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| Bangkok Haunts | 
 enlarge | Author: John Burdett
Publisher: Vintage Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $4.35
You Save: $9.60 (69%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  (51 reviews)
Sales Rank: 24629
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1400097061
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781400097067
ASIN: 1400097061
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Bangkok does Haunt! September 6, 2008
Once again, Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of The Royal Thai Police Force is back with a bang. After reading, 'Bangkok 8' and 'Bangkok Tattoo', I was looking forward to a great read. And, the author John Burdett does not let you down. Yes, he does it again. Detective Sonchai is a shareholder and part-time worker at his mom's brothel co-owned with his superior, Colonel Vikron of District 8. One day he receives an anonymous brutal porn video by mail about his mom's employee, Damrong, in which she get's killed. Sonchai had a brief affair with her. He get's on the journey to find the truth about her death. 'Bangkok Haunts' takes you to the adult industry in Thailand and explains you how it works. There is a buddhist touch to the way it operates in Thailand. Great read.
more Thai stories September 4, 2008
and if you like Thai stories or want to learn more about Thailand in an engrossing and interesting well researched slice of Bangkok. This book won't dissappoint. Although it is probably the weakest of the three. Bangkok 8 had the best story line but Bangkok Tatoo was the best of the three for all around interesting.
 ACCURACY IN BANGKOK August 31, 2008
Not much you can say about this sexy thriller except "excellent and fascinating." Burdett is a wonderful writer and captures the heart and soul of the mysterious city of Bangkok, where many people make up their own rules as they go through life. He takes you through the dark alleys where people barely subsist, as well as exclusive gentlemen's clubs where all fantasies can come true. All you need for this artificial fulfillment are the right connections and the money and drugs. His main detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, is a most interesting charcter, walking both sides of right and wrong, and often blending the two with his prostitutes and warping the laws in a somewhat pragmatic manner. I read the book in Thailand and saw firsthand some of his locales and the manner in which certain things are done in the seamier parts of Asia. With words, Burdett gives you a real sense of smelling and sensing Bangkok up close. A good read and worth the BHT. I liked it, especially while snacking on spicy food provided by the numerous street vendors.
Book review August 25, 2008
Great story. I've spent a lot of time in Thailand and it brings back many memories. High suspense and well written.
Wonderful setting and pace. Fantastic, bizzarre characters. Screwy plot. July 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
John Burdett's "Bangkok 8" and "Bangkok Tattoo" introduced us to Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the cop behind those bright neon bookcovers.
Sonchai is your basic incorruptible and introspective half Thai Buddhist detective in Bangkok. Like a good son, he helps mom run a fairly undistinguished cathouse and generally keeps his hands off the help. A memorable guy in a chaotic, corrupt, and seemingly well-named city.
In "Haunts" Sonchai encounters a hooker who redefines femme fatale, vicious Khmer Rouge mercenaries, a slimey limey lawyer, some murderous elephants, a headcase FBI agent, an American high school teacher in way over his balding head, a drug-dealing Japanese filmmaker released from prison to shoot skin flicks, a bad guy billionaire, and a monk with multiple personalities who hangs out in Internet cafes. Back again are his charmingly corrupt boss Vikhorn, his now pregnant wife, and his pre-op transgendered partner. If you liked Fellini's Satryicon or the bar scene in Star Wars (I did), you will feel right at home.
And what is not to like about the human whitewater of Bangkok? Burdett loves it, as do two other lawyers I know who have retired there to write (hey, if the writer's block gets too tough, there is always high quality, low cost beaches, food, and sex -- so how can you lose?)
You can't -- which is why "Haunts" is a fun summer read, despite Burdett's irritating tendency to patronize westerners and non-Buddhists.
But the story is fantasy, not mystery. It is JK Rowling, not Michael Connelly -- Harry Potter, not Harry Bosch. Sonchai's occidental "intuition" conveniently leads him to the next set of clues. He assumes that people share identical nightmares. Ghosts make random convenient appearances (and are captured on film by the local forensic pathologist, who finds this unexceptional in a cameo appearance as an otherwise normal human being). Our hero's climatic escape from flying demons, KR psychopaths, and elephants trained to torture is the equivalent of polyjuice potion -- a gimmmick that lets the author end the book by cheating his readers.
It's great stuff if you are twelve -- although most books for twelve year olds have fewer snuff flicks, porn kings, and hot sex with ghosts. "Haunts" is the Thai equivalent of a French movie -- perfect if you can live off of characters and scenery but a lot to swallow if you care about the coherence of the story.
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