Cambodian Book of the Dead

Detective Maier Mystery #1

by Tom Vater

Cambodia, 2001 – a country re-emerges from a half century of war, genocide, famine and cultural collapse.

Detective Maier travels to Phnom Penh, the Asian kingdom’s ramshackle capital, to find the missing heir to a Hamburg coffee empire.

As soon as the private eye and former war reporter arrives in Cambodia, his search for the young coffee magnate leads into the darkest corners of the country’s history and back in time, through the communist revolution to the White Spider, a Nazi war criminal who hides amongst the detritus of another nation’s collapse and reigns over an ancient Khmer temple deep in the jungles of Cambodia.

Maier uncovers a tale of mass murder that reaches from the Cambodian Killing Fields back to Europe’s concentration camps. But it is a tale not yet finished and Maier soon realises that, if he is to prevent more innocent lives from being destroyed, he will have to write the last terrifying chapter himself.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Historical, Ebooks, Suspense

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Tom Vater is a writer, editor & publisher working predominantly in Asia.
Tom has published six novels, The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu, currently available in English and Spanish, The Cambodian Book of the Dead, released by Crime Wave Press in Asia and world wide in July 1013 by Exhibit A as well as two follow-ups, The Man with the Golden Mind, out with Exhibit A in March 2014 and now with Next Chapter and The Monsoon Ghost Image (2018), also out with Next Chapter. In 2019, the Goethe Institute Kolkata and the city of Kolkata selected Tom to take part in the Indo European Art Residency - his novella collection Kolkata Noir is the result. In 2022, Next Chapter published Tom's eco thriller, The Green Panthers.
Tom has written for The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The South China Morning Post, Marie Claire, Geographical, Penthouse etc.
From 2012 to 2021, he was co-owner of Crime Wave Press, a Hong Kong based English language crime fiction imprint.
He has published several non-fiction books, including the highly acclaimed Sacred Skin with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat, and the more recent Burmese Light with photographer Hans Kemp.
His True Crime title SHARKMAN was an instant Amazon bestseller when it came out in 2024.
Tom is the co-author of several documentary screenplays, most notably The Most Secret Place On Earth, a feature on the CIA’s covert war in 1960s Laos.
In his spare time, he plays in Rock’nRoll bands, swims with sharks & reads Noir fiction.

You can follow him on his Facebook page or on Clippingsr.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maier, a German reporter-turned-detective goes to Cambodia to find the heir to a coffee fortune. Maier's quest gets him entangled with a beautiful woman who's lovers inevitably die horribly, a Khmer Rouge general, and a Nazi war criminal called the White Spider. Will Maier return from the killing fields or die trying?

First, the official business. I got this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for reviewing it.

This book and I did not really get along. It's supposed to be a thriller but aside from a man being torn apart by a tiger shark, there aren't many thrilling bits in the first 50% of the book. The story started taking off after that but by then, I had already soured on it.

The book felt to me like Tom Vater has a great fascination with Cambodian history and culture. While that's fine, some of it felt really out of place in a thriller and slowed the story down considerably. By the time things picked up, I was ready for bad things to happen to Maier.

Speaking of bad things, the second half of the book salvaged things a bit as Maier had people gunning for him and wound up drugged a couple times. Another thing this book had going for it was the characters. While I didn't think Maier was anything special, I loved Clarissa, and thought Les, Pete, and Kaley were multifaceted characters and very nicely done. I also loved the little girl assassins. The White Spider's background was also really good.

Two stars. It was okay but the pace in the first half killed it for me.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought of giving this book three stars on the idea that maybe it just wasn’t for me. But my three stars are becoming meaningless to me lately, they are filled with too many books that I liked but didn’t really love, and things that I just felt bad about giving less than three stars because hey the author tried!

I’m not the audience for this book. It has a catchy cover that appealed to me, but I think the audience is for people who want to read about exotic locales and have a little bit of a story thrown in.

I have about as little ‘wanderlust’ as one can possibly have, and just about zero interest in exotic locales. I’m woefully not that interested in traveling and maybe it’s hearing Holidays in the Sun and Holiday in Cambodia too many times at an impressionable age that I think there is something a little weird about people who flock to third world countries for their vacations from their cushy jobs (that has nothing to do with this book, just my own uncomfortableness with the idea of travel, and general annoyance of being talked down to by people who have had their mind expanded by a 16 hour flight and a week or two in the ‘real world’.)

The book I think is supposed to be a mystery. It has a detective as a main character. The detective doesn’t do a whole lot of detecting, he just sort of stumbles into things, he’s a fairly passive character that does things but the events of the story just seem to happen to him.

The first half of the book is kind of like a guide to what the criminal and ex-pat world of a run down Cambodian brothel down is like. The second half is kind of a bizarre version mix of what might happen if Dante were a detective being escorted through a Heart of Darkness inferno of greed, murder, drugs, Nazi war-criminals and sadistic 12 year old little girl killers.

Sounds like it should be cool, right?

And the second half isn’t bad, but there was too much of the ‘bizarre’ at times, and there was also a large amount of disbelief needed to be suspended to get through the way the story was being propelled.

I believe that there was a good story in this book, but I don’t think telling it in the detective genre was the way to go about it. And it’s not just that the conventions of the detective novel weren’t present, it’s that the whole detective thing could have been excised from the novel. This sounds kind of weird to say, but everything that was in the book could have been told, except for maybe the incomprehensible final scene (I can’t figure out how a journalist turned detective would even consider that he should go back to Cambodia to try to recuse a woman from a sociopath who may or may not still have an army of sadistic little girls armed with torture needles and AK-47’s—especially since he has shown himself unable to evade getting captured and tortured by these people on multiple occasions already in the story).

Oh, and as Dan pointed out in his review the detective character is so boring. But women love him. But so boring.

And as Dan pointed out there was some great potential in the other characters, but they were mostly just minor players that never got fleshed out like they should have been (that second part is my opinion and not from Dan’s review).

If you are interested in Cambodia this would probably be something you would find more interesting than I found it. To me Cambodia sounds like a hot and humid place filled with disease carrying mosquitos that would take all my worst summer camp experiences and multiply them by 100.

[CYIReadBooks (Claire) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many attempts to read this book, but it just didn't fit well with me. Skimmed most of it and I could not relate to the characters nor the plot.

[Apoorva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Alert: Slayings, Sex, Violence

This is a provocative book of extremities, with its share of the good winning over the evil & providing its readers a bird's eye perspective of Cambodia's magnificence & the varmint.

The foreign residents, the villagers, the Cambodian deities, the Khmer Rouge & the so-called travelers, the writer cleverly create tension & wrenches the unknown so that no individual has escaped alive after learning the secret.

I would like to thank Blackthorn Book Tours & the author for supplying me with this book's e-ARC & letting me be a part of their book tour.

I absolutely relished reading this novel as it drove me to learn more & not rest till the riddle is decoded.

This book is advised just for grown-ups as there's too much brutality that caused me to recoil multiple times.

[Mieneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a non-native speaker myself, I find authors that write in English when this is not their mother tongue fascinating. I'd like to think I'm pretty fluent in English, but I still find myself stumbling for words sometimes, especially when writing because metaphors and sayings are often hard to translate; you have to know the equivalent in English, which might not even resemble the saying in Dutch. So to think of not only writing a book, but writing it in your second language, is something that floors me. Yet that is exactly what Tom Vater has done. And to great effect too, because The Cambodian Book of the Dead is an engrossing read.  

The setting for the book is original. I've never read anything set in Cambodia before and beyond the fact that it has been war-torn for decades due to the Khmer Rouge, who were responsible for the Killing Fields, and the fact that is it home to the legendary temple complex of Angkor Wat, I'm quite unfamiliar with its history and culture. Its protagonist is quite original too; Maier is a war reporter turned private detective, something you don't usually run across. And these two are combined into a story that is both riveting and chilling.

Maier is interesting and sympathetic, even if he is something of a loner and not always the most likeable person. I found his background quite interesting; an Eastern German by birth, who after re-unification found opportunity beckoned and lived a life he could only have dreamed of before the Wall came down and who got out of it after experiencing one too many traumas. This has to be a bubbling pot of stories waiting to be written as where has he been beyond Cambodia? There was one big nitpick I have with his character in retrospect though; I have a hard time reconciling the damage he takes – blows to the head, drugging, torture – with how capable he remained. Apart from when it's convenient for the plot for the drugs to incapacitate him, we never hear about his injuries again. Which, unless he is Superman, isn't very credible. I found this jarring, because the story is entirely plausible, especially since it is set almost a dozen years ago and this disregard for Maier's injuries detracted from that.

Maier is surrounded by some colourful characters, some of whom are more memorable than others. I loved the old US war vet Les, who runs the bar in Kep, where most of the story takes place. He is almost a caricature, but he felt genuine. Maier's old flame Carissa is fun, though it's unfortunate that in the end she's nothing but a way to get Maier to cooperate with the bad guys. The other main female characters were far more interesting. Kaley, who seems to be the linchpin of the book, is fascinating. She is a true victim of war. Forced to acts that are beyond the pale by her captors, her mind seems to have been somewhat broken and she wavers between awareness and docilely following orders. Raksmei, on the other hand, is fully aware and I found her actions quite interesting, though there are unanswered questions regarding her, such as was she aware of her parentage, that remain unanswered.

There are supernatural overtones to the story that were fascinating and fantastic red herrings at the same time. The uncertainty whether there really was something supernatural going on or that events were just explained away as such due to the local population's very superstitious nature, added another layer of mystery to unravel to the narrative. There was one final reveal in the book that I just hadn't seen coming and that was the identity of the assassin Dani hired. Vater seeded the narrative with a lot of clues but only after he'd revealed the assassin's identity did I put it all together. Though having your ultimate bad guy be a Nazi might be somewhat of a cliché, I appreciated the way Vater used it in this story. We're used to finding Nazi's hiding out in South America and still being up to no good decades after WWII, so finding one in South East Asia was unexpected. And it was interesting to see the perspective from a German viewpoint, especially one raised in communist East Germany.

I had a bit of trouble getting into The Cambodian Book of the Dead at first, but it became a total page turner once everything gets going and I had trouble putting the damn thing down at night. I blame Vater for the bags currently under my eyes! If you're looking for something a bit different in the crime department, something set off the beaten path of US, UK and Scandinavian crime, then Tom Vater's The Cambodian Book of the Dead will fit that bill perfectly. I hugely enjoyed Vater's first outing with Detective Maier and I hope there'll a lot more mysteries to unravel with the good detective in the future.

This book was provided for review by the publisher.

[Gaele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an eBook copy of this title from the author for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for the review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.

I adore a good mystery, always have. Add in sharp detail that feels like “feet on the ground” research and it becomes a near perfect setting for me. Being acquainted with several people who are either Cambodian or were in refugee camps as a result of either the Vietnam War or the Khmer Rouge, and having my own visions of the beauty and history of the people: I instantly was interested in the story and where it would go. So, I was predisposed to like the book on those grounds alone. What I did not expect was the intelligent and very liberal sprinkling and references to the history of the country that all serve to better define and help the reader to ‘understand’ the interactions.

Maier is a former war correspondent from Germany: his speciality was the Southeast Asian area. Nearing the end of the “defined” war in Cambodia, his fixer Hort was killed by a bomb, left to kill him. Maier returned to Germany, handed in his resignation and accepted a position with the leading Investigative Agency in the area. He returns to Cambodia, with his memories and knowledge to track down and ‘return’ a German ex-pat to his family per his mother’s request.

During his investigation, we encounter many of his connections: Carissa an Australian who left her country for the freewheeling world of the “all night” Cambodia, and has entrée into the ‘now and current’ happenings in the country.

What starts as a fairly straight line to the finish mystery / detective story is so peppered with twists and references to violence remembered and current, juxtaposed against the stark beauty amid devastation from 20+ years of war, and the actual beauty of the people seen through the jaded eyes of Maier: this story is haunting and palpable with tension.

The style is very much one of a war correspondent: while details are beautifully described and details are clearly presented, the prose is spare and less flowery than many would like. When reliving his memories of times past, we see what feels like a wish for it to be different – for him to reencounter scenes and places of the past again, with fresh eyes and the ability to appreciate the beauty without the knowledge of horrors contained in the history of the spaces and places. By the end of the book, you are treated to an understanding, at least as complete as Westerners are able to have on the feel of the place, and the history of its people. It is a beautiful testament, in an offhanded way, to the power of the human will to live, to survive and the equally powerful ability to forget because remembering is far too painful.

I really did enjoy this book, while parts were slower for me than others; the indescribable need to read with my back against a wall was nearly constant. The tension that Maier feels as a westerner in a land that tends to view all outsiders with scepticism, if not outright hostility, was transmitted through the words and plot. It was a great read for mystery and history fans alike.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

DISCLAIMER: I was given a free copy of this download for review purposes. This did not change my review or rating at all.

STORY – Haunting is the best word I can think of to describe The Cambodian Book of the Dead. This is a modern day thriller interwoven with both the history and culture of Cambodia and war years of the Khmer Rouge. Knowing little about this culture I looked forward to reading this book.

Basically, without giving anything away, the story revolves around Maier, a former war correspondent turned detective, his memories and his present day interactions with the people of Cambodia. Reliving the horrors of Maier’s past functioned to foreshadow the continued brutality that lies just beneath a beautiful surface.

WRITING STYLE – The writing was good; there were no extremely loud typos that I remember. The story progressed well.

OVERALL – I am still fascinated by this culture. This historical novel only added more interest. Overall I’d rate it 4.

WARNINGS - Language, Violence, Peril, Alcohol

[Ummara Sherax · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how the story moved forward with all its' sub-plots and how the author made sure to tie off all loose ends. Speaking of ends I became so emotionally attached to the characters I couldn't say goodbye in the end. Mikhail was my favorite character for sure, (sorry Maier)

[Andrew Nette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to read Tom Vator’s debut novel, The Cambodian Book of the Dead for a while now. I’m glad I finally got around to doing the task, because it’s one hell of a ride. Amusing, horrifying, at times frustrating, always perceptive.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead is not for everyone. I was probably predisposed to the book before I’d read the first page, because of my fondness for crime fiction set in Asia generally and Cambodia in particular, a country I’ve spent a lot of time in and the setting of my own debut crime novel, Ghost Money.

As far as I could tell, The Cambodian Book of the Dead takes place in the early part of last decade. The Khmer Rouge insurgency is over. Pol Pot is dead, murdered by his own lieutenants in one last bout of bloodletting. Cambodia hovers between the civil war wracked basket case it was in the nineties and the must-see tourist destination it is now. Investment is starting to flow in, but things are slow. The ruling elite is still in the early stages of organising the wholesale plunder of the country they are carrying out today.

Maier is the Asia specialist for a top flight German private investigations firm, before that an international correspondent. He’s done his share of time in war zones, including Cambodia in the nineties, when a Khmer Rouge bomb killed his Cambodian fixer and friend and sent him packing from the country as fast as his legs could carry him.

Now he’s back, hired by the owner of a Hamburg coffee empire to retrieve her son, Rolf, living in Kep, a small town on the southern coast of Cambodia, where he runs a dive shop with his white trash English partner.

It’s a tremendous setting for a crime novel. Kep was a high-roller resort town in the sixties. King Sihanouk had a small palace here and the story goes that whenever he was in residence, he had white sand shipped in from nearby Sihanoukville to beautify Kep’s naturally brownish beach. I last visited the town in 2008 and all that remained were the ghostly villas, dozens of them, some of which date back to the French colonial period in the early twentieth century. All are gutted, either destroyed by the Khmer Rouge or ransacked by the locals for building materials. Overgrown with weeds and bushes, walls are pock marked with bullet holes or covered in graffiti.

The first third of the The Cambodian Book of the Dead is slow, Maier reacquainting himself Cambodia, his former lover, a New Zealand journalist called Carrisa, and immersing himself in Kep’s expatriate scene. Anyone who has spent time in a place like Cambodia will instantly recognise this group of foreigners: fugitives, scammers and drops outs, drawn like flies on shit to the place’s cheap living, drugs and sex. Everyone is messed up. Everyone harbours secrets, most of which appear to lead to Bokor Hill Station, a real life former French colonial retreat with a genuinely eerie abandoned hotel and casino complex in the middle of a stunning national forest.

Maier seems content to wallow in all this until a Cambodian man, an employee at a local orphanage, turns up dead in the middle of the ocean, his feet weighted with concrete. Then everything quickly goes from slow burn weird to Heart of Darkness surreal, very quickly.

There’s Rolf’s beautiful Cambodian girlfriend, who may or may not be possessed by a powerful spirit, a murderous former general who wants to build a gold course near Boker, and a malevolent Russian recluse living in the jungle. What is Project Kangaok Meas and who is the secretive individual known as the White Spider? There’s also a sub-plot involving a Cambodian woman, now living in Germany, intent on travelling back to the country of her birth to search for her lost sister and inflict murderous avenge on someone, it’s not clear who.

Vator throws into the mix the full litany of Cambodia’s past and present horrors, everything from child sex abuse to land grabbing. The sheer depth of human horrors plumbed in The Cambodian Book of the Dead would at times feel like farce, were it not for the fact that most of what Vator describes is the stone cold truth.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead is a hardboiled crime story wrapped in a surreal meditation on genocide, globalisation and the expatriate condition, by a writer who has acute observations to make on all three subjects. The book also contains the most persuasive cure for writers block I can remember reading.

Vator’s writing is fluid and fast paced, occasionally a little too fast paced. The rapid fire plot plus the some times bizarre nature of the subject matter, means the book is sometimes a little confusing and hard to gets to grips with.

But it is also a fitting way to deal with the horrific events that have taken place in Cambodia, not just under the Khmer Rouge, events for which there are no easy explanations.

It’s a genuinely interesting read about a part of the world crime fiction doesn’t pay enough attention to.

[Clued-in With A Book (Elvina Ulrich) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Story: Detective and former war correspondent, Maier, returns to Cambodia when he takes on a case to search for the missing heir to a Hamburg coffee empire. As his investigation brings him to the darkest corners of the country's history, it also inadvertently puts his life in danger when he crosses path with a former Khmer Rouge general.

My thoughts: My trip to Cambodia many years ago left me with so many wonderful memories and when I see a book set in Cambodia, I knew I had to read it! And I am so glad that I've read this book! This first book of Detective Maier Mysteries series was certainly an intriguing one! I loved all the vivid descriptions of Cambodia which was so beautiful!

I really liked how diverse the characters are in this book. I would say Maier is a likable character. He's smart and brave but for a detective story, I think his character played a rather passive role. There is not a lot of detecting work in the story. It was more about his daily encounters with different people and how his decisions or actions led him to another clue or path.

This is the book you may want to pick up if you want to learn about Cambodia's history and culture. It was really well-done and well-researched. Just a quick heads-up - some of you may not feel comfortable on how Cambodian women are being treated or viewed in this story.

This was a slow burn story and at times the writing felt a bit fragmented without a lot of suspense. The book's ending was pretty twisty and bizarre which I did end up liking the story and enjoyed learning all the history and culture of Cambodia.


***Thank you HRPR Book Tours and author Tom Vater for this gifted copy to read and review and for having me on this tour. All opinions expressed are my own.***

[Suanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Tom Vater has a fascination with Cambodian history and peppers authentic bits of the culture into this novel. I have never been to Cambodia nor read anything set in Cambodia before, but I have lived in Singapore and traveled to Malaysia and Thailand. So I found the aspects of being an expatriate in another Far Eastern country credible.

Cambodia has been war-torn for many years as the Khmer Rouge fought King Norodom Sihanouk. Then Cambodia was immediately plunged into another conflict with Vietnam. Cambodia is the home of the gorgeous temples of Angkor Wat, which like the Buddhas of Bamyan about 80 miles outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, are being destroyed rather than treated as cultural heritage sites.

The protagonist, Maier thinks he’s escaped death enough times as a war reporter, so he goes home from the Far East and becomes a private detective. He is sent to retrieve a coffee heir and return him to his German family, but falls into a real estate scheme run by a former Khmer general and a long-time German ex-pat.

The book gets off to a bit of a slow start, but in the second half, things pick up rapidly as people chase Maier, and he winds up drugged several times with everything from paralytics to amphetamines to hallucinogenics.

The minor characters are excellent, especially Clarissa, Maier’s off/on girlfriend. Les, an American Vietnam vet who runs a bar, and Kaley, a young woman who was taken to serve as a prostitute after her family was killed by the Khmer. There is also a cadre of twelve-year-old little girl assassins. The White Spider, the above mentioned long-time German ex-pat is reminiscent of Colonel Kurtz in the movie Apocalypse Now.

Overall, I had a bit of trouble getting into The Cambodian Book of the Dead at first, but I stuck with it, and it became quite a page turner. If you're looking for something a bit off the beaten path in the way of crime novels, then read The Cambodian Book of the Dead.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Explosive and evocative, THE CAMBODIAN BOOK OF DEAD is a deceptive piece of fiction which at once envelopes the reader in a distinct time and place while enabling a birds eye view of the more macabre side of human nature. Herein lies a multi faceted plot which threads are as deadly as the characters they follow. From unassuming barmen, Cambodian goddesses, journalists, to the Khmer Rouge - author Tom Vater instills a sense of murder lurking at every turn for Detective Maier as he undertakes a case to track down an heir to a coffee empire.

There is an underlying sense of brutality and violence bubbling beneath the surface courtesy of General Tep and The White Spider - two bad men who shape the story's past and present. These characters play the perfect ying to Maier's yang. Seeing through the smoke and mirrors, these two make life difficult for the endearing protagonist as he attempts to bring home his target (German coffee heir Rolf).

Adding to Maier's troublesome plight is Kaley, a beautiful Cambodian woman who has a deadly grip on Rolf, one that may well cost him his life. There is an almost mythical quality to Kaley that is hard to ignore. Vater writes his characters with a lot of heart and emotion, each is rendered perfectly and memorable.

THE CAMBODIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD works so well on many levels for me. It's a PI story with a lot of situational depth and deep characterisation. Cambodia is as much a character as Maier; dangerous places for dangerous liaisons. While the core case takes a back step to character evolution, it doesn't hinder the intimacy of the story. I love it when books surprise me and this one certainly did; simplistic in premise, complex in delivery. I highly recommend.

This review originally appeared on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...

[Karen Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sent a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I wasn’t sure at first if this novel would be to my taste as the title suggested that its genre might lean towards horror, rather than thriller. I need not have worried, although some of the content is certainly horrific and violent/graphic, although not gratuitous.

It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable read, an action-packed romp through the streets and jungles of Cambodia with an Indian Jones-type hero in the shape of German private detective, Maier, a former journalist in Asia, who is called upon to return to the country on a case. In doing so, he encounters two Bond-like villains, the megalomaniac Tep and the White Spider, intent on crushing any opponents to their burgeoning business interests.

But all is not straightforward in Maier’s efforts to repatriate coffee heir, Rolf, in line with his mother’s wishes. Rolf is part-owner of a dive business in the small resort of Kep, along with Englishman Pete. A myth surrounds Rolf’s girlfriend, Kaley, who he will not leave behind for any reason even when it becomes clear that he has no future in Kep. Maier is fed a cocktail of drugs on several occasions that result in hallucinations which give a ghost-like quality to the book. At times, the reader wonders what is real and what is imaginary, which only adds to the tension and intrigue and explosive atmosphere of the book.

Gripping and pacy, this is a vivid portrayal of Cambodia, not only the physical environment, but also its history and culture in a fascinating, non-info dump way.

[Ilga · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about a detective, Maier who is tracking down the heir of an empire. During his journey, he comes close to death and there is a hint of romance in the book. .
Even though I struggled at the beginning of the book, the author tells a good story. He has proper historical knowledge and his writing skills are impeccable.
The major highlight for me in this book is the fact that it is written about Cambodia. I think this is a huge change from books that I have read. It breaks the monotony and gives me an idea of how Cambodia is.

Incredible is the word for this book.

[Reminiscent Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know what I was expecting going into this book, but it certainly wasn't this. Granted, mystery/thrillers aren't my usual cup of tea, but this book was hard to get through. I couldn't identify with the main character at all, which really made it hard for me to care what trials he endured. I also found it hard to buy that Maier was "ladies man." The plot felt like it was trying to do too much in too few pages. The pacing was all over the place. The final conflict seemed forced and inorganic, and the book should have ended about fifty pages sooner. I also really wasn't a fan of how the author described women. I understand he was trying to set the scene and that life in Cambodia is especially brutal for women, but it was still uncomfortable to read.

On a positive note, Tom's passion for Cambodia oozes from every page. Some of my favorite parts of the book came from his detailed descriptions of the scenery. I was also intrigued by the cast of characters Maier surrounded himself with, especially Carissa and Les. I would have definitely been more invested in the book if those two were a bigger part of the story.

Though I was not a fan of this book, there is certainly an audience out there for it. I think Tom had an interesting story here, but it would have been better spread out over a few books rather than trying to cram everything into one mess. I would definitely consider picking up another Tom Vater book, just not from this series.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a war correspondent who becomes a detective and is sent to Cambodia to chase down the heir of a coffee business who has opened a dive shop there.

I didn't enjoy this book much. The first half was a bit slow and then the second half (where he is asked to write memoirs for the old German) seemed a bit of a stretch for me. There was a lot of action towards the end but I was not entirely convinced by it.

[For The Novel Lovers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read both The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu and Kolkata Noir by Tom Vater and really enjoyed them both so I was looking forward to getting into The Cambodian Book of the Dead and maybe the rest of the series. We are introduced to Maier who is a war correspondent in Cambodia as the war is coming to an end in 1997 with his friend and guide, Hort. They are discussing Hort’s upcoming wedding when a bomb intended for Maier kills his friend and causes him to leave his job and return to Germany. The war finally ended in 1998, but Maier now a private detective couldn’t care about it. We are also introduced to the widow, Dani Stricker, after the death of her husband, Harald who is from Cambodia as she hires as assassin to find someone presumably responsible for the death of her family as he wants revenge. When we get back to Maier he is once again heading for Cambodia this time to track down and observe a Hamburg heir who is living there after being hired by the young man’s mother.

So far, I did find the story interesting and the characters were likeable and I was excited to see where Vater was going to take this and I hoped it would be in a similar direction to Kolkata Noir as I loved that book. Upon returning to Cambodia, Maier ends up meeting up with a woman from his past, Carissa who never left Cambodia and helps him integrate to the way the country has changed since he was last there. However, he soon learns the boy he is there to keep an eye on, his British business partner, Pete is mixed up with Tep and the Cambodia gang called Angkar who were responsible for a lot of murders and killings during the war. This section consists of a lot of drinking, drugs and killing probably to introduce the realities of living in Cambodia even after the war ended but it didn’t feel like anything was really happening right now. That being said we know Maier has to be careful because people asking too many questions might find themselves vanishing into the night so he has to be cautious when getting his information. I think this is going to be more of a domestic thriller, crime novel lacking the sci-fi elements of Kolkata Noir which I wasn’t too pleased about but that might change as the novel progresses.

As we cross the quarter mark in the novel, I was getting a little confused as Maier seems to be getting down deeper into the seedy underbelly of Cambodia rather than focusing on his original task. He does end up meeting Rolf and going diving with him and he observes that Rolf and Pete couldn’t be more different and there does seem to be some tension between them. Rolf even mentions wanting to sell his shares of the business but he hasn’t and the reasons for this choice we don’t get to know yet. We are still a point in the novel where things don’t make complete sense yet but Vater might just be holding off until later in the novel to build suspense and tension but I was hoping for more in the action or something to drive the plot forward. One thing I was enjoying was how big a role history is playing in the novel. The past doesn’t stay in the past and our personal pasts shape our individual futures and that is something Vater is effortlessly getting across no matter what character we are focusing on, he easily finds way for the character’s history to influence their present and it is obvious to see in some and less obvious in others. Kaley was an interesting character as she seems complete real but there are questions raised around this but I want to see where that goes before I comment on it.

As we cross into the halfway mark in the novel, Maier is getting deeper and deeper into the crime circle and the man at the heart of it all. Kaley also seems to be playing a larger role than I first thought and when Maier heads to meet Tep on his island for the first time, Maier has a feeling that he might be walking into a trap but he doesn’t have much choice if he is going to solve the mysteries he has been presented with. I did find myself getting a bit frustrated with the novel as it is presenting more questions than answers and I really wanted something solid to follow but I do adore Vater’s writing style. Vater has the ability to make you continue reading stringing out little hints and clues while keeping the substantial information hidden until he wants to present it to the reader. That being said, I am still not sure what the end game is, Vater has presented a large crime network which Maier is currently in the middle of but he also presented Maier’s original goals of getting Rolf out of Cambodia but he is stuck right now.

After the halfway mark things really begin to pick up and it seems that things are starting to come together. Maier is kidnapped by Tep and his people meaning his feeling he was walking into a trap was right but he didn’t have a choice. Over the next few days Maier is tortured by Tep’s people because they believe he is a journalist or working for an intelligence agency when it couldn’t be farther from the truth. By the time they take Maier to die he is rescued by a young girl who has found Kaley’s sister in the newspaper. Dani is Kaley’s sister and upon returning to Cambodia is ignores the warning of the hitman she hired and ends up dead herself which brings that plot line to an end. However, Maier has realised that Rolf is wrapped up in this and his employer has given Maier a week to remove Rolf from Cambodia once and for all or they will send someone to replace him as things are getting very dangerous. Maier like the readers, has almost put all the pieces together but it still feels like we are missing one or two vital pieces of information for everything to make sense but I am getting excited to see how Vater brings the novel to its conclusion.

After escaping from Tep with help and finally putting the pieces together, Maier knows he has to confront Tep to really find out the truth about everything that has happened and everything he has discovered throughout the course of the novel. Maier doesn’t do this lightly, in fact, he takes precautions to arm himself accordingly before heading out to the island once more but he is once again captured by the head torturer known as The White Spider. Rather than just killing Maier, The White Spider wants to use him as a biographer for his life story which ties into Maier’s as they are both German. The man explains how he started in the Hitler Youth and eventually moved onto the SS during the Second World War and how he delighted in killing people even both of his wives. During this time Carissa has also been captured and the man is using her as motivation for Maier to write his story accurately and with flair but it doesn’t seem like Carissa or Maier is going to make it out of this situation alive and if they do I will be very surprised. It seems like the sequence of events we have been following are irrelevant as they are the desires of men who were born and bred in violence and want that to continue. The White Spider even explains after getting German citizenship again after the war didn’t satisfy him because Germany in his eyes had become soft and safe and wasn’t the environment he wanted to be in so he came to one of the most dangerous countries in the world and put his skills to good use in Cambodia.

The final section of the novel did resolve all the questions that Vater puts to us, the readers, over the course of the novel but personally it felt a little longwinded for me. I loved the characters, the use of history and mythology and how they tied everything together and the action was great. I just felt the novel didn’t need to be over 400 pages long for the conclusion we got which was a little anticlimactic for me. That being said, I liked it a tiny bit more than The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu but it wasn’t as good as Kolkata Noir for me personally. I would recommend it to people who like gritty crime novels with a noir feel to them with a lot of focus on history, mythology and cultural ideologies.

[Alana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having been to Cambodia myself, I really wanted to enjoy this book. The first chapter was great and I was confident that I was in for a great ride. Unfortunately, it ended there. There is the makings of a very good story here but it reads more like a bad tour guide than a novel. The author seems intent on getting across just how much he knows about Cambodia and it's history at the the expense of the story.
The dialogue all felt wrong; there were no contractions in the main characters speech (and very few, if any, in the other characters'). I don't know anyone who speaks this way and it made the dialogue very stilted. The lack of dialogue tags was also very confusing at times and I found I had to keep going back to try and work out who was speaking.
There were lots of irrelevant passages that had nothing at all to do with the story and some of the descriptions were just plain weird, such as the character describing himself on the plane by giving a list of his vital statistics, and in one scene he even lists every item on someone's breakfast plate instead of just saying it was a fry-up. It almost felt like the author was just trying to bump up the word count.
The story does pick up pace just past half way but by then it was too late and I just could not bring myself to like the flat and two-dimensional characters or care what happened to them.
As I said at the start, there is a good story in there trying to get out. I just think the author needs to step out of his own way and give his characters more of a voice because at the minute they all sound the same and it comes across as more journalistic than as creative fiction.
I give The Cambodian Book of the Dead 2 out of 5.

[Emily | bookswith.emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a highly detailed book. I was excited to read another book by Tom Vater. This book is part of a series based on Detective Maier and this is book one.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book. It was so interesting learning about the history of Cambodia which was entwined into the story. I thought it gave the book an extra dimension by adding in so much history about the country into the book. It set the scene and showed how the country turned out to be how it is like in the book. It also gave the reader a good visual of how to imagine the country while reading the book.

I liked Maier as a main character. I thought he was very interesting and he has some amazing stories. Hearing the stories of Maier’s past and how this relates to the story being told now was so interesting. I especially enjoyed reading about Maier when he found himself in quite a bit of trouble in the second half of the book. Other characters in this book were also very interesting. I was intrigued by The White Spider, they were very mysterious.

I found this book to be slow in the first half, but the first half was world building and setting up the scene. The second half was fast paced and action packed. I am excited to read more about Maier in the rest of the series. I can’t wait to see where the author takes the character.

[Brian Stoddart · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who has spent time in or read deeply about Cambodia, then there will be much in here that grabs the attention. The journalist turned private eye Maier revisits Cambodia after being there in the early 90s, in search of a German son gone astray.

Along the way the protagonist: revisits an old flame, upsets a former Khmer Rouge general, witnesses several deaths, uncovers corruption and financial malpractice, and experiences a lot of Khmer folk practices.

It is a terrific ride through the story but also through recent Cambodian history with its twists, turns and unbelievable but true political machinations. Tom Vater "gets" the atmosphere and the atmospherics and the Cambodian context.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this book. It has a fast-paced narrative, with lots of action scenes. Cambodia is really well described, and you can imagine yourself there. Sometimes it is a little bit predictable, but action always continues. It also pictures the real life of Cambodia after the Khamer Rouge, eventhough it is a crime fiction novel. For a non-native english reader, it is fluent and easy t oread.


DISCLAIMER: I was given a free copy of this download for review purposes. This did not change my review or rating at all

[Debbie Vignovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

TCBOD by Tom Vater is the first Detective Maier thriller in this series. I requested and received a digital copy compliments of Crime Waves Press in exchange for an honest review.

Mr. Vater imagines a complex protagonist in Maier, just Maier, I never did catch his first name. An East German man who moved West after the fall of the Berlin Wall and worked the world over as a war correspondent for close to 10 years.

While reporting from Cambodia in the late nineties, the horror that was the Pol Pot regime cut way too close to the bone, so Maier left the business and returned home to Germany. Burnt out and scarred by this time spent reporting on various front lines, Maier reinvented himself as a private detective and began working for a premiere Hamburg agency. While he makes his living specializing in Southeast Asian cases he has yet to return to Cambodia, but now that is all about to change.

A wealthy client, the mother of the heir to a German coffee empire is seeking to extract her rebellious son from Cambodia and bring him back to run the family business. Maier’s boss taps him for the job.

So Maier travels from Hamburg to Phnom Penh to find and bring back Rolf, easy enough job he thinks, it has been four years, perhaps enough time has passed to heal old wounds, perhaps it will be all okay, just a quick extraction—in and out swiftly. It only takes one night back in Cambodia to quickly put paid to that plan.

The story is set in 2001, just as Cambodia is re-emerging from over 50 years of war, genocide, famine, and cultural collapse. Mr. Vater, an excellent wordsmith, takes his time setting the scene through carefully executed rounds of history, fully imagined characters, and his construction results in a rich world full of mystery, mysticism, ghosts, Eastern philosophy, jungles, sweat, mosquitos, drugs, sex, and violence.

Personally, I love a book that combines good story telling with history, and the writers who take the time to develop a richly nuanced world, often by weaving truth throughout their fiction. I am never a happier reader than when I am learning something new.

The horrible truth behind this work of fiction is that the inhumanity of Cambodia’s past is far worse than any of the cruelties, tortures and violence that Mr. Vater creates for this tale.

The case isn’t so much about finding the errant heir, especially as Rolf isn’t hiding. Rolf and a business partner are running a small dive shop on the beach in Kep. Maier executed this task his first night back in Phnom Penh while hooking up for drinks with fellow journalist and some time bed partner Carissa, a woman who still has her finger on the pulse of all the major Cambodian players.

The once thriving beachside resort of Kep fell into total disrepair during the war but now it is ripe for re-development. Maier slips under cover as a potential investor to suss out more information about Rolf’s shifty business partner, as well as the former Khmer Rouge General Tep, who is spearheading a major real estate scheme surrounding an old abandoned casino complex.

Once he spends some time in Kep, Maier realizes that not only is Rolf mixed up in some shady business dealings, that he won’t leave without his Cambodian girlfriend, and that extracting her is going to be anything but easy.

A lot of behind the scenes evil is afoot as Maier sniffs out more mayhem in the form of a Nazi war criminal, a Viet Nam vet, a gay Russian gun-for-hire, girl assassins in black pajamas, orphanage managers, pedophiles, murder, more murder, drugs, torture and violence.

But this is also the story of two young girls, sisters who were separated by the cruelties of Pol Pot’s war.

Dani managed to escape Cambodia with the help of a German man who became her husband. Scarred yes, but she spent all of her adulthood living a safe sheltered life in West Germany. When Dani’s husband passes she hires a man to find the sister she abandoned and to kill General Tep who has held her hostage all these years.

Her captured sister Kaley, remains by the General’s side and he is still controlling her to this day, using her now exploit others in order to help build his burgeoning real estate empire. Kaley, a victim of the Cambodian version of Stockholm syndrome, is a beautiful woman surrounded by myth and legend, she has been force fed this story about herself for so long that she is no longer sure what the truth really is. A damaged woman whom Maier believes while worth saving is too damaged to let it happen, for some lost souls it is simply too late.

Maier meets Kaley on the beach, is quickly mesmerized by her beauty and when she asks if he can find her sister, he feels compelled to say yes. Dani and Kaley share the same mission as they both are searching for the other.

Rolf refuses to leave Cambodia because he feels it is his duty to save his girlfriend, the infamous Kaley, and take her back to Germany. At first, Maier believes this to be out of misplaced notions of love but it turns out there are deeper and darker reasons.

To say more would be to spoil the plot and that is not fair to the reader or the author. I was transported by his writing and the intricate ways he chose to show how the cruelties of Cambodia’s past shaped the events taking place in the present of Tom Vater’s richly imagined novel.

It was reading time well spent and I definitely look forward to reading the next in this series.

[Julie Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers: Tom Vater certainly has a strong feel for setting. The setting is often the highlight of his mystery novels. His previous work, Kolkata Noir, involved two detectives solving murders over a period of 40 years from 1999-2039. During that time, Vater looks into the income inequalities, racism, religious divides, colonialist history, and environmentalist concerns that affect Kolkata's past, present, and future.

In his latest novel, Vater turns his attention to Cambodia. He writes of a country of great beauty and mystery, but is still suffering from the visible scars of its violent past under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. The dictatorship led to genocide, imprisonment, and exile of many immigrants away from their country never to return.

Vater's book, Cambodian Book of The Dead begins in 1997 when the war between the Khmer Rouge and Cambodian army has been going on for over 20 years. Everyone drinks quietly and says little, afraid to let their guards down and give the Khmers any reason to attack or arrest them.
One of the people who lives there during this tumultuous time is Maier, a German emigre. Maier was a journalist who arrived in Cambodia on assignment but became deeply involved in the local situation, particularly befriending a local man named Horst and beginning a relationship with Horst's sister, Carissa. Unfortunately, Maier's time in Cambodia ends in explosions aiming for the journalist. Khmer Rouge doesn't like foreigners or journalists and since Maier fits both criteria, he knows that he's on their hit list. Time to go.

Years later, Maier settled in Hamburg as a private detective. He has achieved a modicum of success and some semblance of peace as long as he doesn't think about those days in Cambodia. Unfortunately, those days are coming back when a wealthy woman, Mrs. Muller-Overbeck hires Maier to look for her wayward son, Rolf. Guess what country he was last seen in? Of course, where else?
So off Maier goes to revisit Cambodia, a country who has not recovered from the tyranny of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and is prone to violence, paranoid suspicion, and human trafficking.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the book is how Cambodia is portrayed. It is a beautiful country with lush greenery and ancient temples but it is clearly forever marked by its recent past of the last 45 years. Though Pol Pot is long gone, the influence of him and the Khmer Rouge still remains. Khmers still stalk the streets of Phnom Penh still beholden to a long gone cause and ready to commit violence to prove that their cause was just. Many still carry the old prejudices and mistrust that they once held as Maier realizes when he tries to talk to Khmers and find them no more receptive than they were years ago when they were the top army.

Even though the dictator is long gone, Cambodia's position has not improved. It is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. The book reveals that corruption is rampant, and the drug trade and human trafficking are ever present.
There are two passages that explore the current situation depicted in Vater's writing and it is dour. One is at a club where Maier tried to ascertain information in the typical hard-boiled detective manner. The club is filled with frequent drug addiction and a general hopelessness probably from years of fighting that has now become exhaustion and despair. The only ones who seem to be having a good time are the crime lords, those who are profiting off of other's misery and take a sadistic delight out of it.

One of the most haunting passages occurs when Maier visits the remains of a factory. Ancient superstitious fear is revealed as Maier catches images of what could be a ghost. In a nighttime setting where abuse and violence occurred, supernatural hauntings are not out of the realm of possibility. Then Maier discovered what goes on inside the factory is a horror of the human variety.

The setting of The Cambodian Book of The Dead is so intricate describing its history and current struggles that plot concerns can be almost forgiven. Almost.
The resolution is hard to follow and it's sometimes difficult what role they play in the overall mystery. Some characters who are likely suspects serve as obvious red herrings and some plot points are irritatingly left dangling. It seems that Vater was more interested in capturing Cambodia rather than a mystery set in it. He might have done just as well as leaving the mystery out of it and wrote a historical fiction about life in Cambodia told from an expatriate before and after the Khmer Rouge.

The Cambodian Book of The Dead's setting is memorable. It's too bad the mystery doesn't live up to it and is forgettable.

[Kurisu · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the early 90s, Maier was assigned as a war correspondent in Cambodia. He had witnessed the cruelty of its communist leader and his army — Polpot and the Khmer Rouge — to their own people. After the death of his Khmer friend from a bomb that was meant for him, he decided to end his career as a journalist. Now working as a private detective, Maier will return to the once war-weary land, disguised as an investor, to track down the heir of the Muller-Overbeck family — Rolf.

As his investigation progresses, he will learn that Rolf’s situation was tied with a woman named Kaley, famously known as the rebirth of Kangaok Meas. What made the situation more shady is their involvement with an ex-Khmer Rouge general, Tep. Maier will soon realize that the business he’s in is not simple as he initially thought. The town of Kep will soon be full of blood as he meets the Nazi War criminal known as the White Spider.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead is the first book in Detective Maier Mystery written by Tom Vater. This is my first time reading a book set in Cambodia and I could say that the plot is original. Tom Vater is undoubtfully knowledgeable in the country’s war history, its places, and culture. For me, incorporating history in a fictional work makes a story more engaging. I also like that there’s an element of mystery and romance.

The author interestingly included Cambodian belief in reincarnation and ghosts. One of the book’s essential characters, Kaley, was believed to be the rebirth of Kangaok Meas or the Golden Peacock — an old Cambodian folk tale. But, hiding behind her exotic splendor are the unpleasant secrets of the past. She, in a way, symbolically represents the town of Kep. The town is surrounded by beautiful beaches and ruins, but, these resources were continually abused by greedy businessmen. Same as how Tep, Kaley’s father-in-law, will use her hypnotizing beauty and their delusions for some dirty dealings. Her enigmatic character will be one of the readers’ motivations to turn the pages.

The cast of characters is composed of different nationalities mainly German, Cambodian, American, French, Kiwi, British and Russian. Each has a story to tell on why they choose to settle in the country. Maier likes putting himself into dangerous missions. Though, I don’t think it's just about the experience, it’s more about his sympathetic nature. Carissa Stevenson, a Phnom Penh foreign journalist slash Maier’s lover, will be a helpful instrument in finding his target. She’s smart and I like that she’s not easy to be intimidated by masculinity considering that she’s surrounded by men in a dangerous city. She and Maier have good chemistry though they both seem to dislike commitment in terms of romantic relationship. I also like Les LeRoux, the American war veteran. You can tell that this person can be trusted the moment detective Maier has talked to him. Rolf, the missing Hamburg’s coffee heir, appeared to be less significant in the story. With his parent’s money, I think he could do more to save Kaley. Mikhail’s identity was also another mystery.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. The minus 2 points is because the story is kind of superstitious for my taste like Maier dreaming of Kaley even before he met her and Kaley manifesting mystical ability. Also, everything connected to Kaley, especially her past and all she had gone through, has become disquieting. Maeir, being repeatedly drugged is kind of frustrating. The book contains profanity, violence, sexual content, and prostitution. That being said, it is not suited to younger readers and adults who might not like these subjects. This book is for anyone who appreciates action-packed historical fiction, mystery and for those who won’t mind bloody and savage killings.

[Bethany Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having previously read The Devil's Road to Kathmandu, I was keen to read Vater's other works. The Cambodian Book of the Dead, while similar in setting and language, is a detective novel with a much darker tone. It's the first in a trilogy following private detective Maier, formerly a war correspondent, as he solves mysteries in Southeast Asia. This first job seems simple: extract a German coffee heir from Cambodia. Upon arriving in Cambodia, it quickly becomes clear that this heir is tangled in more than just scuba driving and Maier will be pushed to his limits to achieve his mission.

Vater excels at creating evocative settings. His rich descriptions of Cambodian scenery and history, borrowing from real historical events, instantly transports you to lush jungles, beautiful beaches, and mysterious abandoned buildings. It's one of his strengths as an author and also one of the high points of the book as a whole.

Maier is a fascinating character. His history is intricate and informs his decisions in the present. His best aspect is that he's not invincible; when things start going wrong, he suffers and through his suffering he manages to solve the case. His background is told slowly and naturally, with no long chunks of exposition.

The story itself is split into two sections. The first is a slow burn, when Maier (and by extension, the reader) experiences Cambodia and gets to know the players in the mystery. The second steps it up several notches and kicks into explosive action. For me, this made the novel slightly unbalanced, with all the important and violent plot points one after the other with no time for tension to build. There are also several time skips in the second half which, while necessary for the pacing to work, left me a little confused as to what had happened and when. The use of biography sections in the final act was unusual and worked really well to convey some elements of backstory in a way that didn't feel like infodumping.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead covers a lot of heavy-hitting topics, such as exploitation, tourism, corruption, and torture, and contains graphic scenes. It's not for the faint of heart. But if you're looking for something that ramps up the tension and violence, this is the book for you. Overall, it's a strong foundation for Maier as a character and a strong introduction for the trilogy as a whole.

I was offered this book with a request for an honest review.

[Jean Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cambodian Book of the Dead by Tom Vater
Published: 2012
Publisher: Crime Wave Press
Genre: Hard-boiled Mystery, International Mystery
Pages: 300
Available: ebook and paperback

Sexual Content: 💗 minimal, nothing graphic
Violence Level: 😮😮😮😨😨 for graphic torture and multiple murders

Reviewers Note: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Plot in Brief: (no spoilers) Maier a former foreign war correspondent turned private detective is sent to Cambodia to find the son of a Hamburg coffee magnet. He returns to his old stomping grounds in Phnom Penh and reconnects with his former lover. Soon, he is sucked into the bizarre world of a country trying to redefine itself while still mired in its violent past. His search leads him down the proverbial rabbit hole where some very creepy people lie in wait.

The Characters: The novel is filled with a cast of characters that leap from the pages. Maier, the main character is well drawn, believable, and earns the reader's sympathy straight off the mark. His cohorts range from a deeply flawed Khmer madman, women damaged by the very men who should have protected them, dissolute Europeans, and a colorful American, scarred by war and trapped in the past. My favorite character by far was Cambodia itself. Moody, dark, strangely beautiful in all its death and decay; it's as if Vater personified the place with his words. I felt myself swatting at mosquitoes and longing for a cold beer. I was both madly attracted to and repelled by his description of the country. It's clear that Mr. Vater has more than just a glancing knowledge of the place. I suspect he has Asia in his eyes.

The History: I loved the historical aspect of this book. The story of Cambodia and its transformation from a post-colonial backwater to a broken land, strewn with land mines, a people damaged by war, death, and destruction at the hands of a madman run amok, is devastating. I saw the movie The Killing Fields, way back when and have not given the place much thought since. It's always a pleasant surprise to read a book that not only entertains but leaves the reader with a new appreciation for the novel's historical setting.

See my entire review here: https://www.thebookdelight.com/2019/1...

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5

Maier is a German detective, a former war correspondent, who is hired to track down the heir to a Hamburg coffee empire. The hunt will take Maier into some of the darkest corners of Cambodia where he will encounter many horrifying, historical figures that Cambodia might otherwise prefer to keep secret, such as the White Spider, a Nazi war criminal who reigns over an ancient Khmer temple deep in the jungle.

Maier will uncover an event of mass murder that is far from over and he realizes that he will have to be the one to stand up and stop the murderer before more innocent lives are lost.

It's been about nine years since I read the second book in this Maier Mystery series and I'd been hoping to get back and read this first installment. It's hard to play catch-up when there are so many great new books released every year!

As with my reading of the other volume in the series, I'm impressed with the character of Maier. He seems like the epitome of the anti-hero. While he's not exactly looking to become the hero, he's also not turning his back on it or trying to get rid of the responsibility. He sees a job and he gets it done.

I noted in my review of the second book that Maier maybe relies on luck or good fortune to see him through a job but I didn't notice that as much here. The few times this might occur, I think an argument could be made that he provides for his own good fortune, setting himself in opportunities where good luck is likely to occur.

The book is dark and often depressing. This isn't your typical mystery - it starts that way (the search for a missing person) but it becomes an epic, slow-moving thriller with a movie vibe to it. Author Tom Vater brings the story to life with authentic characters and a deep, involved story.

Looking for a good book? The Cambodian Book of the Dead by Tom Vater is a dark, missing person mystery that becomes a major, mass murder thriller.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Alisha Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was originally posted at https://bit.ly/3fslFyP.
Maier was once a war-time journalist who decided to call it quits when his friend and guide was blown up in Cambodia. One death too many. However, the thrill of his previous life led him to be a private detective. Too bad his new client may be the last one he ever takes, especially placing him right back in the country he left so long ago.
A rich coffee company heir left Germany to go open a diving business in Cambodia and his mom wants him to come home and take over as he should. It is up to Maier to go, find out what is keeping him there, and make him an offer he can't refuse.

Under the guise of becoming a real estate investor Maier hopes to get in good with the locals. However, what lies in wait for him is a haunting past and is bigger than he could have anticipated. It may even mean the end of his life. Will Maier be able to solve his case or even escape with his life?

This book....this book. Where to begin. It has a lot of facts in it. I didn't fact check them. Didn't really have the desire to if we are being honest here and that is the point of reviews, right? If we take out all of the random facts and we just plot this, I liked it. Without the facts and history lessons we have a fast paced book with lots of action that could have happened very easily. A suspenseful thriller as it were. However, with the addition of all of those facts it was like I was reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo all over again. If you are a Sieg Larrson fan then you will enjoy this book. If you are not then maybe you will if you ignore all the trivia.

[Mark Atley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is dark, but there are some real beautiful moments that are enjoyable. The aspect of ghost was pleasurable and fit well with the setting and feel of the novel, and the idea of the initial "job" Maier was hired to do was inventive and believable. When the novel's through, the reader is as exhausted and worn out as the hero.

This series is zany.

It’s dark.

It’s violent.

It has some very interesting characters, especially a drunk Russian assassin, who is a pleasure every time he appears on stage, and is a holdover from this first novel.

I was asked to read the 3rd novel, and review it. I don’t like reading the end or middle of a series, so I read all three novels in this series in a week. Perhaps, I was looking for something different, perhaps these novels are good, coming from a different type of protagonist and from a different point of view, but I liked them.

This series—this novel no different—is sold as a mystery disguised as a thriller, because the mystery is second to the story, meaning it’s more a thrill ride with people you want to go on a journey with then figuring out whodunit, encapsulating the very essence of the eastern experience from an author, who clearly has some strange exploits, but written with knowledge, love, and care of the peoples and places this series is sat.

And that’s alright.

Mark Atley

[Martin Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review from Asia Thrills - https://asiathrills.com/the-cambodian...

This book from German foreign correspondent Tom Vater introduces us, with a bang, to German private eye Maier.

When the story begins, Maier is working as a war correspondent in Cambodia. But then a huge bomb blast – clearly targeted at him – instead kills his local assistant. He decides to call his editor in Hamburg and hand in his notice. He will become a private eye.

And now, four years later, he is back in Cambodia, sent by a wealthy coffee merchant to meet and bring home her son, who is helping to run a dive shop in a remote Cambodian coastal town.

It should be an easy task, but in fact danger is all around. Maier becomes involved with a beautiful but dangerous woman, with a Khmer Rouge general and with a Nazi war criminal known as the White Spider. Several times he barely escapes death.

This is an immensely enjoyable book, not least because of the dour, cynical but intelligent and likeable hero. Best of all, though, is the setting.

Vater knows Cambodia, and his book is dripping with atmosphere – with the sounds, smells, sights and sensations of an exotic and still-dangerous country that is struggling to put behind it a legacy of horrific violence and move resolutely into the twenty-first century.