Asia Hand

Vincent Calvino #2

by Christopher G. Moore

The body an American acquaintance of Calvino's is fished out of the lake in Lumpini Park. Around his neck is a string of wooden amulets, the kind upcountry Thais wear to protect themselves from evil spirits. Only, rather than saving the man, these have killed him.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

325 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

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

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

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

Reviews

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: an American acquaintance of Calvino's is fished out of the lake. Around his neck is a string of wooden Thai amulets; did they kill him?

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good pi novel set in bangkok. the copy editing was atrocious, and that for some reasoned bugged me. but anyway, calvino is a farang who left his hometown nyc 9 years ago, divorced, dis-barred, and a daddy. he has settled well in thailand and has a good friend in the police force, a world renowned jazz man, a steady lady firend. then the fricking cia, us army, special opps, etc show up with their "movie" company they use to foment atrocities in out of the way places like thai-burma border. calvino takes care of their ass though.

[Claire Osgood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast moving book set in Bangkok. Action, with an air of mystery. Murders during the shooting of a couple films. Asians and non Asians meeting their ends in interesting ways.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, interesting novel. I like it because it predates or avoids the world of technology associated with computers, smartphones, wifi, and the rest. Instead, Asia Hand takes place in a world of phone booths, hard copy newspapers, landlines, and at worst a satellite phone. The drama surrounds the characters, not the machinery they operate. There is one anachronism I spotted and I think it's due to the novel being updated in 2010 from its original publication in 1993. It takes place when there is a handful of references to DVDs, which were not commonplace until the late 90s. Moore also refers to his hero, 37 year old Vincent Calvino as a boomer. That would make sense in 1993, with Calvino being born in 1956 but at odds with some of the out of time references around 2010, which would have meant Calvino was born in 1973 or so. Still, okay, it's an entertaining story of espionage, murder, corruption, and underworld crime in Bangkok. Things do become a bit overly complex and convoluted as the plot works its way towards the end, with fake moviemaking, assassinations in Burma, and American rogue agents padding their own nests after a post Vietnam War career assisting in overthrowing governments and killing foes and friends.

One thing did irritate and that is what I think is the too detailed description of Bangkok. I felt like I was reading a road atlas. Not to mention that those atlases quickly go out of date. That sort of happens, here. The all important setting of Washington Square is now gone, obliterated to make room for another mall (after providing the place for a dinosaur theme part that flopped in the late 2010s). So even if a contemporary reader wanted to uncover Calvino's haunts, they wouldn't be able to find them. Good news is Villa Supermarket is still there. I wonder if Moore was paid per mention of Villa in the book. At any rate, I get the same feel of other novels I read that are set in cities I don't know, such as New York. So much detail ends up spoiling the atmosphere. But I guess Moore has had an established readership among Thai and Southeast Asian expat English readers that like this stuff and help launch his books.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very atmospheric (Bangkok circa early '90s) and entertaining read. The action climax is overly elaborate, but I suppose people find that entertaining. I actually thought the events took place much later because the geopolitics described in 1992 continue to the present day. The author has lived in Bangkok since '88; I look forward to reading more of his books.

[Dufourmentel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done, everything is there
Pratt, Calvino's ex-wife, his daughter,
the enigma around the world of cinema,
and the plot that makes you want to continue reading to find out more,
in short, I love it ...
I really enjoyed reading this adventure of Calvino.

Thank you Christopher G. Moore the author.

[Nicholas George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gritty, hard-boiled detective Vinny Calvino gets embroiled in a complex underworld scheme involving bogus film productions and numerous characters in the underbelly of Bangkok. It's all pretty dark stuff, but it moves along.

[Vallery Feldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Excellent sense of place-badly written, very disjointed and at times makes no sense. Not recommended.

[Michael D Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disjointed

The author bounced around between past and present a lot without warning and would catch you off guard. Looking forward to a better in Zero Hour in Phenom Phen.

[Peter Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gritty and great. A small window on Bangkok in the grimy world of a private detective. Hard boiled and awesome!

[John M. Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK

To me it was hard to read. I could never really get interested in it. I may or may not read the next one

[Mickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to follow

Hard to follow until you get to the very end. As a Christian, I was not happy to see the sex scenes which I thought were unnecessary.

[Monzenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay combination of a detective thriller and an exotic location. Probably high three stars due to the notable resolution

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery/ crime genre covers a lot of territory; this series falls into what I call the expat genre, those that take place in a foreign country with a Western protagonist often paired with or advised by a national. In this case the country is Thailand and the farang (foreigner) is a disbarred NY lawyer now working as PI in Bangkok along with his close friend a colonel in the Thai police. I had not read any in this series before, but this one was pretty good with a plot that is just far fetched enough to be possible, when it comes to covert operations. Moore is very good at conveying the intricacies of Southeast Asia geopolitics and Thai culture. And he paints a very believable picture of his expat characters. Unfortunately, the book needs to go back to the publisher for major copy editing/proofreading. So many errors are annoying, so for this reason I can't give it 4 stars.

[Jay Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the last day of the semi-annual library book sale, you can fill a shopping bag of books for $5. This book found it's way home in one of those bags. I picked it up and looked at it many times. Then put it down. Picked it up. Put it down. Read other books ... repeat. I thought it was written by Christopher Moore. Was not. I eventually read it as a beach book. As a story, it's good. I read too much crime fiction so I'm fairly over/underwhelmed by the plot twists and what not of that genre. As a tool to learn a little bit about the culture of Thailand, though, it was very good. That's one of the main reasons I like reading fiction: to take a virtual trip and see a culture through the eyes of the author. Christopher "G" Moore wrote a nice novel that showed a tiny bit of Thai culture. :)

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read one of Moore's Vincent Calvino mysteries, but after a couple of Tim Hallinan's I wanted more Bangkok and Moore delivered. This is only the second in the series and it's nice to know that Moore is up to #15 now at least as of 2015. So Calvino is still dealing with the aftermath of his Brooklyn life and the goombas find him in Thailand as does his left-behind wife and daughter. Characters are good and there's a nice balance between the cultures, and descriptions of both the public and private Thai face.

[BoardInMalibu · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first book by Christopher G Moore. Read it because I'm a Timothy Hallinan fan and he usually has some reference to C G Moore in his books. Liked the protagonist Vincent Calvino. Have to read at least one more Vincent Calvino to decide how much I like the series. Terrific background on Bangkok, makes you research the city and its rich history.

[Jim Bilbro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting Bangkok noir, but his copy editor should be marooned on an island: there were glaring typos on nearly every page. Still, a good read, even if it makes you feel a bit soiled. Good noir detectective fiction should, in fact, leave you feeling rather soiled.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish more of Moore's Vincent Calvino novels would start appearing at my local Library. This one turns out to be # 2, while the one I read previously was # 9. Hopefully, they will soon become more available in Canada!

[Jack Laschenski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Bangkok thriller.

U.S. Army Intelligence Agents are the bad guys!

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crime fiction shouldn't be this hard. Booooooring.

[Diogenes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Exciting Thailand mystery, lots of local lore. Fast paced.

[Bill]

I enjoyed this immensely until the end which didn't deliver.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3.0

[Diogenes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calvino's twisted adventure in Thailand with great local color, but plot not quite credible.