Bangkok Haunts

Sonchai Jitpleecheep #3

by John Burdett

Sonchai Jitpleecheep—the devout Buddhist Royal Thai Police detective who led us through the best sellers Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo —returns in this blistering new novel.

Sonchai has seen virtually everything on his beat in Bangkok’s District 8, but nothing like the video he’s just been sent “Few crimes make us fear for the evolution of our species. I am watching one right now.”

He’s watching a snuff film. And the person dying before his disbelieving eyes is Damrong—a woman he once loved obsessively and, now it becomes clear, endlessly. And there is something something at the end of the film that leaves Sonchai both figuratively and literally haunted.

While his investigation will lead him through the office of the ever-scheming police captain, Vikorn (“Don’t spoil a great case with too much perfectionism,” he advises Sonchai); in and out of the influence of a perhaps psychotic wandering monk; and eventually into the gilded rooms of the most exclusive men’s club in Bangkok (whose members will do anything to protect their identities, and to explore their most secret fantasies), it also leads him to his own simple bedroom where he sleeps next to his pregnant wife while his dreams deliver him up to Damrong . . .

Ferociously smart and funny, furiously fast-paced, and laced through with an erotic ghost story that gives a new dark twist to the life of our hero, Bangkok Haunts does exactly that from first page to last.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Asia, Detective, Mystery Thriller

305 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

John Burdett is a novelist and former lawyer. He was born in England and worked in Hong Kong; he now lives in Thailand and France.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

324 pages into this book I read this line: "Survival on earth (sic) is our true god, or we would have migrated to less challenging planets millennia ago." Actually Mr. Burdett, no. No 'we' wouldn't have. This sounds like a lofty sentiment, but really today in 2010, in 2006 or so when this book takes place or in 1000 BCE we have no choice but to stay here on this planet and go on with our lives. It's not choice, it's reality. Normally I don't give a shit when authors spout nonsensical shit. I know they do it because they think it makes their characters sound deep, but by page 324 in this book I had enough of the bullshit seeping through just about every page that is being passed off as enlightened wisdom. No, this isn't enlightened wisdom, it is bullshit.

I have no basis except for the words he has chosen to put in this particular book, but I am going to take a stab in the dark and say that John Burdett is one of those assholes that thinks he is so enlightened and deep because of some Eastern Philosophy that marvels at with wide-open eyes and a clamped shut mind. In his defense for being close-minded, I'm going to swing my knife around for another hit in the dark and guess that John Burdett has done more than his fair share of drugs, you know smoked a whole lot of the wacky-tabaccy and that rather than being close-minded he's rather smoked up most of the synaptic connections that make up critical faculties. Why do I say this? Because he sounds like a whole lot of burned out dumb hippies that I've known in my life.

This book is a slightly less than engaging mystery crammed full of didactic 'dialogue'. I'm being facetious, the mystery is engaging, but only for the last 70 pages or so, before that the book is just scene after scene of this detective interacting with people so that the superior enlightened philosophy and lifestyle of Thailand can be expounded to the reader. Which is all good and stuff, but first of all from the little I've read of Buddhism I think the author is at times talking out of is ass, as in the case of his description of vispassana meditation (which makes me doubt other 'facts' the author might be making that I'm ignorant about), and second of all it's really tough to describe a culture as being morally superior in just about every way to the West and then also have the barbarity that takes place in the book. Over and over again the reader is treated to diatribes against the way the West reduces people to products, but the author / narrator has very few qualms about prostitution, which one imagines from him is something poor women think is really awesome!! Prostitution doesn't seem to be an enlightened fact of life, it is a basic commodity relationship where a person is reduced to a product that is exchanged for money. It is exploitation and commodification no matter what kind of shiny happy / alternative / edgy spin you put on it. Maybe it is the lesser of evils a person can deal with in the alienation / commodification reality, but it still reduces people to things. But, that isn't the way the author see's things. He does at times have some horrific shit happen to prostitutes, but he tempers anything bad that happens by describing the system of women having to whore themselves out as being 'compassionate', well compassionate to men who might get aroused and need a quick handjob to release that arousal; something that is apparently oppressing the West; the need for sexual self-control. My own prejudices are being clear though, which is ok because I'm one of those retard Westerners who believe in Aristotelean logic, or as Burdett says over and over again, believers in X can not be Not X. Burdett hates the oppressiveness of basic logic and ridicules it quite a few times.

He might ridicule basic logic, but I ridicule him about basic anatomy. Women don't have Adams Apples you fucking idiot! I know it's Thailand and there are trannies and all of that, but the two times makes this 'mistake' it's on characters who are definitely women, unless if I'm just sticking to too much of my Western Logic to think that because a person is described as a genetic woman that she must still be one a paragraph later. And trust me, Burdett would certainly point out if a character were a tranny, he loves writing about them and they help make up the local color. Speaking of color. There is a term, farang that is a xenophobic word meaning foreigner. It's kind of an insult the way it's used in this book. But sometimes it's just used as foreigner. The term is used all the time in the book, and this brings me to the last thing that I'm going to complain about. Writers who are lazy in creating their setting and make a book exotic by taking one or two foreign terms and using them all the time so that the reader is constantly reminded of where they are. Burdett uses this farang term over and over again, like three or four times a page. Couldn't he have just used foreigner? I mean, there are lots of other words all over the book that I'm sure have Thai versions of them, what makes this one term special? It's kind of like if I were writing a story that takes place in Mexico and I wanted to make sure that you didn't forget I have Mexicans talking in the story so I keep using having them say Amigo. Yes, Mexicans say amigo, but they also say every word in Spanish. It's sloppy and lazy to use this kind of crutch in your writing.

I have more problems with this book. Sixty pages or so I enjoyed but the other 280 were awful. This is trash. Overwritten trash that gives the feeling of being smart because the author keeps lecturing the reader and putting too many words into sentences, like I am going here because I can fool you into thinking that putting lots of words, and some excessive and unnecessary clauses, into my writing you will be smacked around into confusion and think I am smarter than I really am, is it working? Why this is published to rave reviews I don't know. Maybe because bestselling genre fiction is so poorly written that this seems bearable? I don't know. I think the exotic local fools people into thinking the book is smarter than it really is. Or maybe because the reviewers who rave about this like that there is still a place where a man can go and exploit young women for little amounts of money.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Burdett is not a great writer to be sure... but an engaging one. You feel he's pushing you through his roller coasters instead of taking you along for the ride. The dialogue is catastrophically didactic and screams for an Editor with steel toed shit-kicker to tattoo John's arse. The damn thing is, I enjoy these reads anyway. Burdett's a strong plotter and doesn't go for the conventional neatly wrapped endings of your average thriller / mystery.

His FBI character Kimberly is poorly developed and superfluous until further notice. Sanchai, our lead detective is half travel guide, half Buddhism for Dummies puppet and lovable all the same... until he's not... but for whatever reason I love him anyway. I'll be reading every book in this series despite the obvious flaws. These books are guilty over-written pleasures that make me yearn for a trip to Thailand.

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this series at this point gets a bit iffy, because accumulating, there is a LOT of degradation of women in these books (this one's about a horrifying porn/snuff film, this plot). I was really drawn in, though, by the analysis and characters studies in this book, and the theme of karma and redemption and fighting between women taking control of their own lives, and the sex trade. SO again, if you have trigger issues this is NOT the series for you. If you like very graphic and violent and darkly comedic mysteries, you will enjoy though.

[Lance Charnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This, the third in the continuing saga of Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a half-Thai/half-American former-monk-turned-cop in Bangkok, shows both the strengths and weaknesses of this series in spades. This time, however, its flirtation with weirdness takes it right over the edge.

The setup is deceptively straightforward. Someone sends to Sonchai a glossy, artistic snuff film starring a beautiful prostitute with whom he was once desperately in lust. His rambunctiously corrupt boss is more interested in producing high-end porn than investigating it, and a parade of powerful high-society businessmen find Sonchai's investigation inconvenient, leading to escalating peril as he trawls Bangkok's expansive red-light districts for clues to the murder.

Once again, white English Hong Kong lawyer Burdett convincingly brings us into the head of a Thai former-street-kid-made-good. Whether Sonchai's asides about Buddhist thought or reactions to what he sees are at all authentic is hardly the point -- unless you're a Thai street-kid-made-good yourself and know better, it won't occur to you to question it. The author's command of the bar- and brothel-filled streets of Sonchai's 'hood is just as convincing; I wonder how much time he spends with the barkeeps, hookers, and katoeys (pre-op transsexuals) and what he puts down for business expenses on his tax returns. The story is nearly as rococo as the setting, and you'll have a hard time foreseeing the denouement.

So why three stars?

Burdett continues in this story a trope that's becoming repetitious: an American farang comes to Bangkok and goes crazy. This time it's Kimberley, Sonchai's female FBI agent-friend. She's supposedly investigating the people behind the snuff film, but spends most of her time mooning over Lek, Sonchai's katoey assistant, to the point where she becomes actively unhinged. Once is fine, twice is problematic, but three times makes this a tic, and one best lost going forward.

The thing that really set me off? This is a paranormal mystery. It's not billed that way, but that's what it is -- it can't work unless you're able to buy ghosts as semi-corporeal beings who can influence the living (and apparently have amazing sex drives). The reason I've never gotten into paranormal (or fantasy) is because I just can't stretch my willful disbelief that far. While the dead lover's nocturnal visits to Sonchai's bed can be read as metaphorical, the ending falls apart unless you accept literal otherworldly possession as a real thing. If you're into Southeast Asian urban fantasy, you may think it's the bee's knees. It felt like a cheat to me.

Bangkok Haunts is a virtuoso exercise in voice, characterization and setting. However, if you're looking for a straightforward murder mystery, you sure won't find it here. If you understand what you're getting and like the concept, this may be your bottle of Singha; if you don't, you're likely to be very surprised, perhaps not in a good way. Be warned.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best in the series, certainly a much more linear story than the previous two and a more traditional mystery that unfolds in the typically satisfying ways of the genre. This one's also quite a bit more supernatural and mystical than the previous two. Although the whole series has flirted with the supernatural, it's always been in relation to Buddhist philosophy. This time, there are ghosts and possessions--not exactly horror movie material but certainly less grounded in reality.

What works so well about this series in general is the lead character, Thai cop Sonchai Jitpleecheep. He's lost much of his self consciousness this time and also much of his disdain for "farangs" whom he seems to pity this time. In this book, Sonchai investigates a snuff film starring a former lover, which invariably leads to well connected corrupt foreign businessmen. While this is a recurring motif in these books, it works very well here.

My only real complaint is that the great Colonel Vikorn is underused in the book. In this area only, the far weaker overall previous book Bangkok Tattoo is superior. I recommend this book though and the whole series to lovers of mysteries and of stories set in exotic locales.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good in a weird way. A mystical murder mystery with great characters. I'm enjoying this series.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

My personal experience of Thailand is limited to a two hour layover on the way back from Australia, i.e virtually zero which is one of the reasons I picked this book up. Despite the fact the John Burdett isn’t Thai, he has obviously spent a great deal of time in South East Asia and I hope what he writes about has an element of truth because his portrayal of Thailand is an intense and possibly controversial one.

Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep weaves his way through the worlds of corrupt cops and prostitution with a case that is close to home when someone he loved is killed. This leads to an investigation that reveals not only the depths of prostitution and corruption in Thailand but discussions about Theravadic Buddhism, magic and sorcery. He explores the experience of the many katoeys (from transgender to effeminate gay men) in Bangok, what money and power can get you in Thailand and many other cultural revelations and idiosyncrasies.

To be shocked or saddened by any of this is, according to the novel, to have a purely Western mindset and so I put my hand up and attest I have such a mind when it comes to the corruption and sex trade. Burdett doesn’t help the case much by supplying an endless stream of gender stereotypes in the first few chapters alone; the female tough blond FBI agent who is often just referred to as FBI, the brothel keeper mother, the ex-prostitute girlfriend, who because she is pregnant takes on a kind of Madonna aura and a whole string of beaten up, abused and helpless women.

However, as the novel progresses and the crime is revealed, it becomes clear that the very person calling the shots is a woman, an extremely powerful woman whose power doesn’t come from money or position. I won’t write more as I don’t want to give too much away but whatever its topic the novel gripped me, partly because of the writing but mainly I think because of the subject matter; glimpses into other countries and cultures are why many of us read. With fiction, a healthy dose of skepticism doesn’t hurt but as with TV, this is entertainment, the reading experience is what matters and for me this experience was positive.

[Carl R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Burdett may be the top English-wrting mystery novelist specializing in Asia. With due respect to Graham Greene (Burdett is not of his caliber) his Quiet American is I believe his only Asian work. Burdett, on the other hand, has written a compelling mystery set in the final days of Hong Kong’s possession by the British (The Last Six Million Seconds) and now three novels featuring his Thai/American Bhuddist-pimp detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep. The other two--Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo--made for juicy reading, even if Tattoo was a bit contrived. I was glad to see Haunts come along and look forward to the next one.

Burdett’s books have a unique texture because in the course of solving crimes, Jitpleecheep does a lot of meditating and philosophizing about what he’d doing, why, and what effect he’s having on the whole human condition. He also does a lot of mediating between east and west (in the person of a female FBI agent), himself embodying some of the cross-cultural contradictions because he’s the the son of a Thai madame and an American G.I. Thus, readers can imagine they’re getting an initiation into the Thai/Asian mind as well as into the mystery at hand.

There’s a lot of sex and interesting violence to go along with the philosophy, and Bangkok Haunts is unique in that it involves ghosts (hence the title.) One ghost in particular, whom (which?) I can’t describe without giving up too much of the story. I challenge anyone to come away from this without being entertained. Even enlightened, if you buy Burdett’s brand of Buddhism. It’s an airplane book, and it will give you a hell of a ride.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read Bangkok 8 by Burdett, a number of years ago but, for one reason or another had not read any of the subsequent books in the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series. I now know what I've missed.

This effort is even better than Bangkok 8. The characters are more interesting, the plot is more finely drawn and the over-all style of the book shows Burdett's growth as a writer.

In this story, Sonchai, is sent, anonymously, a pornographic snuff flick that features an ex-girl friend as the victim. Along with his assistant Lek, a Katoey or transvestite, he works to solve the crime and in the process angers his boss, becomes involved in three additional murders, and ends up in a Cambodian compound as a prisoner.

The character of Sonchai is one of the more interesting in detective fiction. Half Thai, half Western, raised as a Thai, he is a devout Bhuddist and contrary to Thai Police norms, refuses bribes. His boss is a totally corrupt but politically wise commander and because Sonchai solves crimes, he keeps him around. The other characters that populate this book are all equally fascinating.

Burdett's descriptions of Bangkok are right on. I say that having spent a great deal of time there. His descriptions of Thai culture are also extremely accurate, at least as far as a farang (foreigner) such as myself can determine.

The plot has enough twists and turns to keep any reader hooked as I was. It is an extremely difficult book to put down.

[Yulia · Rating 2 out of 5]

i would never have finished this book had my boyfriend, frank, not been such a huge fan of this and its two precursors and had he not accused me of intellectual snobbery more than once on account of my difficulty overlooking its heavy-handed and pedantic dialogue and the inauthenticity of the protagonist's voice. it's almost impossible to believe sonchai grew up in thailand, even if he was an outsider as half-farang, and i found this device more distracting than it was worth. but i pressed on and even got turned on and interested by the scenes of brothel life and the look into the backgrounds of thai sex-workers. even so, i couldn't find myself caring if i finished the book because i found the characters so cardboard. frank tells me to keep in mind this is a thriller and i should judge it against its counterparts, but i'm certain thrillers/mysteries are supposed to make me care more what happens next.

one last thing: i couldn't understand why an ad exec had so much to lose from others' learning he slept with beautiful thai women. how was this a shameful secret he could be blackmailed over when we're otherwise led to regard thailand as such an open, sexually-liberated country? if he was a moral conservative, perhaps, or someone who lived by his chastity, but ad execs, business men, and even politicians aren't exactly held to such puritan standards.

ah well, i've finally finished it and completed my relationship obligation. can i move on now?

[Adan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A snuff movie, an exclusive Gentlemen's Club and a mysterious monk all have one thing in common: the afterlife.

Several months after the events of "Bangkok Tattoo" Thai police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is given another bizarre and disturbing assignment. Solve the murder of an shrewd prostitute with whom Sonchai had fallen in love with years earlier. To do so he will have to track down the source of a snuff video and end up suspecting some of the highest ranking members of society to do bring justice to the murdered woman. And that's when Sonchai begins seeing the ghost of the dead woman himself.

I tried reading this book seven years ago but thought it was fun but...too strange. Nowadays I cannot get enough of this series. I am definitely an ardent fan of the books involving Sonchai. There is something so...freaky and strange about the series. The scenarios that the author John Burdett comes up with is very original and very Thai. Only someone with a great imagination and an appreciation of Southeast Asian society could have come up with something like this.

+A brief look into the superstition of Thai-Khmer beliefs
+The first (fictional) use of a snuff movie as a clue to the mystery
+The ever present gross, dark but hilarious sense of humor

-There is a lot of sex, superstition and depictions of poverty; beware if those are too much for you.

[Vakaris the Nosferatu · Rating 4 out of 5]

All reviews in one place: Night Mode Reading

Sonchai received a snuff movie. The kind of a pornographic video where one of the parties gets killed. And while it’s strange in itself that someone would sent it to a cop, it is far stranger that the victim seemed to be willing and encouraging the killer to get on with it. What kind of logic could get someone so willing to die, on a video too, for someone’s sick pleasure? It’s not like the dead need money, but there’s definitely a hint towards some kind of gain the dead woman got.

Worse than the video itself for Sonchai is the fact that he knew the woman in the video, and was madly in love with her at some point. To add to injury, in the video she wore a ring he gave her, as if expecting him to one day see the tape. Sonchai, thus, has no choice, but to try and solve this master plan someone birthed.

This was a strange and interesting read. It definitely got better at the end. I loved the crazy occult things, spiritual reaping, madness, and even the description of human cruelty. I can give it a strong 4 out of 5 for sure.

[Jamie Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Another good book featuring Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a devout Buddhist who frequently dismays his fellow citizens by his refusal to accept bribes. I love the atmosphere in these books, but the plots are only getting weirder.

This one skirts on the edge of having supernatural elements, as Sonchai thinks he’s being haunted by the ghost of an old lover who has been murdered. It’s complicated story involving prostitution, of course, with some pornography added to the mix this time. (It’s interesting that Sonchai and other Thai characters are more accepting of prostitution than pornography.)

Some of the humor comes from the frustrated Japanese filmmaker who wishes to make art house films but can’t find funding. He’s coerced into creating a porn movie as a condition of being released from jail, which is where he ended up after the miserable failure of his previous fundraising attempt, drug smuggling.

[Tooba]

Ghosts, Crimes, Spirituality, and Sins; all are presented in this book by John Burdett. The book is not for everyone but perhaps for a niche of fans. Others might find it disgusting at times. Presenting the Thai culture with the help of research on norms and practices, it offers a lot of knowledge to a person who knows nothing about Thailand and its people.

Complicated romance, deception, and acceptance of the infidelity in search of pleasure is not very easy to see although present even when you are living among those doing it. Burdett has written about the human aspect that is not a common talk in the world of fiction. The specialty of the book is the specificity and the detailed imagination of the horrors which is not easy to convert into words without the quirky talent and a sensitive nature.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Burdett's books always make me wish I were Thai, at least for a while. He somehow conjures a mystic, Asian hominess amidst a sea of sex workers, police corruption, and violence. In Bangkok Haunts, we have the most surreal adventure yet -- the vengeful spirit of a dead prostitute haunts, and eventually tries to murder, all the men that took advantage of her. As always, well-written and a pleasure to read.

[Jennifer S. Alderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like I was in Bangkok again, while reading this book. It's a gritty world Detective Sonchai (main character) is wrapped up in, especially when has to find out who sent him a snuff film featuring his former lover, and why. A disturbing topic but handled masterfully; the reader is spared gory details and Sonchai's emotional pain comes through loud and clear. A well written detective story that will transport you to Thailand. Perfect for lovers of crime and travel fiction.

[Calzean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this series a second chance, I won't be giving it a third chance. Long winded passages going over what we already know. No great building of tension. A solution that involves the ghost of the murder victim. More and more about corruption in Thailand (Transparency International ranked Thailand #76 out of 168 countries and less corrupt than most of it's neighbours). More and more about the sex trade. More and more degradation of women. More and more rubbish philosophy about life.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I love Burdett's uncanny ability to nail the feel of Bangkok (his description of Thai cuisine is without equal) and the Thai mentality, I have grown weary of his main subject matter - prostitution. It would be nice if he somehow coupled his thrillers with a more direct message as to the evils of human trafficking.

[Anjelique Alexander · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could reward this book with 0 stars I would. It was so painfully tedious and horrifying to get through :)

[Alex Gabriel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is only the second review I have written, and I am doing so because this book made me genuinely angry.

I wasn't a fan of Bangkok 8, so I am unsure as to why I read another in the series.

Burdett's writing style is pretentious; the leading character narrates in a pompous fashion and is consistently aiming to wash watery 'philosophy' over the reader (the reader who apparently doesn't understand life and requires frequent lessons, that is). He writes as though he has complete comprehension of the whole of humanity.

Moreover, apparently around 97% of Thailand is corrupt, will accept a bribe, or is involved in prostitution. The leading character and his partner are the only two on the entire police force who are straight edge. What is worse, Thailand is described in a horrible way, which is so difficult to read, adding to the aforementioned pretentiousness/pompous style. It is infuriating to read as it comes across as an offensive white bloke who doesn't realise he is being offensive (he thinks he's being knowledgeable and stylish).

Plot holes were scattered throughout the story, the characters were not likeable and it was a step back from Bangkok 8 (even though that book was also a 1 star from me).

Just not my cup of tea!

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Burdett has written three Bangkok novels: Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, and Bangkok Haunts. The first two were Buddhist Crime Thrillers, the last is a Buddhist Crime Horror Thriller.

All three are remarkable entertainments, with more than a little to say about the eternal east west culture clash.

Sonchai Jitpleecheep, our hero, is a detective educated as a Buddhist monk, though still un-ordained, who works for the Thai Police Force and runs a brothel with his mother, and boss, on the side. In Bangkok Haunts he dabbles in the porn trade while investigating his girl friend's murder, and at the instigation of his boss who's always looking for a way to make a buck.

Bangkok Haunts ups the ante on the first two titles by allowing our good detective to have a huge personal stake in the crime's solution, and by opening the blinds on the multi-billion dollar porn industry, and its offshoot - snuff films.

Choose carefully within the crime and thriller genres, and you will find the best writing of the day. Bangkok Haunts is right up there.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep returns in full form in this third installment of the Bangkok series. Five years after Bangkok 8, Sonchai calls FBI Special Agent Kimberley Jones into town when he receives a high quality snuff film featuring his one time lover, the bewitching prostitute Damrong whose spirit now plagues him--and most of the male suspects for orchestrating her death on film. Unlike the Sonchai of Bangkok Tattoo, he is less disparaging of farangs (perhaps because he is working with 'the FBI' again?) but as deeply meditative as ever. His intuitive investigating again leads the reader through Bangkok's underbelly, this time with a focus on the porn industry, with some diversions into Cambodia and the supernatural realm. Burdett again delivers enough local character to make the supernatural angle possible to Western minds--along with enough insight to elevate Bangkok Haunts to a guilty pleasure above a mere Third World police procedural.

[AGinNoCal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this third book in the series (which I mistakenly believed was the final installment thereof), to be even more fascinating, acerbic, ironic, wise, dark, and intelligent. With a carefully and vividly drawn world through which our protagonist moves at varying speeds and in varying moods, it not only is a grimly gripping tale, but it also is thought provoking and highly entertaining. Yes, it sometimes can become a wee bit ponderous, but I see those moments as the imperfect way our hero attempts to describe what he believes or comes to understand. I think that makes him more real, and I find him to be a quite richly developed character, and thus not everything he says is or can be pure gold. For the most part I found myself drawn to pick it up each evening and allow myself to be drawn back in. Once I realized that there are three more volumes starring Detective Jitpleecheep, I immediately ordered them and look forward to their arrival so I can dive back into Mr. Burdett's mind-expanding and dangerous world.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it starts out like a typical international crime thriller, Burdett's Bangkok Haunts quickly spins out of control through cultural mysticism.

I didn't mind the paranormal twist, however, by the last third of the novel, I was completely thrown into a foreign world where magic is as normal as breathing. Although Burdett writes with a command of knowledge of Thai culture, Buddhism, and investigative procedures, he cannot capture my mind and heart the way he did with Bangkok Tattoo.

I am a little hesitant to dive into the next novel in this series, as it explores another form of Buddhism with great depth, but Burdett's power as an author is his ability to leave you wanting more even when that more is not quite understood.

A challenging book in a hybrid genre, perfect for the reader wanting to grow in spiritual awareness while enjoying the rocky ride of a psychological suspense crime thriller.

[Hardcover Hearts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally the series got back on track.

This is one of the best series I have read. The first book blew me away with the pace, the cultural references that intermixed Buddhism and modern Thai existence, with a crime story and a corrupted, 3rd world justice system. The second book was an immense failure for me because of the story telling devices the author used to narrate. There was already enough flying at you without having to mess with the time line of a story.

Well, the story I was so intrigued by in the first book is back with Bangkok Haunts. The characters are still there and evolving. The story is just as bizarre and raw, without being too much so. I am happy to saw that I enjoyed it like the first. While the ending was out there- it fit with the story and the superstitions/ belief systems hinted through the book.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome read if you want a doorway to another perspective on West vs. East and don't mind being shaken out of your comfort zone. Our Buddhist detective hero, Sonchai, receives a video of a snuff film, which turns out to be of a prostitute who he was formerly obsessed with. The case draws him, his transexual partner, and female FBI friend closer the heart of the evil den of the pornography business as the body count rises. The reader gets a little twisted in where to draw moral lines, as Sonchia himself helps his mother run a brothel and his corrupt boss on the police force forces him to help start production of their own convention porn videos. Throughout we get lots of twists over the target of the investigation, burgeoning reflections on karma and spiritualty, and moving perspective on the meaning of love in our dehumanizing modern culture.

[Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fate from the Femme Fatale's Fatality.

Burdett attempts a twist on the noir genre by sending detective Sonchai on a search to discover the reason one of his exes was a victim in a snuff film. Dark stuff, indeed. Burdett is far more liberal with his use of Thai spiritualism and supernatural occurrences, which will probably turn some readers off, but fits within the world that he has created. If you accept the blending of the spiritual and secular world, however, you are in for a good ride. For fans of Southeast Asian noir, this is a good series to start with, and this entry will hold up well against other author's entries. There is too much background written into the story to start Burdett's series with this entry, however, so best to start from Bangkok 8 and go form there.

[Carol Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books that are set in other cultures are frequently intriguing for me. This book in a series that features Bankok detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a devout Buddhist, is a fascinating mystery that features an erotic ghost, prostitution, a snuff film, etc. It was a little too exotic for my tastes in the long run.

[Loz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the first two books and read them in a about a week. This one was painful, over the top, convoluted and lame. It took me over a month to get through it -I hope he writes another in the series to show that this was just a blip!

[Alicen · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Burdett delivers again with a fast-paced mystery that weaves together various elements of Thai culture. His writing style makes you feel as though you are right there in the action! If you are at all interested in Thailand or Thai culture I highly recommend this book.