Bangkok 8

 
#126
Title: Bangkok 8
Author: John Burdett
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2003
Genre: Mystery, Southeast Asia
336 pages

This is the first of three currently available mysteries whose protagonist is Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a half-white, Buddhist Thai detective with a bar girl mother. Most of the action takes place in Bangkok.

What's most enjoyable about this mystery is how the narrator sees and describes the world from a cultural perspective that is likely to be very different from the Western reader's construct. This is highlighted by his interactions with the FBI agent assigned to work with him. Their assumptions frequently clash, not just around the case, but in terms of how each of them lives, their values, and their perceptions of the right course of action.

At times the action bogs down and there are several points of plot confusion. The ending is not credible and elides over many difficulties in a way that does not seem true to the characters. The basic plot, however, is interesting and enjoyable, and the book's atmosphere can't be beat.