The Queen of Patpong (Poke Rafferty, Book 4) [Hardcover]

Timothy Hallinan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 17, 2010

“Hallinan is a wordsmith of the first order, and he puts his great narrative skills into overdrive on this one….You won’t read a better thriller this year!”
—John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of Treasure Hunt

 

Author Timothy Hallinan returns to Bangkok, Thailand—and plunges his protagonist, travel writer Poke Rafferty, into graver peril than ever before—in The Queen of Patpong, Hallinan’s fourth Rafferty thriller following A Nail Through the Heart, The Fourth Watcher, and Breathing Water.  Fans of John Burdett, Alexander McCall Smith, Daniel Silva, and Alan Furst who love being transported to exotic locales will be riveted when a nightmare figure from the past arrives at Poke Rafferty’s door to bring chaos and danger to the lives of the people he loves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hallinan's compassionate fourth Poke Rafferty thriller (after Breathing Water) finds Poke and his live-in girlfriend, Rose, finally married, but a specter from Rose's past as a dancer on Bangkok's notorious Patpong Road comes back to haunt her. As a naïve country girl named Kwan, Rose fell for the charms of American Howard Horner, never suspecting that Horner's true interest in her involved something far darker than romance. Long thought dead, sly predator Horner is back in Bangkok to stalk Rose and all who are dear to her. Hallinan uses the menace Horner represents to springboard into a sympathetic depiction of Rose's life, revealing without condescension how a simple farm girl decided that the least bad of all the unappealing options open to her was to offer herself to a parade of strangers for money. Rafferty neither idolizes nor demonizes Bangkok's sex workers, instead casting an empathetic but incisive eye on a class of people often reduced to mere caricature.
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Life in Bangkok is good for writer Poke Rafferty and his unlikely family. Poke’s new book is selling well, and he’s happily in love with wife Rose, once a Patpong bar girl. Daughter Miaow, just a few years removed from living on the streets, is enrolled in a good private school and becoming a feisty preadolescent. But their contentment is upended by Howard Horner, a dangerous man from Rose’s past. Hallinan’s previous Poke thrillers have been reliably entertaining, featuring a fascinating and exotic locale and exceptionally malevolent bad guys (Breathing Water, 2009), but this one is a breakthrough. The backstory concerning Rose’s impoverished life in a squalid Isaan village, her father’s plan to sell her into prostitution, and her escape to Bangkok and life in the sex trade is riveting, genuinely moving, and entirely plausible. Miaow’s entry into a stormy adolescence and her parents’ efforts to deal with it are knowingly written. Even Bangkok seems more richly detailed than in past adventures, and Poke’s effort to condense The Tempest for Miaow’s school’s production (Miaow plays Ariel) is thoroughly charming. The Queen of Patpong is a terrific page-turner, and the surprising denouement will thrill readers who want the good guys—or girls—to win in the end. --Thomas Gaughan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (August 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061672262
• ISBN-13: 978-0061672262
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

2011 Edgar Nominee Timothy Hallinan has written ten published novels, all thrillers, all critically praised.

In the 1990s he wrote six mysteries featuring the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, beginning with "The Four Last Things," which made several Ten Best lists, including that of The Drood Review. The other books in the series were widely and well reviewed, and several of them were optioned for motion pictures. The series is now regarded as a cult favorite.

In 2007, the first of his Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers, "A Nail Through the Heart", was published to unanimously enthusiastic reviews. "Hallinan scores big-time," said Kirkus Reviews, which went on to call the book "dark, often funny, and ultimately enthralling." "Nail" was a Booksense Pick of the Month and was named one of the top mysteries of the year by The Japan Times and several major online review sites.

Rafferty's Bangkok adventures continued with "The Fourth Watcher" (2008) and "Breathing Water" (2009), both of which also appeared on "year's best" lists. New York Times bestselling author John Lescroart said about the 2010 book, "The Queen of Patpong," "You won't read a better thriller this year," and Ken Bruen said, "John Burdett writes about Bangkok. Tim Hallinan is Bangkok. I adore this book."

Hallinan has written full-time since 2006. Since 1982 he has divided his time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, the setting for his Poke Rafferty novels.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning, magical thriller August 5, 2010

By Sheila L. Beaumont VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This fourth installment of Timothy Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series, set in Bangkok, is such a stunning, magical thriller that it will be a real challenge to do it justice here. But I'll give it a try.

American travel writer Poke, former bar dancer Rose, and their adoptive daughter, Miaow, have at last become a family. They are enjoying dinner in a restaurant one evening, when a dangerous, evil man from Rose's past whom she thought she had killed in self-defense suddenly appears, threatening their newfound happiness and their lives.

A section of the book called "The Sea Change" takes us back into Rose's past, in 1996, when the innocent teenage girl is coerced to leave her village and become immersed in a radically different sort of life as a bar dancer in Bangkok's red-light district Patpong. It's there that she meets the handsome man who very nearly ends her life.

The whole story is ingeniously interwoven with scenes from a school production of "The Tempest," in which Miaow is appearing as Ariel.

This compelling, beautifully written novel is not only suspenseful and filled with twists and turns; it's also deeply moving, with vividly drawn characters, and it comes to an unexpected resolution that's very, very satisfying. Strongly recommended for anyone who enjoys a terrific thriller of high literary quality.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent August 17, 2010

By Loren w Christensen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I have read all four of Hallinan's Poke Rafferty books but I've enjoyed this one, the fourth, the most. If I had to rank them in order as to my favorites, it would be 4, 1, 2, and 3.

What nagged me throughout the first three was that while Hallinan is a wonderful writer and a master at creating suspenseful scenes, I never got a sense of place. I haven't been to Bangkok, but I have been to Saigon so I have a good idea of the madness that can be such a city. I never got that feel until The Queen of Patpong. The author did a magnificent job capturing the essence of the city as well as a poverty ridden village.

While reading all four books allows you to see the full development of Rafferty, Rose and Miaow, one could read the first one and the fourth and still enjoy a heck of a ride.

I highly recommend this series.

Loren W. Christensen, coauthor of ON Combat and author of many others.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Qieem of a Tale August 7, 2010

By John R. Lindermuth VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Travel writer Poke Rafferty is enjoying a meal and time with his former bargirl wife, Rose, and their adopted daughter, Miaow, in a Bangkok restaurant when they are interrupted by a nightmare from Rose's past.

A man who tried to murder her in the past threatens her and those she loves again, setting up a series of confrontations and plot twists which will have the reader biting fingernails with occasional glances over the shoulder to assure this is merely fiction. After an introductory narration by Rafferty the meat of the story is told from Rose's perspective. This switch to the past illustrates Hallinan's compassion for these exploited women and his knowledge of Thailand.

The man creates living, breathing characters, plots and sub-plots to keep one guessing and an unexpected resolution. He depicts life in Thailand by one who is familiar with both the respectable tourist scene and the seediest districts of Bangkok. His characters are pragmatic people who have learned to live with corruption. There's violence, but also empathy, pithy dialogue and quirky humor.

You don't have to be an old Asia hand to enjoy this book. But, if you are, it's certain to bring back memories and an itch to revisit some former haunts.