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Slash And Burn (Dr. Siri Paiboun #8)

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 488 ratings · 130 reviews

The eighth installment in Colin Cotterill's bestselling mystery series starring the inimitable Lao national coroner, Dr. Siri
Dr. Siri was 72 years old in 1974 when he was forced out of retirement and grudgingly became Laos's national coroner. Now he might finally be allowed to retire (again). Although he loves his two morgue assistants, he's never loved the job, and he w...more

Hardcover, 374 pages

Published October 1st 2011 by Quercus

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Mar 29, 2013 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In spite of the title, this story is not so intense and has a great deal more humor than its predecessor (Love Songs from a Shallow Grave). After his ordeal in Cambodia, Dr. Siri is finally being allowed to retire from his job as Laos’ national (and only) coroner. However, he is sent for one last mission off in the jungle to find the remains of an American pilot. He contrives to replace most of the Laotian politicians appointed to the search party with his own familiar friends and family and the...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Miki101.michaela rated it 5 of 5 stars

After the misadventures our admired hero, the Laotian against-his-will-coroner Dr Siri had to suffer in the book Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Dr Siri Paiboun Mystery 7) he surely deserves an all-expenses-paid holiday trip to the northern mountains of Laos.
The more as he is literally counting the hours and minutes to leave his undesired working place for the long merited retirement.
But - what is a holiday without Your nearest and dearest?
In the end, with a little help from a close friend name...more

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Apr 12, 2013 P.d.r. Lindsay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-mysteries

There’s been a trend for some years to set murder mysteries in exotic locations. Indeed there’s one Crime Small Press which only publishes crime novels if the action takes place in somewhere like the Sahara or Mongolia and the main characters are indigenous too. Certainly there has been a flood of grim serial killer/FBI crime novels, police procedural novels and spunky female P.I. novels, perhaps readers needed a change. Alas, what happened was that a whole range of poorly researched, set in Tim...more
There’s been a trend for some years to set murder mysteries in exotic locations. Indeed there’s one Crime Small Press which only publishes crime novels if the action takes place in somewhere like the Sahara or Mongolia and the main characters are indigenous too. Certainly there has been a flood of grim serial killer/FBI crime novels, police procedural novels and spunky female P.I. novels, perhaps readers needed a change. Alas, what happened was that a whole range of poorly researched, set in Timbuctoo type crime fiction appeared, only to be shown up for its inadequacies by the likes of Eliot Pattison’s Tibetan Shan series and Colin Cotterill’s Dr Siri series. Thankfully the flood of dross has stopped but Pattison and Cotterill write on.

Collin Cotterill sets his series in Laos under the newish, so-called Communist government of the 1970's. His ‘hero’ is a 70 year old doctor who wants to retire, but is forced to be the country’s one and only coroner. There’s no one else to do it. He is only too aware that revolutions keep on coming round, that even a so called radical change merely means more of the same. The King might have been inefficient; his communist replacements are just as bad. This type of thinking lands Dr Siri in all sorts of strife as does his position as coroner. The dead bodies which come his way haven’t always died naturally but he is expected to hush up, cover up and be a good party man. The way he wriggles round all these expectations to find justice for the dead makes for amusing and thoroughly entertaining reading. Collin Cotterill tells a good tale with a dry wit and a thoroughly cynical view of all politics and governments. Quercus picked another good author here.

‘Slash and Burn’ is number eight in the series. Dr Siri is full of himself. He’s managed to outwit his boss and grab a holiday, a really nice trip, and it’s an all-expenses-paid trip to the northern mountains of Laos. Also he’s fixed it, with a bit more blackmail, blackmail he can apply because his presence has been specially requested, so that his wife and work colleagues can all accompany him. The trip is to take an official delegation from the U.S. who hope to find a missing U.S. airman who was lost in the region in 1968. The Pathet Lao government only agree to cooperate with their former enemy because of the much needed food aid and money offered but they fear spies in the American camp.

Cotterill is able to make much humour out of the cultural misunderstandings between the two groups and his knowledge of the Laotian culture adds a great deal to the charm of the novel. The plot careers along with hilarious misunderstandings, drinking parties, politicians on both sides displaying varying degrees of corruption but Dr Siri is fine until the transvestite seer, Auntie Bpoo, gatecrashes the trip and prophecies his imminent death. However it’s not his death which reveals there is a lot more to this trip than finding a missing airman. The two sides might be cooperating for political reasons, there’s a US senator involved, but they are not speaking the same language or searching for the same reasons. And who is spying? After a member of the US group is found dead at the Friendship Hotel, the problems follow thick and fast. Dr Siri is determined to uncover the truth for the victim’s sake and his wife, Madame Daeng, his mortuary staff, Mr Gueng, Nurse Dtui, her inspector husband, and Dr Siri’s friends, Phosy and Civilai, help out although they frequently tell him: `This is another fine mess you've got us into, Dr Siri.'. It is, but it isn’t his fault and the ending is delightful thanks to his wife’s knowledge of herbs and Mr Gueng’s ability to never forget anything.

If you have never read any of these novels before do start with the first, ‘The Coroner’s Lunch’ and work your way through to this one. You won’t regret it and will give yourself several weeks of entertaining and darned good reading.
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Oct 26, 2012 Samy Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone liking mysteries in foreign lands with humor in them

Recommended to Samy by: a list on the internet years ago

This is the latest of the Dr. Siri books. It came out in 2011 and tells of happenings from the 1980s. Laos is still becoming a country, and the Americans want a joint Lao-American team to search the jungle for a MIA pilot. The Americans demand that Dr. Siri, the country's only coroner, be on the Lao team. This team is already chosen (cronyism) but the fact that the Americans demand Siri gives him the power to re-choose the team. Now it includes his wife, his nurse and her husband, his 2 friends...more This is the latest of the Dr. Siri books. It came out in 2011 and tells of happenings from the 1980s. Laos is still becoming a country, and the Americans want a joint Lao-American team to search the jungle for a MIA pilot. The Americans demand that Dr. Siri, the country's only coroner, be on the Lao team. This team is already chosen (cronyism) but the fact that the Americans demand Siri gives him the power to re-choose the team. Now it includes his wife, his nurse and her husband, his 2 friends and his helper from the morgue. Actually, a much more capable team than the original one.

The team members of each country do not speak the other's language and must rely on interpreters... who end up being a young girl and a transvestite. The transvestite (a mystical sorcerer or is she a fortune teller only?) foresees Siri's death and has determined to save him.

The twists and quirks make this a very interesting novel as well as a humorous one at times. The Laotians are good at wry humor, and detecting, deducing, and enjoying the moment, almost as good as throwing back the liquor. They track down what really happened to the missing pilot, what the search is really about and who the bad guys really are. At no time are you allowed, however, to forget that this is Lao, not the "civilized" western world.

There is a great chance for the disabled man Geung to be the hero. And as in all his books. Cotterill shows the humanity of Geung and the respect he garners from the Laotians who come to know him.

From an interview with Cotterill by Michael Sullivan, (http://www.npr.org/2012/08/10/1585443...) What is special is:"Dr. Siri's relationship with the dead, that is to say, his ability to see and converse with the dead, particularly the souls of the recently departed who end up in his morgue.

COTTERILL: I didn't know this until after I'd written the book, but there are certain rules that you have to observe, and you're not allowed to cheat. You have to solve your crimes through the guile and common sense of a detective. Whereas Dr. Siri has clues from the beyond which don't solve the cases for him but which linger in his mind all the way through. He refers back to the clues that he gets, but he doesn't solve these mysteries through them."

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Aug 30, 2012 Booknblues rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to say that reading a Dr. Siri mystery by Colin Cotterill is great fun. Dr. Siri is an aging coroner in Laos who comes accompanied by a group of entertaining co-workers and has a number of ghosts who tag along and haunt him.

Slash and Burn is my first read of his and I really got quite a kick out of it. It is set in 1978 and the relations between the US and Laos is still tense. Siri is ordered to assist a group of Americans who are searching for the body of a helicopter pilot whose helicop...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this latest adventure of the ever-entertaining Dr. Siri Paiboun, national coroner of Laos, the good doctor is "chosen" by the party leaders to accompany his nemesis Judge Haeng as members of a multi-national team going to a remote site in Thailand to find out what actually happened when the son of a US Senator crashed his helo in this unknown village. There are varying versions of how the aviator came to be in the area where his helicopter crashed, and how the chopper wreckage was discovered....more In this latest adventure of the ever-entertaining Dr. Siri Paiboun, national coroner of Laos, the good doctor is "chosen" by the party leaders to accompany his nemesis Judge Haeng as members of a multi-national team going to a remote site in Thailand to find out what actually happened when the son of a US Senator crashed his helo in this unknown village. There are varying versions of how the aviator came to be in the area where his helicopter crashed, and how the chopper wreckage was discovered. The task now is to find out if the pilot is dead (no human remains have been found), locate the body, or determine what actually happened to him. To add to the mix, Cotterill gives us a stereotypical pompous US politician in white suit who wants to pop in for a photo op whenever they find the body he is convinced is at the site.

There are the usual and always entertaining contretemps between the Laos, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the Americans, but I think this one is the best of the series. The mystery is much more developed and coherently unveiled, the characters by now have reached a maturity that enables the reader to concentrate on the person instead of the quirks, although there are several new players who definitely contribute to the story's charm as well as the plot's intricacy. The young interpreter "Peach Short" is a definite addition and I hope if the series continues that Cotterill can find a way to include her in future adventures.

As the story unfolds, and the clues are revealed, the mystery becomes more involved. The history of the US "non-involvment" in the area during the Vietnam Conflict is well handled and, as with all the previous stories in the series, quite educational. The ending is well developed, thrilling and unexpected, once again leaving the reader wondering if Dr. Siri will continue to offer his skills to his country, or if somehow, somewhere, he'll be allowed to retire and relax to sip whiskey with his friend Civilai by the side of the river before going home to Madame Deung and her wonderful noodles.

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Jun 24, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, fiction, historical-novel, mysteries, series, spies-and-such, war

Readers meeting Dr. Siri and his cohorts for the first time in this eighth in the Siri series might very well wonder what they had stumbled into. Farce, cross-dressing, and the supernatural are not characteristics we instinctively think of when reviewing our knowledge of communist Laos, but Cotterill shows us that Laos has it all. A world more remote from everyday American life would be hard to find, but Cotterill manages to make a seventy-plus-year-old government coroner the best guide to Lao l...more Readers meeting Dr. Siri and his cohorts for the first time in this eighth in the Siri series might very well wonder what they had stumbled into. Farce, cross-dressing, and the supernatural are not characteristics we instinctively think of when reviewing our knowledge of communist Laos, but Cotterill shows us that Laos has it all. A world more remote from everyday American life would be hard to find, but Cotterill manages to make a seventy-plus-year-old government coroner the best guide to Lao life.

Usually Lao communist government policies are the target of Cotterill’s acerbic wit, but this book introduces a group of Americans searching for the body of a downed pilot. The target thus shifts, and Cotterill uses history against the Americans. Carpet bombing of Laos during the Vietnam War era left scars on the country, killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers, and led to the discovery of gold in the mountainous bombed areas of eastern Laos. (It‘s true, according to the New York Times in 2002.)

We are also given an outsiders’ view of the American election cycle in which senators buy their seats and fathers murder their own sons to further their personal fortunes or political ambitions. One could argue it looks like that to outsiders, particularly to outsiders who do not subscribe to American reliance on self as opposed to family, community, or larger social groups. But it is all done with a sense of parody and the absurd foremost.

This may be the first time Americans make an appearance in the Siri series, and it is with an understanding of our legacy there and current perceptions of Americans that we must proceed. But one has to wonder how much the Lao characters are Lao in name only and how much a western mindset is overlaid their thoughts and actions. I have always wondered this and can’t help but suspect these folks are too cosmopolitan and worldly-wise, despite their ages, for a country as closed and psychically distant as Laos. It’s all in Cotterill’s mind, and what a mind it is! Great fiction here, folks: Take the trip.
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Apr 27, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dr. Siri is two months away from finally retiring as the national coroner of Laos in 1978 when he is reluctantly engaged in a joint U.S./Laotian mission in a remote northern jungle in which an American helicopter had crashed ten years earlier. It appears the pilot was the son of a U.S. Senator, and there are various subtexts to the operation. The wily 80-year-old doctor outfoxes his superiors substituting his wife and friends on the task force as a last paid vacation before leaving his job.

Of co...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Tuck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The last?! Dr. Siri paiboun book about the lone state coroner of laos, and his crew of competent cutups investigating a possible MIA in the tribal NE part of the country in 1978. the usual mayhem ensues and dr. siri’s ghosts and spirits help him out of a bad bad jam. Fun mysteries, good plots, sardonic and funny characters, and lots of good info about SE asia and laos in particular during the 1970’s (just after usa dropped millions and millions of bombs on them in a “secret” campaign, [thanks tr...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Dorothy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-mysteries

The 74-year-old Dr. Siri has been trying to retire for years, but his country, 1978 Laos after the Pathet Lao revolution, just won't let him go. Now, though, it seems as if he might actually be able to achieve his long-held dream of retirement to spend his final years relaxing with his new wife and famous noodle shop owner, Madame Daeng. He shouldn't be counting the days, however, because his country has just one last assignment for him.

In 1968, there was a helicopter crash somewhere in the nort...more The 74-year-old Dr. Siri has been trying to retire for years, but his country, 1978 Laos after the Pathet Lao revolution, just won't let him go. Now, though, it seems as if he might actually be able to achieve his long-held dream of retirement to spend his final years relaxing with his new wife and famous noodle shop owner, Madame Daeng. He shouldn't be counting the days, however, because his country has just one last assignment for him.

In 1968, there was a helicopter crash somewhere in the northeast of the country. The pilot was never found and is listed as MIA. It was an American helicopter from Air America, a CIA operation. Ten years later, the Americans are still seeking those lost in their Southeast Asian wars and, for some reason, they now seem focused on this one pilot. Could it be because his father is now a powerful United States senator?

At any rate, an American delegation, including another senator, arrives to conduct the search for the pilot and they must, of course, be accompanied and aided by a Laotian delegation. Who better to head that group than Laos's national - and only - coroner, Dr. Siri Paiboun?

Dr. Siri agrees to go on one condition; that he is able to select his companions and helpers. As usual, he has his boss, the odious Judge Haeng, at a disadvantage and Haeng agrees to the condition. Thus, Siri takes to the road accompanied by his wife, as well as nurse Dtui, policeman Phosy, morgue assistant Mr. Geung, and old friend Civilai. Unbeknownst to him - at first - he is also accompanied by Auntie Bpoo, the transvestite fortune-teller of Vientiane who has foreseen Siri's imminent death, which she is determined to try to prevent.

This very mixed group, along with translators, heads out to the wilds of the country where unexploded bombs still lurk to take the limbs or the lives of the unwary. Very soon, Siri suspects that all may not be well with the group of Americans especially when a pack belonging to one of them, Major Potter, explodes, nearly killing a porter. Was the explosion meant for the major?

Soon after, the major does indeed wind up dead in what is made to appear to be a very embarrassing accident, but our intrepid coroner quickly determines that it was no accident. It was murder. In order to entrap the murderer, who surely must be one of the group, he allows them to think that he believes it was an accident. As other "accidents" and unfortunate events begin to pile up, Siri begins to think that maybe Auntie Bpoo's prediction was correct. Maybe his "retirement" will be to the grave.

Slash and Burn is told with Colin Cotterill's usual blend of ironic humor and deep respect for the Lao culture. It is a winning combination. I always enjoy spending time with Dr. Siri and his friends. (less)

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Jan 28, 2012 J.R. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers

Dr. Siri Paiboun, the reluctant coroner, is attempting once more to retire when he’s recruited for a national mission in the summer of 1978.

A joint Laotian-American delegation is headed into a remote jungle area to search for signs of a U.S. Marine helicopter pilot who had gone missing in 1968 in an unauthorized flight (officially designated a humanitarian aid mission). The pilot happens to be the son of a prominent American senator and Siri subsequently learns several witnesses claimed the Mari...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Spuddie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery set in 1970's Laos. Dr. Siri really wants to retire from his post as the national coroner of Laos. He's only just recovered from near-death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge and since he's over seventy, he figures he deserves to spend a few years relaxing with his wife. But he gets roped into one last job on a junket to northern Laos looking for the remains of a missing American pilot.

Accompanying Siri--at his insistence, via a little blackmail of Judge Haeng, his nemesis-...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Mark Stevens rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The “mystery” genre is a wide-open, anything-goes canvas. A few pages into “Slash and Burn” or any of the Cotterill stories and you’ll realize you’re into a whole new realm with all new rules. Our “hero” is Dr. Siri Paiboun, a Loatian coroner who is pushing 80 years old. He’s feisty and irascible about just about everything and that gives him the everyman quality that’s easy to latch onto. Dr. Siri is free to think or say anything—and he does.

“Slash and Burn” is light and breezy. There is a dol...more

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Feb 02, 2013 William rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

This is, i believe, the eighth in Cotterill's Dr. Siri series, and I have read and enjoyed all of them. My wife liked this one less than many of the others because she found it a bit dark in tone, and she is accurate in that perception. But I actually had more laugh-out-loud moments reading this than perhaps in any other, and enjoyed, as always, the combination of a police procedural with the animist supernatural.

Since this story takes place in Laos, there is less of Cotterill's insight into the...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Martha Bullen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Colin Cotterill does it again. His Dr. Siri books, set in 1970s Laos, are consistently amusing and engaging reads that also go much deeper in describing the issues of the time. This is another strong addition to the series, which involves the search for an American M.I.A. whose helicopter crashed in Laos during the Vietnam War. Dr. Siri and his friends are captivating characters, and their interactions with the American contingent are funny and surprising, as is the plot. It has a lot of plot de...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Scilla rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dr. Siri was anticipating his retirement. However, he is told to go a commission to the north with a group of Americans to try to find Boyd Bowry, the son of a US senator who went missing in Laos during the Viet Nam war. Dr. Siri, negotiates the members of the group from Laos to include his "team": wife Madame Daeng, Dtui and Phosy, his friend Mr. Civilai, and Geung. It seems there are folks who don't want Bowry found. The only two witnesses to Bowry going up in the helicopter have suddenly died...more

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May 12, 2013 Anirban rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, amateur-detective, foriegn, favorites, 2013

“A good communist is like a tree. He stands firm but knows how to bend in a strong wind. He is fertile but gladly gives up his nuts to less fortunate creatures”

Slash and Burn, the eighth installment of the Dr.Siri mysteries, starts off when an American delegation led by Major Potter visits Laos, starting a joint operation to search for an American helicopter pilot who was lost during the war. Although presumed dead, a photograph delivered to the pilot’s dad, an American senator showed that he wa...more “A good communist is like a tree. He stands firm but knows how to bend in a strong wind. He is fertile but gladly gives up his nuts to less fortunate creatures”

Slash and Burn, the eighth installment of the Dr.Siri mysteries, starts off when an American delegation led by Major Potter visits Laos, starting a joint operation to search for an American helicopter pilot who was lost during the war. Although presumed dead, a photograph delivered to the pilot’s dad, an American senator showed that he was still alive. Dr.Siri is asked to join the expedition. Then as a member of the team dies under unnatural circumstances, Dr.Siri smells foul and starts to investigate his death.

This was my first Colin Cotterill book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very few writers have the talent of combing crime writing with humor i.e. write a crime novel which would not only be a page turner but would also make the reader laugh. The only name that comes to mind is that of the late John Mortimer, who along with his legendary creation Horace Rumpole created the same potent mixture of crime and humor, just as Cotterill did with his Dr.Siri mysteries.

Dr.Siri is one of a kind. He is an old pathologist who is fighting for his retirement. He is also an amateur sleuth in a Communist country, who doesn’t gives a damn about what the politburo might think about his comments towards Communism. Matching his wit for their own, is his wife Madam Geung, the noodle shop owner, and his friend Civlai, an ex-politburo member and Auntie Bpoo a transgender and a cross dresser, who also is an amateur poet. The plot without being anything extraordinary was twisted, and it also incorporated the events of the helicopter crash in a foolproof manner. The amount of blood and gore was low, rather nil, and the pace was sedate.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to every crime fiction reader. Because I realized after finishing, that if you haven’t encountered Dr.Siri, your Crime Fiction experience isn’t complete.
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Jul 24, 2012 Margaret Sankey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In what Cotterill says is the last Dr. Siri mystery novel, it is 1978, and the only coroner in Laos, now retired Siri is compelled by the government to accompany an American group searching for the MIA helicopter pilot son of a powerful Senator. Embarrassing secrets mount, as it become apparent that the pilot was high as a kite when the Air America flight crashed, political interests more interested in teak harvesting than MIA recovery may be leaving false clues, an American officer dies in shoc...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Kelly Knapp rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: mystery buffs, anyone who witnessed the Vietnam war

Recommended to Kelly by: Goodreads First reads giveaway.

Set in the late 70s after the fall of Saigon, the American government requests permission to take a joint task force into Laos to search for the remains of a POW/MIA, who disappeared years earlier. In addition, they would like Dr. Siri, Laos’ only forensic coroner to accompany them. The Laos government agrees and sends for Dr. Siri.

Dr. Siri refuses at first, then reluctantly agrees upon the condition that he chooses the Laotian team. Dr. Siri decides that this would be the perfect time to give h...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Jane Routley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: detective, laughed

I just love Dr Siri mysteries. Who would have thought anyone could make books about post-vietnam war Laos so fun. Laotian Coroner Siri, his nurse, his intellectually disabled lab assistant and his other friends are delightful and Cotterall always manages to bring in some serious subject to satisfy the purtian in me. Cotteral's Laos feels so real too and he is in a position to know it. This time the team are searching for a missing Air America pilot up near the plain of Jars (does anyone else fee...more

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Feb 16, 2013 CarolineFromConcord rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really love this author. Some of the novels are better than others. This one about Dr. Siri Paiboun, the only coroner in Laos, was especially satisfying. Cotterill displayed his usual raucous humor (I was laughing so hard in a corner of the subway one day, I thought the T would call a medical emergency). But he feels very serious about what happened to Laos in the Americans' "secret war," and he researched the details well and hit hard with them. For me, even the supernatural elements work. Co...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Frank rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, mysteries

Though the eighth book in the Dr. Siri series, this was my first venture into Laos of the 1970s alongside the coroner, his noodle shop proprietor wife and the cast of characters hovering around the jungles of southeast Asia in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It is 1978 and before he can retire, Dr. Siri Paiboun is pulled into one more case, that of a Missing in Action pilot, who disappeared on a flight ten years earlier. Once the 74-year old who runs the nation's only morgue is able to convinc...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-asia, historical-mystery

Dr. Siri, who is more than ready to retire as coroner of Laos, a job he never wanted, is persuaded to join an American-Laotian team looking for a MIA pilot in the north of the country. He takes his team, including his wife Madame Daeng, with him, but soon they find themselves and the Americans stranded in a no-fly zone, with a dead body. It looks like suicide, but Siri thinks it's murder. Does someone want to sabotage their investigation, or are there other reasons for the death. Cotterill, an E...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Don rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It always a pleasure to spend time with Dr. Siri, the Laotian national coroner circa 1976, "seventy four years of age, forty-eight years an unconvincing member of the Communist Party, host to a thousand-year-old Hmong shaman spirit, culturally tainted beyond redemption by ten years in Paris...emotionally numbed to the horrors of injury and death by years of battlefront surgery." In this installment, its despite Cotterill's descent into the tiresome paranoid fantasies so typical of lefty Brits wi...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Wal.li rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

MIA Missing in Action

Wieder einmal besuchte ich Dr. Siri im Laos der 70er Jahre. Nach seinem letzten schwierigen Fall hat Dr. Siri eigentlich die Rente beantragt und nun schlägt er die Zeit tot bis er dieselbe endlich für sich selbst und seine Frau hat. Da hätte er den Zettel am besten einfach zerrissen. Aber Dr. Sire tut sich doch schwer mit dem nein-sagen, da ist seine Neugier einfach zu groß. Und so landet er bei seinem Chef im Büro mit einer ganzen Horde amerikanischer Offizieller, die er ni...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Cathy Cole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First Line: You know? Being shut up in a cage with a live bear was a piece of cake compared to being drunk and high in charge of a half-a-million dollars' worth of flying metal.

Dr. Siri Paiboun, the National Coroner of Laos, is getting up close and personal to the age of eighty. He's announced his retirement, and he's counting down the days until he no longer has to deal with his incompetent superiors. You know what happens when you begin that countdown, don't you? Sure enough, Dr. Siri is place...more First Line: You know? Being shut up in a cage with a live bear was a piece of cake compared to being drunk and high in charge of a half-a-million dollars' worth of flying metal.

Dr. Siri Paiboun, the National Coroner of Laos, is getting up close and personal to the age of eighty. He's announced his retirement, and he's counting down the days until he no longer has to deal with his incompetent superiors. You know what happens when you begin that countdown, don't you? Sure enough, Dr. Siri is placed on a joint team of Americans and Laos charged with finding and identifying the body of an American airman who's been missing in action for ten years.

There's no way Dr. Siri can weasel out of the assignment. The only thing he manages to do is to stack his team with his wife, friends and co-workers. If he's being forced to go, he may as well try to enjoy himself. (If there's any other reason why he wants his nearest and dearest to go with him, he's not sharing the information.) With the Americans bringing the food and in charge of the transportation, they journey to a remote area in northern Laos. Arriving at their destination-- a decrepit hotel in the middle of a field of unexploded ordinance-- smoke begins to fill the air.

If it were a few months later in the year, the smoke could easily be attributed to the natives' "slash and burn" farming techniques, but it's much too early for that. Dr. Siri knew before they ever started out that something was going on, and the poor visibility proves that someone is doing their best to blow smoke in his eyes. When a member of the group is found dead, Dr. Siri knows that he's got to put all the clues together before the fortune teller's predictions of his death come true.

According to the dust jacket of this book, this is the final installment of the Dr. Siri series, and I will miss it. Cotterill has concocted a devious, multi-layered plot in which it's easy to become confused. This confusion arises because most of the people are saying one thing and doing something entirely different. They all have their own agendas.

What is needed is someone who's used to this way of running things-- someone who can see past the smoke and mirrors-- and who better than Dr. Siri? Dr. Siri who has lived in France and has an acquaintance with cultures other than his own. Dr. Siri, who is no stranger to guerilla fighting in the jungle. Dr. Siri, who knows how to look past the surface and see directly into the hearts of those around him.

Allowing Siri to hand-pick his own team is ensemble casting at its very best. For long-time fans of the series, each regular character has his or her part to play in the story. For those readers meeting these wonderful people for the first time, they're getting to see them at their very best. As things begin to go wrong and the team is forced to stay past the range of the Americans' food supplies, Siri's wife, Madame Daeng, is put in charge of the hotel cooking staff and the contents of the hotel pantry. Madame Daeng alone is worth the price of admission. That entire food sequence had me howling with laughter.

And it is all due to wise Dr. Siri, whose devious mind knows no limits in resourcefulness for surmounting the difficulties he finds in his path. Dr. Siri, his friends, and his co-workers live in a world in which they've had to fight for survival. But that fight hasn't taken the joy from their lives. If I take anything away from reading the books in this series, it's that it is possible to survive in a harsh world and still find life, laughter, love, and joy all around. It has everything to do with having the right people by your side. Dr. Siri, Madame Daeng, Nurse Dtui, Mr. Geung... over the course of eight books, I've come to love you all. You will be missed.(less)

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Feb 06, 2013 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the latest in the series about Dr Siri Paboun, a surgeon, co-opted as the coroner in 70's post-revolution Ventiane, Laos. I love these books - unusual to have old people as heroes, but when I grow old, I want to be like them. Acute, irreverent, arachic, funny and cynical, these books are the most entertaining crime books I've read in years. The cast of characters is eccentric and endearing; they're the kind of people you'd like to have as friends. Read the lot, starting from The Coroner'...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian, crime, ebook

The Dr Siri series has probably got to the stage where new readers will have that odd feeling - you know the one - when you walk into a theme party with no idea what the theme is. Or who most of the people at the bar are....

For fans of the series, there's absolutely nothing unexpected about SLASH AND BURN. It's perfectly understandable that Dr Siri, along with his wife, his nurse and his morgue attendant would all end up somewhere up country looking for a MIA American helicopter pilot. It's no...more The Dr Siri series has probably got to the stage where new readers will have that odd feeling - you know the one - when you walk into a theme party with no idea what the theme is. Or who most of the people at the bar are....

For fans of the series, there's absolutely nothing unexpected about SLASH AND BURN. It's perfectly understandable that Dr Siri, along with his wife, his nurse and his morgue attendant would all end up somewhere up country looking for a MIA American helicopter pilot. It's no surprise whatsoever that the Laotian team with them includes some of his oldest friends as well as a translating, transvestite fortune teller who, amongst other things, is firmly predicting Dr Siri's death. It goes without saying that the team includes a number of rather colourful American's including a dodgy senator and a military expert with a murky past. It's expected that somebody will end up dead and Dr Siri and his nearest and dearest will have to pull out the stops to solve the crime and survive themselves.

One of the great treats of this series is the wonderful celebratory sense of place and eccentricity of most of the characters, even Dr Siri, who is wise, and quietly all-seeing but definitely an individual. Everyone around Dr Siri is affected by the same glorious unpredictability, and everyone plays their part in solving the mystery of not just the more recent murder, but the crash and disappearance of one particular helicopter pilot.

Built into the madness there are often more serious aspects being explored, and SLASH AND BURN is no different. In this case there are a number of issues being touched on including the dreadful carpet bombing of Laos in the Vietnam war era, the discovery of gold around the same time, and the legacy that left behind. Most interesting, are some rather pointed observations about the American political system, and obviously the legacy that the war has left on the landscape, and in the villages of Laos as well as the minds of the citizens. As always whenever there are more pointed observations being made, Cotterill balances that out with some funny, poignant and beautiful moments.

SLASH AND BURN is the 8th in the Dr Siri series, and it seems the last. It's unbelievably sad to think we've finally come to the end of this journey, as it's been an absolute joy. I think this will be a series I'll re-read for many years to come.

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Jun 13, 2012 David Ketelsen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received this book through a Goodreads First Reads

For the most part I really enjoyed reading this book. Colin Cotterill is a writer with unusual skills. His lead character, Dr. Siri Paiboun, a coroner/pathologist in '70s Communist Laos, is well sketched and very believable. This is the 8th book in the series and while not the best it's still quite good.

Dr Paiboun is still trying to retire--and at 74 and seriously injured from adventures in book 7, his boss finally relents and asks for Siri to...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Malcolm rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another good read, but perhaps a little contrived. One of the issues is that with a large group of characters, some of them are rather slight.

Like all the series, this is funny, evocative of Laos (at least in my mind- I have never been there) at a particular time and historical situation.

Siri and his team are always good values is Judge Haeng but even these suffer by being outnumbered.

I enjoyed it but it is not the best in the series.

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About Colin Cotterill

Colin Cotterill was born in London and trained as a teacher and set off on a world tour that didn't ever come to an end. He worked as a Physical Education instructor in Israel, a primary school teacher in Australia, a counselor for educationally handicapped adults in the US, and a university lecturer in Japan. But the greater part of his latter years has been spent in Southeast Asia. Colin has tau...more Colin Cotterill was born in London and trained as a teacher and set off on a world tour that didn't ever come to an end. He worked as a Physical Education instructor in Israel, a primary school teacher in Australia, a counselor for educationally handicapped adults in the US, and a university lecturer in Japan. But the greater part of his latter years has been spent in Southeast Asia. Colin has taught and trained teachers in Thailand and on the Burmese border. He spent several years in Laos, initially with UNESCO and wrote and produced a forty-programme language teaching series; English By Accident, for Thai national television.

Ten years ago, Colin became involved in child protection in the region and set up an NGO in Phuket which he ran for the first two years. After two more years of study in child abuse issues, and one more stint in Phuket, he moved on to ECPAT, an international organization combating child prostitution and pornography. He established their training program for caregivers.

All the while, Colin continued with his two other passions; cartooning and writing. He contributed regular columns for the Bangkok Post but had little time to write. It wasn't until his work with trafficked children that he found himself sufficiently stimulated to put together his first novel, The Night Bastard (Suk's Editions. 2000).

The reaction to that first attempt was so positive that Colin decided to take time off and write full-time. Since October 2001 he has written nine more novels. Two of these are child-protection based: Evil in the Land Without (Asia Books December 03), and Pool and Its Role in Asian Communism (Asia Books, Dec 05). These were followed by The Coroner’s Lunch (Soho Press. Dec 04), Thirty Three Teeth (Aug 05), Disco for the Departed (Aug 06), Anarchy and Old Dogs (Aug 07), and Curse of the Pogo Stick (Aug 08), The Merry Misogynist (Aug 09), Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Aug 10) these last seven are set in Laos in the 1970’s.

On June 15 2009 Colin Cotterill received the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library award for being "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users".

When the Lao books gained in popularity, Cotterill set up a project to send books to Lao children and sponsor trainee teachers. The Books for Laos programme elicits support from fans of the books and is administered purely on a voluntary basis.

Since 1990, Colin has been a regular cartoonist for national publications. A Thai language translation of his cartoon scrapbook, Ethel and Joan Go to Phuket (Matichon May 04) and weekly social cartoons in the Nation newspaper, set him back onto the cartoon trail in 2004. On 4 April 2004, an illustrated bilingual column ‘cycle logical’ was launched in Matichon’s popular weekly news magazine. These have been published in book form.

Colin is married and lives in a fishing community on the Gulf of Siam with his wife, Jessi, and ever-expanding pack of very annoying dogs.(less)

More about Colin Cotterill...

Books by Colin Cotterill

The Coroner's Lunch (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #1)

Thirty-Three Teeth (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #2)

Disco For The Departed (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #3)

Anarchy And Old Dogs (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #4)

Curse Of The Pogo Stick (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #5)

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Quotes from Slash And Burn

“A good communist,” the man had said, “does not let go of the plough halfway across the paddy and leave the buffalo to find its own direction. He eats with her, tends to her injuries, and sleeps with her until the job is done.” Siri had resisted the temptation to spread the word that the Party was advocating bestiality.” — 1 person liked it

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Slash And Burn (Dr. Siri Paiboun #8)

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