for the country. It holds your attention to the very last page. You really don't want it to be over.

I would recommend it to anyone. It is a really great read. I can't wait for Tim's next one to come out.

Steve

A Nail Through the Heart

Though not a dyed in the wool mystery fanatic, I am a serious Timothy Hallinan enthusiast. I can honestly say I have enjoyed everything I have read of his since discovering his Simeon Grist mysteries. But I thought A Nail Through the Heart was on another whole level for him.

I have always appreciated Hallinan's attention to detail. I don't know if he spends voluminous amounts of time researching his stuff or just has a gift for describing things so they look, sound & feel authentic. Whatever it is, it works. I also really get into Hallinan's characters. They're multi-dimensional people I get intimately involved with. I get sucked into caring what happens to them -- the good guys and the bad. And Hallinan just writes fantastic dialog. I wish I could write dialog like that.

A Nail Through the Heart has all of that and more. While Hallinan's stories are always well constructed, this one is meticulously crafted. The attention to detail is stunning, and Hallinan penetrates deep into the Thai culture to deliver everything in Technicolor.

For my money Timothy Hallinan has always been a good writer, professional in every sense. A Nail Through the Heart is the work of a great writer. Let's hope he has plenty more like this one coming. And, if you're not familiar with them already, treat yourself to his earlier books. I'll bet you'll be glad you did.

Laren Bright

Reading this book brought back memories of some lyrics from the "Chess" soundtrack:

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

These lyrics could have been written for this book, and if a movie deal is ever signed, I'm betting they include a version of the song.

Anyway, the story is about a travel writer named Poke Rafferty, who often moonlights as a detective. Poke has friends in both high and low places, and through his research he knows the city and its people only too well. To complete his dysfunctional life, Poke is trying to make himself a family unit out of an unrelated pair of females - Rose, a former exotic dancer from the wrong side of the bar, and Miaow, an eight year old orphan from the streets.

Things happen pretty quickly from here on in - Miaow finds and brings home a stray urchin with a bad attitude and worse history, then Poke takes on an assignment to locate a man who has gone missing, and next thing he knows, he's getting paid big bucks to recover the property of a lady, who just happens to be an intimidating old broad with a sinister secret. At first these are separate cases, but the leads soon begin mixing and the evidence starts matching, and Poke learns that some things are better off buried.

Alternating between dark moods and lurid descriptions, this book dives down to the depths of depravity and man's inhumanity to man, but the underlying story is that of a good man who falls in love with a scarred city, for better or worse.



Amanda Richards, October 1, 2007