The Big Weird: Book 5

Vincent Calvino #5

by Christopher G. Moore

Fifth in the Vincent Calvino Crime Novels

A beautiful American blond is found dead with a large bullet hole in her head in the house of her ex-boyfriend. A famous Hollywood screen-writer hires Calvino to investigate her death. Everyone except Calvino's client believes Samantha McNeal has committed suicide.

In the early days of the Internet, Sam ran with a young and wild expat crowd in Bangkok. As Calvino slides into a world where people are dead serious about sex, money and fame, he unearths a hedonistic community where the ritual of death is the ultimate high.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Crime

381 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Christopher G. Moore is a Canadian author who has lived in Thailand since 1988. Formerly a law professor at the University of British Columbia and a practicing lawyer, Moore has become a public figure in Southeast Asia, known for his novels and essays that have captured the spirit and social transformation of Southeast Asia over the past three decades.

Moore has written over 30 fiction and non-fiction books, including the Vincent Calvino novels which have won including the Shamus Award and German Critics Award and have been translated to over a dozen languages. Moore’s books and essays are a study of human nature, culture, power, justice, technological change and its implications on society and human rights.

Starting in 2017, the London-based Christopher G. Moore Foundation awards an annual literary prize to books advancing awareness on human rights. He’s also the founder of Changing Climate, Changing Lives Film Festival 2020.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tone in this Calvino story is different from those of the rest I've read. At least until the end. For 90 percent of it, however, it has a lighthearted quality to it. There is a murder. But it's only told through a flashback. Later, there is another, more serious, murder with even more serious consequences but there aren't pages enough left to really develop much out of it. And what about the rest of the story? It's a surprisingly linear story from an author who enjoys taking side trips and imposing ellipses in his novel. But this time around, Calvino is hired by an aging Hollywood scriptwriter, who only has a year or so to live, in order as it turns out to uncover the truth about what appears to be a suicide. Along the way, Moore makes this his most bargirl-centric novel yet. And that part of it is dispiriting, especially at the end, where some hopes go astray while other meet their expectations.

And just what is the Big Weird? I'm still not sure. Is it Bangkok? The expatriate community? The area of Thonglor where the expat elite live? Or the seedy area along Sukhimvit Road, where broken down expats come to finish off their last days? Or where they all succumb to The Sickness, which Moore describes as the hedonistic descent into perverted sexual fantasy made real?

The Big Weird is also one of Moore's more dated works. It is built around the mass acceptance of the internet in the mid 1990s and also the hype about virtual reality that was taking place about that time. The first hype about VR, I should say. There was even a TV series called VR5 I remember that ran briefly in 1995, a year before the publication of The Big Weird. A possible influence? At any rate, this seems less captivating than is the usual case with Moore's Vincent Calvino novels. But it is a fairly interesting snapshot of a time when the internet and online addiction was first taking root. And of all places for it to happen, in Bangkok.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. Not because Moore isn’t capable of incredible work but because frankly, the plot line sounded a little too obvious. But it turns out mixing Asian noir with Hollywood is a pretty damn good mix filled with twists and surprises. Another really solid entry in the series. What are the best part about these books is you can start anywhere so highly recommended

[Jack Laschenski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Moore is an expat living in Bangkok. He is a specialist in Noir.

Vincent Calvino is his fictional American private detective living in Bangkok.

Their Bangkok is drug, crime, and sex infested.

Expats in Bangkok are all desperate, subject to "The Sickness": the belief that sex with a bar girl can lead to happiness.

The black side of the city is artfully described. The motivations of the characters are both murky and amazing.

But it seems real.......

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good detective story with a good description of how Bangkok creeps under your skin if you stay "too long"

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. Full of interesting characters and Thai observations