Bangkok Noir

by Christopher G. Moore (Editor), Stephen Leather, Pico Iyer

Bangkok is one of the great cities in the world, but unlike other great metropolises it has no noir tales to its name. Bangkok Noir puts that to right.In this first ever noir anthology of Bangkok, twelve seasoned and internationally known—Thai and Western—writers have come together to make a powerful collection of crime fiction short stories that portray the dark side of this Asian metropolis where the lives of most citizens seem as far away from heaven as its Thai name Krungthep is distant from its meaning—City of Angels.In Bangkok Noir, the twelve short stories of various shades of black involve gangsters and hitmen, love and betrayal, the supernatural, the possessed and the dispossessed, and the far distant future. Titles in this collection John Burdett’s Gone East, Stephen Leather’s Inspector Zhang and the Dead Thai Gangster, Tew Bunnag’s The Mistress Wants Her Freedom, Colin Cotterill’s Halfhead, Pico Iyer’s Thousand and One Nights, Vasit Dejkunjorn's The Sword, Alex Kerr's Daylight, Timothy Hallinan's Hansum Man, Eric Stone's The Lunch That Got Away, Dean Barrett's Death of a Legend, Collin Piprell's Hot Enough to Kill, and Christopher G. Moore’s Dolphin Inc.The authors and publisher will donate half of their earnings from this book to selected charity organizations which provide education to needy children in Thailand.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Asia, Crime, Noir, Mystery

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2011

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

[Yann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read stories set in Bangkok on my way there for a business meeting. Having never been to Thailand I was looking forward to a little taste of the Thai culture, and the heartbeat of the capital. "Bangkok Noir" seemed like a good choice.

Unfortunately most of the stories in this collection were uninspiring.
Only two stories did appeal to me:
- The Sword, by Vasit Dejkunjorn, is a very short story about police corruption.
- The lunch that got away, by Eric Stone, about helping a street vendor recover her stolen cart. This one is a bit unlikely but it is a nice feel-good story.

(Based on those 2 stories I am adding one star to my original rating of 2 out of 5.)

[Milly Cent · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could unread the train wreck that is this book, I would do so in a heartbeat...

[Vimal Thiagarajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of Noir stories from famous authors, and most of the stories were good

[Maria Gubini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Last story is the best one. The title is "Hot enough to kill". It compressed everything, all of the main modern issues - westernization, moral depravity, faux values, aspiration for so-called "democrazy". I especially enjoyed the comparison of a shopping mall and a temple, pointing out that mall is bigger. What a symbol, eh?

[Wyckliffe Howland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging selection of stories from a diverse group of writers, incl. Timothy Hallinan. Recommend!

[Tripfiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories set in BANGKOK



The City of Smiles, eh? Christopher G Moore, in his Introduction, says “Glide along the daylight surface of Bangkok, and the gritty world of noir often seems light years away. The surface is polite, pleasurable and fun -sanuk. But dig deeper below the sank layer, and the tropical paradise reveals a far colder, damp darkness of lost souls – souls stranded, battered and estranged”.

These stories were published in 2011, I visited way back in 2000 and, now, present day Bangkok has undergone a huge transformation. On the surface it is slicker, with vestiges of its gritty past. Take the neighbourhood in which I was staying, just off the Sukhumvit Road. Nearby, for example, it is just possible to see the vestiges of the bars frequented by the U.S soldiers on R&R from Vietnam in the 1960s (in Sukhumnvit and Petchaburi) but gradually much of the ancient history – apart from the tourist-luring and impressive monuments – is busily being eradicated and replaced with monuments to concrete. There is so much property speculation, with many condominiums currently stand empty. So, I am sure the tenet of hidden life detailed in these stories, of course, still exists but as the city moves at a mind-blowing pace further into the 21st Century, it becomes harder to imagine the dark, venal and corrosive lives depicted.

Twelve authors have contributed and I was really pleased to see John Burdett amongst the featured writers because back in 2000 I spontaneously picked up a thriller called Bangkok Tattoo, when I was travelling to Bangkok. At that point we were staying at Chit Lom and the action taking place in the thriller, serendipitously, was occurring in the streets below our hotel, straddling Soi Cowboy which is an infamous street in the city. So it was wonderful to hop down into the hustle of the streets and imagine all the people and their situations playing out directly in real life. And that was just one of the books that got us thinking about setting up the TripFiction website just a few years hence.

Many of the authors featured are well known for creating a gritty sense of place. We came across Colin Cotterill’s novels set in Laos, so it was interesting to read his story set in Bangkok.

There are several themes depicted in the pieces, there are, among others – of course – stories of bar girls; a young man heads the advice to “Go East, young man”; there is a murder on an inbound plane to Bangkok and the investigation is overseen by Inspector Zhang; and a killing on a Skytrain platform which seems to be the subject of a significant cover up in police circles….

An interesting set of stories, set in the “City of Angels”, which are still relevant today, although the cutting edge noir aspect sometimes can feel subsumed by the rapidly evolving city as it grows ever upwards, muffling the darker aspects of the city.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bangkok Noir (2011) was the first of this series of hard-boiled stories set in a particular location. But for some reason I had started withe the second volume set in Phnom Penh, which includes many of the same author from this initial volume. It was uneven, but generally speaking I enjoyed most of them. Some of the standouts for me were: "Gone East"-Johne Burdett, "Inspector Zang and the Dead"-Stephen Leather, "The MIstress Wants Her Freedom"-Tew Bunnag, "Hansum Man"-Timothy Hallman, "Death of a Legend"-Dean Barett, "The Lunch That Got Away"-Eric Stone, and "Hot Enough to Kill"-Collin Diprell. Oneo fthe more bizarre stories, ""Dolphins Inc." by Christopher G. Moore (also the editor of this volume as well as the Phnom Penh one), features the Dolphins of Taiji, Wakayama as main characters. II read this after a trip to Bangkok, and it does provide lots of local color and background information about Bangkok, in particular, and Thailand, in general. So I recommend it as background reading for a trip there.

[Andrea Irvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be an engaging and fast read, but it was just meh. Every single author was male and nearly all were white. I think there were only two, maybe three Thais. Are these stories even noir? Maybe some of them. Some were confusing and others even boring. I really expected more!

[Kathy Chung · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find that the stories in here are "aloof" . Not engaging enough for me.

[P I · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a crime novel, it disposes of facts rather than secrets.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an enjoyable collection of short stories, except for one howler (who edits the editor?). Some of my favourite crime authors are in here writing about one of my favourite cities and there are a couple of stories which make me want to check out the rest of the writers work. If you have been to Bangkok, you'll appreciate the descriptions here and funnily enough the common thread in most of the stories is police corruption. Who would of guessed?

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories, including ones by Colin Cotterill and John Burdett. I am not normally a fan of short stories, nor have I read much "noir" fiction. I would classify this as a nice diversion - but not much more.

[Chris Wharton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories across the range of evils associated with Bangkok – corruption, greed, sex trade, drugs, violence, etc. Gangsters, hit men, businessmen, police, politicians, prostitutes, mistresses, etc., abound.

[Dalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of stories written by different authors from all over the world. Weird, believable, unbelievable. If you have any interest in Bangkok as a city this is a good read.

[Suradech Chotiudompant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly A good selection of short stories, this book features different takes on the underworld of the City of Angels from veteran writers.

[Maribeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of these stories are very dark (hence the 'Noir' in the title) but they all have a beauty to them. Really excellent writers (including a current favorite of mine: Colin Cotterill).

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, as well as Phnom Penh Noir. It wasn't as disturbing as Phnom Penh Noir. There were some humourous moments in Bangkok Noir, something that didn't occur in the Phnom Penh version.

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mooie bundel met verhalen waarin vooral de zelfkant van Bangkok naar voren komt.

[Tinman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable collection of short stories. Held my attention. Most have a welcome twist in the tale. Cool to read about Bangkok noire. Tinman

[Aggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok anthology. Most stories were average or below, with one or two that I would consider quality tales.

[Marley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a nice range of western and Thai writers and I enjoyed some of the darker stories.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice collection of Noir stories. I shall have to check out novels by some of the authors.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories set in a city perfect for noir crime. Written by both Thai and western authors.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a couple of decent stories, but the collection was a disappointment.