Customer Reviews

Welcome to Hell

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

 

 

I picked up "Welcome to Hell" shortly after arriving in Bangkok and being pretty disgusted right off the bat at what I encountered. From the smut and filth, to the poverty and open disregard for nearly every law. And I've got to say, if that's what it's like for an average American dude just checking out the scene it's not hard to imagine that Colin Martin's story is accurate.

Many people are getting hung up on the culpability of Mr. Martin's actions and that this somehow negates the behavior of the Thai authorities. People have the same criticism of "Midnight Express." But to argue this is to miss the entire point; even if Martin did seek vengeance on men who had done him wrong, how can anyone deny the horrid abuse of basic human rights that he encountered? And the sad thing is, Thais and most critiques of the book do not even try and disavow this.

To me, even more alarming than the filth, brutality, and squalor of the prisons themselves are Martin's depictions of the Thai kangaroo courts; they would seem to be nothing short of psychological torture. Even though I read the book some time ago, I still remember the mockery of "due process" that this man endured at the hands of utterly corrupt judges and police officers who come across as savage perversions of civil servants. One has to really ask themselves if any of it seems so far-fetched and what motivation Martin would have to exaggerate. It is quite simply so loaded with excruciating detail it's beyond the pale.

Thailand is my least favorite country I have ever visited, and this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what lies beneath the syrupy rehearsed "sawat-de-kraps." Since my trip, I make it a point to read nearly any story about this nasty country and they almost all involve some form of violence, abuse, mistreatment of refugees...you name it. I also think that "Welcome to Hell" is superior to William Hayes's "Midnight Express". Whereas Hayes's account seems a bit slick and ultimately somewhat shallow, this book shows a deep range of emotion and impressions of a foreign culture.

My heart goes out to Colin Martin, who seems like a relatively decent guy.

I read this book in a little under a day. It is a terrifying true story of a decent business-man who had answered an advertisement in a newspaper and through a series of events, had been swindled of almost half a million dollars in Thailand by a business deal that turned out to be an elaborate con.
In an effort to try and apprehend the man responsible, he finds himself in the wrong side of the law and facing life in a squalid Bangkok prison cell.

This is a well written, fast paced book that gets to the core of the story without over-embellishing the details. Some of the descriptions of abuse and torture were quite graphic, but were necessary to relay the experience the author had been through.
The sense of injustice is overwhelming and you feel pity when reading all the twists and turns and misfortune that happen along the way. An interesting read.

Let me first say that I'm a sucker for these kind of books - I've read many prison related books due to my involvement in Amnesty International and because I just find this type of raw nonfiction riveting. However, some things in this book just don't add up, it seems. As other reviewers have pointed out, why would the author search for the men who conned him for three years if he wasn't looking for trouble? Even stalking them to some extent. The author also claims he didn't know the man he got into a fight with was killed/dead, yet according to the autopsy the victim was stabbed several times. Hmmm...
Don't get me wrong, I believe Thai prisons are in general seething hell holes and I don't believe anyone should be subjected to its brutality, but I left the book feeling that perhaps the author was fudging a few details for perhaps more sympathy??

Not a bad read- the writing is a bit sophmoric, and I think Colin's story would have been more compelling had he utilized a ghostwriter, but overall he describes the horrific experience of being imprisoned in a Thai prison in grotesque and disturbing detail. I honestly don't sympathize with him too much though, as I think his actions prior to his arrest, and his subsequent behavior in court and in prison indicate a hot-headed personality; if he had been able to control that temper he likely never would have ended up in prison in the first place.

[...]

Like most of your "Bangkok Hilton" books (and there are many) this one seems a little exaggerated and at times unbelievable due to the sensationalism that surounds this type of story. Thailand is notorious for there sub-standard prisons and I truly do feel bad for Mr. Martin who spent 8 years in one but if the "Hilton" (name given to any Thai prison that a foreigner is sentenced to) that he was sent to was as bad as he claims then why didn't he allow himself to be transfered back to Ireland after 4 years which was an option. On page 210 the author states that "I could have asked the Thai government to tranfer me back home to Ireland after I'd served 4 years but I had decided to stay and fight my case in the belief that I could eventually win." Hmm, eventually win? after all the hype about the corruption of the prosecutor, judge, and his own defense lawyers that Mr. Martin tirelessly repeats throughout his story, it almost seems like a contradiction.

After finishing this book I felt like there were pieces of a puzzle missing. The author states that he accidently killed the con mans bodyguard yet the cause of this mans death was do to being stabbed repeatedly. Is this another conspiracy fabricated by the Thai authorities against Mr. Martin? Did his first wife leave him because he had "lost everything" or is there more to this? The author lived in Thailand for 3 years waiting to seek revenge on the people that conned him yet he gives the reader little insight as to what he was doing during those 3 years except that he was working as a welder and married a women who he claims did not love him and only married him for his money. According to the author young Thai women only marry older men for there money.

The author voices his utter contempt for not only the Thai "system" but for Thais in general making himself sound rather narrow and ignorant which gave his story less credibility to this reader not to mention the inacurate explanations surounding some Thai customs that the author attempted to convey.

So was Mr. Martin an unfortunate victim who was "screwed" by everyone? Was he simply a poor judge of character? or is he just a person (like many people in this world) who absolutely refuses to take any responsibility for his actions? Maybe a little of each?

This book was recommended to me by a travelmate I met while in Croatia and I do not regret the decision one bit to purchase the book when I came back to the States. An absolutely amazing and at times frightening tale of imprisonment overseas. While at times I question the complete validity of Martin's story, it nevertheless makes for a phenomenal read.

This here is a story of a business man who sees an opportunity and then realizes he just got conned of his life savings, one event leads to another next thing you know he is being charged with murder and is now facing life in prison.

It took me some time to finish reading this book, I'm a big fan of prison documentaries such as MSNBC Lock Up and Banged up abroad, this book here failed to shock me, nothing most people don't already know about life in prison, from what the author summons, the only difference between American Prisons and Thai prisons is the Thai justice system is much slower and no one in court speaks English, the prisons are more crowded and dirty, that's it, nothing new in this book.

The one true book that I found to be shocking was "4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison" by Warren Fellows, Warren Fellows book is a much more fascinating and entertaining read.