Customer Reviews

Vulture Peak (Sonchai Jitpleecheep)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As Vulture Peak begins, Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a former Buddhist monk, still works for Police Colonel Vikorn. Unfortunately for Sonchai, the manipulating colonel is no easier to work for now than in the past. As is often the case with Vikorn, there is more to him than meets the eye and, when he assigns Sonchai to investigate a racket that seems to be centered in Thailand, the motive is more about getting himself elected to political office than it is about shutting down the profiteers. If, in the process, Vikorn also can bring down the equally corrupt General Zinna, his longtime personal rival, it will have been a very successful investigation, indeed.

John Burdett's books, despite their tendency to be over the top at times, are always long on atmosphere and memorable characters. Vulture Peak is no exception. Before it is over, Sonchai's investigation will take him away from the city and into the streets of Hong Kong, Dubai, Monte Carlo, and Shanghai. As the investigation moves forward, he must deal with an extraordinary cast of good guys, cops, suspects, and assorted villains of multiple nationalities. The lineup includes two sisters I defy any reader to forget quickly, Chinese identical twins with a history of weirdness that goes back to their childhood and makes them the perfect criminals.

Vulture Peak is Thai noir at its finest and will likely entice readers to read the entire series from the beginning in order to find out how the relationship between Sonchai Jitpleecheep and Police Colonel Vikorn has evolved over time.

This series has a surreal setting and an intriguing detective. Sonchai Jitpleechee is honest and pure of heart, a Thai Buddhist on the Path. At the same time, he smokes dope when reality gets overwhelming, and he loves (but does not hire) prostitutes (his mother was one). His wife is an ex-prostitute turned academic. And his boss is thoroughly corrupt, a master criminal who makes use of Sonchai's drive to fight crime.

I read some earlier Sonchai mysteries, but drifted away from them recently. The author's graphic scenes and bitter ironies are not for the faint of heart, of which I may be one.

Vulture Peak is full of body parts. While the beautiful women and boys of Thailand are selling their bodies to tourists in every bar, a fabulous mansion on a hill overlooking Phuket becomes the scene of a gruesome triple-homicide involving missing body parts. Sonchai's boss, Colonel Vikam, puts him on the case - which quickly expands to an all-out campaign against international organ trafficking.

I liked the author's flashes of sympathy for the outré behavior of transvestites and their psychological struggles surrounding "the operation."

I liked the scenes involved cynical American consultants crafting a political campaign for Colonel Vikam, who is suddenly and inexplicably running for mayor of Bangkok.

And I have to admit John Burdett has a gift for creating bizarre characters: the sadistic twin female organ traders, the crazed ex-soldier with a missing face, the bipolar cop bent on martyrdom...

Burdett has invented his own unique mix of warped humor, brutal satire, manic plotting and unorthodox social and spiritual lessons. The roller coaster ride left me queasy. But hardcore fans of detective Sonchai know the drill, and should enjoy Vulture Peak.

For me, John Burdett's Bangkok novels are a guilty pleasure comparable to being a chocoholic. Amazon reviewers of Vulture Peak seem to me to be very judicious in their assessments of the weaknesses and off-putting, over-the-top, bizarre, lubricious and ghoulish elements of the plot and style. But... Just one more caramel-loaded candy and I promise to stop.

So, while admitting the flaws, I review why you may want to try out Burdett if you are unfamiliar with his sagas. They are narrated by Sonchai, a young Buddhist cop in Bangkok with a mix of attitude, fatalism and cynicism as he navigates through a swamp of vice and sado-anything violence. He is the son of a good natured and respectable prostitute now turned bar/brothel owner and sort of married to an ex-prostitute who is finishing off her Phd thesis. His transgender deputy is awaiting the operation and his boss is a police chief who runs most of the drug trade and protection rackets in a rivalry with a General who has his own clandestine operations -- and troops.

In Vulture Peak, the emerging racket is kidnapping for body part transfers. The shady figures behind the business and the murders by disembowelment plus face removal that X is assigned to solve include twin sisters, ladies of a decidedly psychotic nature that would attract the admiration of Hannibal Lechter. There's a Shanghai cop who is bipolar to the nth degree of manic and a cagey Hong Kong cop plus Dorothy and Om and Manu, none of whom would be described as normal.

What makes the books work for me is that they never fall into campiness, caricature or cartoon exaggeration. They have a sense of realism, no matter how unreal the situation. Burdett writes with irony and elegance, downplaying the violence in a sort of Buddhist fatalism; everything is calm and lucidly laid out. I personally dislike horror novels and films but somehow the gruesome nature of the story is laconically kept at a distance. It is all definitely weird but in a surprisingly reasonable way/

In his personal interviews and the stories themselves, Burdett makes clear his respect and sympathy for the many prostitutes, bar girls and madams who swirl through the scene. They have made a sensible choice about how to make a living, don't view sex as sin but a routine, and in many instances are primarily committed to helping out their families. In the same way, the transgenders - often cops - are ordinary in their aspirations and just going along with the flow. The bad people are bad mainly because of greed but the "deviants" are ordinary and going with the flows of Bangkok life, some of them good, some bad and varying in their eccentricities. Burdett is quite skilled in getting you to take them as they are and he draws you into their frame of reference. He can be funny and perceptively sharp, especially in knocking the Westerners who are obsessed with sex and sin, in a rush, looking for meaning and purpose, and judgmental.

It's all fun and shrewd. The plotting gets convincingly convoluted. The style is workmanlike with frequent neat observations. It's candy for the mind, but well above average in quality of story, characterization and pacing. It's out of the ordinary in every way and captures and keeps the reader's attention (well, mine, anyway). I recommend it as well worth trying - you may find it surprisingly tasty.

John Burdett's novels would do really well on the big screen. I picture Keanu Reeves as Sonchai, although maybe Keanu is a bit too old now if the movies start at the beginning of the series.

At any rate, Burdett is really good at setting a scene and filling it with interesting characters, then weaving a plot that's fast-paced, fun and intricate. It's a page-turner, for sure, like the previous installments.

I didn't give it five stars because it's not an Earth-shattering all-time classic, but it is a highly entertaining read. I was also a little disappointed that some of the characters didn't get as much ink as I would have liked.

Burdett's books are probably a lot like Bangkok itself--colorful, messy, fascinating, and a place where one should expect the unexpected. Sonchai, a competent, honest detective who has feet of clay (but a pure heart), finds himself in the middle of an organ-trafficking scheme. He gets caught up with the beautiful, brilliant and unscrupulous Yip sisters, encounters a hideously disfigured rapist, reluctantly supports his superior's political ambitions, and partners with an emotionally unstable detective who is also on the case. While bodies pile up, Sonchai tries to repair his relationship with his wife Chanya.

Read this book, but read the others in the series, too. Burdett knows Bangkok and Thai culture like the back of his hand. Which might be worth a couple grand on the anatomical black market.

This latest installment in John Burdett's series starring Thai detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is a solid mystery that is, as usual, well plotted and clever. I found it a bit disappointing, however, in that it seems to contain fewer Buddhist references than Burdett's previous novels.

This series stands out for me because Burdett is adroit at weaving Buddhist philosophy into the plot, the dialogue and the mindset of his characters. It's fascinating to see how Sonchai approaches his investigations within the context of a Buddhist culture. As a reader, I have always viewed these books as an opportunity to understand a bit more about the ways that Buddhist principles play out in everyday life, in this case the everyday life of a policeman. It's one of the things that makes this series more interesting than many others.

At any rate, the plot of Vulture Peak revolves around the issue of human organ trafficking, which is unusual and makes for some good page turning. There are lots of colorful characters, along with the usual glimpses into the sex trade for which much of Thailand is known. And the resolution to the featured crime, while somewhat predictable, is satisfying. This time around, Sonchai ends up collaborating with a Chinese detective from Hong Kong, which adds a nice twist to the proceedings.

If you haven't yet read a Sonchai novel, I recommend you start with the first one, Bangkok 8. And if you enjoy that, then you will probably also enjoy Vulture Peak.

I have read John Burdett's series set in Thailand and featuring a very different policeman, Sonchai Jitplecheep. He is half Thai, half GI. His mother is a former prostitute and bar owner, and he is supervised by a very corrupt Colonel, Vikorn. The last novel dealt with large scale drug traffic, and expanded the settings to Tibet and China. In addition to Timothy Halloran, I would recommend the similar books by Christopher Moore. Burdett strains the reader's credulity, with identical twin sociopathic but beautiful Chinese women who enjoy unusual uses for body parts and high stakes gambling. But, unlike some reviewers,I enjoyed the occasional digressions into a rather elevated discussion of the significance of prostitution in an economy which is funded by farang (foreign) middle aged men who engage in various sexual practices not approved in their home land. Sonchai is a devout Buddhist who struggles with his demons, but is a persistent and sympathetic observer. If you like mysteries with an exotic setting, this may be your cup of tea. It is not necessary to have read the prior books in the series but the last one, Godfather of Katmandu, gives a different slant on Tibet.

Once again John Burdett maintains his consistency in bringing Thailand to your front door. The focus of the plot is trafficking in human organs, but as always what makes his books so successful are his characters. We continue the relationship between Police Colonel Vikorn and Sonchai which is always fascinating in its evolution. Vikorn represents politics in Bangkok, as he is running for governor and is not adverse to questionable ethical behavior to get there. Sonchai, on the other hand, represents the conscience of Buddhism.

Nasty villains, a pair of Chinese twins known as the Vultures are at the core of the traficking which takes Sonchai to Dubai, Hong Kong, Monte Carlo and other exotic places. Interesting characters abound.

Add to this mixture a furtherance of Sonchai's relationship with his wife who was once a prostitute and you have an excellent continuation of Burdett's series characters.

Also, if you haven't read the atmospheric, character driven Thailand mysteries of Timothy Hallinan featuring Poke Rafferty you are missing another of the greats writing about the Far East, keeping the reader fascinated and glued to the pages.

I have read all the books in this series and this last one ties up some loose ends but never seems to fully engage the reader because so much takes place outside of Thailand and the city and even in the city the scenes seem diluted. I also found the pacing slow and the characters not as fully fleshed out as before and they also were a lot more cynical. Time to move your Dharma on....

I'm not generally a big fan of the mystery / thriller / police procedural constellation of genres, but this book--the latest of a handful in the series by a British Hong Kong-based ex-lawyer--has a lot to offer. I'm not going to pretend the writing style is the greatest thing since spring rolls or that this is anything but a fun, light read. But that's fine.

What made this book so appealing to me that I went out and found a couple more in the series immediately upon finishing it is that Burdett, through the amiable meanderings of his half-Thai half-farang police detective protagonist, uses the vehicle of a murder mystery to comment in a most interesting way on a number of topics quite relevant (if too often ignored) in today's global society: modern history, political and economic relations between the industrialized West and the rest of the world, sexual politics, spirituality and philosophy--OK, maybe this list doesn't sound particularly interesting, but trust me, if you have any interest whatsoever in the world beyond your own everyday familiar surroundings, detective Jitpleecheep's musings will by turns amuse, provoke, inspire, and--dare I say?--enlighten you. These "lite" yarns have certainly gotten me to think about and appreciate the world around me in new ways.

I realize that, having lived and traveled abroad extensively I'm pre-disposed toward this kind of thing, and I readily admit that my firsthand familiarity with a number of the places mentioned in the book (and Thailand in general) make the backdrop come alive in a way they might not for the uninitiated, but Burdett is a skilled enough craftsman that he chooses interesting themes for his books (the theme in this one is the illegal organ trade) and explores them through larger-than-life characters we can't help but like, all with a wry humor that keeps things at just the right level of fun.

Looking for a fun read? Something to escape into? Something interesting that'll make you think without any stress or strain? Do yourself a favor, give this book a try. It's the literary equivalent of finding a really great unassuming and reasonably priced but delicious restaurant with lots of promising menu choices. Highly recommended.

Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep has a new assignment--one which pits him against some of the most diabolical criminals of his career.

His assigned task of ending trafficking in human organs also takes him for the first time out of the familiar neighborhoods of Bangkok and as far afield as Dubai, Monte Carlo and China.

There probably isn't another detective like Sonchai anywhere in the world. How many other police detectives are also Buddhist arhats and pimps? It's been said Buddhists revel in contradictions and Sonchai is a prime example. And, that's part of the joy of reading his adventures.

As usual, his life is complicated by his boss, the corrupt Colonel Vikorn, who is using Sonchai's assignment to aid his election campaign and as another attempt to thwart his rival the equally corrupt General Zinna, and fears Chanya, Sochai's ex-prostitute wife is having an affair.

Among the important places associated with the life and teachings of Buddha is a Vulture Peak in India, where he set forth the second turning of the wheel of Dharma. The Vulture Peak of this novel is an entirely different location.

In Buddhism the Lord of Misfortune sometimes assumes the form of a vulture. The vultures here are represented by the Yip sisters and a variety of other colorful characters you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley or anywhere else.

This isn't my favorite Bangkok novel, but it does have its solid moments.