From the author of the best seller Bangkok 8, a head-spinning new novel that puts us back in the company of the inimitable Royal Thai Police...
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Dec 16, 2009
Brendan
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Who reads a novel to be hectored? Especially a detective novel. There may be a masochistic few who actually enjoy being addressed as farang (Thai for “foreigner”) and then repeatedly lectured on the colossal failure that is Western civilization. But why take it from a $24 book when the rest of the world is happy to do it for free?
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Apr 09, 2008
Tomi-Ann
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This is the second in John Burdett's series about a hard-boiled Buddhist Thai detective. These books are exciting and funny and educational. Mr. Burdett, speaking as Sanjeep, takes any opportunity to teach the reader about the foods and customs of Thailand and about Buddhist practice and philosophy. Even more challenging, for me, is that all these books take on the sex trade industry head-on. They've actually caused me to revise my myopic view that sex work is a necessary evil, and to admit
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Jun 28, 2008
Andrealenoir
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I started this book after I finished Bangkok 8; I am not likely to finish it. The writing is not good enough to justify all the viagra being flung about and the disdain for "farang"(this word is used at least 5 times on every page) Americans not understanding Thai food, prostitution, religion, politics, transportation, or much anything else. In fact, I'm beginning to think that these murder mysteries are more of a vehicle to show how naive and coarse Americans are. Maybe I would con
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Dec 20, 2011
Randy
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A good murder mystery starts with a dead body then adds an interesting detective working in an interesting place. The formula works best when the story takes you somewhere you have never been and will never go. Bangkok Tatoo starts with a flayed and mutilated CIA agent, a detective from the corrupt Bangkok police force, set in the seedy sex carnival of the capital city where old men fly in from countries like the USA to take Viagra and copulate with village girls who have moved from the countrys
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Sep 28, 2011
Patrick
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I was really looking forward to John Burdett's follow up to the entertaining Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, and while I enjoyed it, it had some serious flaws. I guess I was pretty satisfied until 3/4 of the way through, when his plots started to wear thin. This might also be where the sneering anti-west/American attitude of Sonchai Jitleecheep started to grate on me. I don't remember this condescending tone in the first novel, which seems somewhat self-hating since Sonchai is half "farang"
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Jul 30, 2011
Sequel to Bangkok 8, Detective Sonchai finds a CIA agent brutally murdered and it looks like one of the prostitutes that works at the bar his mother owns is the culprit. In order to protect the girl, Sonchai and his police chief (who also happens to own a controlling interest in the bar) concoct a story as to what occurred. The initial cover-up involves a story concerning militant muslim radicals living in Malaysia as the killers, and of course in a post-9/11 world, this immediately brings in
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May 27, 2011
Theasha
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Name of book: Bangkok Tattoo
Author: John Burdett
Type of book: Thriller
Main characters: Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep and Chanya
Bangkok tattoo is a mysterious thriller that is set in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, hence the name Bangkok Tattoo. This book has everything to do with crime, murder, CIA agents, prostitutes and bad cops. This book is basically about the detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep who is not only one of the main character, but also the narrator. Hi More...
Author: John Burdett
Type of book: Thriller
Main characters: Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep and Chanya
Bangkok tattoo is a mysterious thriller that is set in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, hence the name Bangkok Tattoo. This book has everything to do with crime, murder, CIA agents, prostitutes and bad cops. This book is basically about the detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep who is not only one of the main character, but also the narrator. Hi More...
Apr 09, 2011
Sean
rated it:
I like this series of books. Burdett is a good writer, good prose and pacing. He also has a way of creating complex stories that I can follow (not always the case).
His protagonist, and first person narrator is Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a Thai cop who's mom (and therefore he) owns a brothel. He's world weary, in the best Lou Archer sense, from seeing so much crime and perversity (and he was raised in a whore house which will contribute to a somewhat pessimistic world view).
Sonchai is f More...
His protagonist, and first person narrator is Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a Thai cop who's mom (and therefore he) owns a brothel. He's world weary, in the best Lou Archer sense, from seeing so much crime and perversity (and he was raised in a whore house which will contribute to a somewhat pessimistic world view).
Sonchai is f More...
Jun 08, 2009
Kate
rated it:
Second in a series, the first of which I haven't read yet. The story begins when Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of the Royal Thai Police Force is told to help cover up a murder. The alleged (and self-confessed) murderer is a prostitute named Chanya, Sonchai's mother's star employee. Her victim is a john named Mitch Turner, with whom she appears to have had some personal history.
What would have been a routine cover-up becomes more complicated when it is revealed that Turner was a CIA More...
What would have been a routine cover-up becomes more complicated when it is revealed that Turner was a CIA More...
Dec 05, 2008
This book, and the prevous one in the series, Bangkok 8 have that rare quality of being both entertaining and illuminating.
These books are basically detective noires, but the protagonist is a half Thai and half American. He is also a police Detective, a helper in his Mother's brothel, and an enlightened Budhist able to see people's past incarnations, and receive messages from beyond the illusion of life. This not only creates a fascinating and unusually conflicted detctive, but an insight More...
These books are basically detective noires, but the protagonist is a half Thai and half American. He is also a police Detective, a helper in his Mother's brothel, and an enlightened Budhist able to see people's past incarnations, and receive messages from beyond the illusion of life. This not only creates a fascinating and unusually conflicted detctive, but an insight More...
Sep 04, 2011
Marta
rated it:
I have enjoyed this book very much - up until the ending. I enjoyed the character development, the musings about culture, the interjected cultural explorations of Buddhism, the Western culture, the morally ambiguous situations and characters. I especially like Colonel Vikorn - you never know if you should love him or hate him. I also enjoyed the Chanya story, the nuanced ways of developing her love affairs (although it is a bit hard to believe that a prostitute would be able to have full-fledg
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Aug 16, 2009
Becky
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I had to get used to Paul Bauhmer’s voice after being so enchanted by B.D. Wong’s reading of Bangkok 8, the first of the Sonchai Jitpleecheep detective series. It took me about a year to get to the second book!
This book is as racy and rank as the first, maybe moreso, and it’s just as anti-West, again maybe moreso. But it’s more philosophical as Jitpleecheep meditates on the differences between Buddhism and Christianity or western thinking in general.
Jitpleeche More...
This book is as racy and rank as the first, maybe moreso, and it’s just as anti-West, again maybe moreso. But it’s more philosophical as Jitpleecheep meditates on the differences between Buddhism and Christianity or western thinking in general.
Jitpleeche More...
Dec 23, 2009
Sophia
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Sonchai Jitpleecheep returns from Bangkok 8 to narrate another thriller set in the title city, but this story has a considerably different feel. As before, it starts with a bang: the top sex worker in the Old Man's Club (jointly owned by his mother, boss, and himself) returns from a call bloodied and stoned on opium. The murdered client turns out to be CIA, and soon we find ourselves following Sonchai to Thailand's porous southern Muslim border as a part of a cover-up that involves drugs, al-Qae
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Dec 19, 2009
RandomAnthony
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John Burdett seems to have stumbled onto an excellent premise when he combines the conventions of hard-boiled crime novels with the exotic Thai locales and Buddhist philosophy in Bangkok Tattoo and, presumably, the other books in the series. Why do these elements, not a set which I would naturally connect, blend so well? Think about it this way:
• The classic crime novel main character is a weathered, capable crime-solver. He’s (I’m sticking with “he” here, don’t yell at me) a lone More...
• The classic crime novel main character is a weathered, capable crime-solver. He’s (I’m sticking with “he” here, don’t yell at me) a lone More...
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Feb 05, 2009
Burdett, well on his way to establishing a series with the inquisitive Jitpleecheep at the helm, has again mastered the art of mystery in this entertaining romp through the shady underbelly of Thailand. Supported by an oddball cast of characters and colored with dark humor, Bangkok Tattoo is at once brassy and daring in its approach. Jitpleecheep's narration, sarcastic and bold, provides the readers with a fresh perspective on everything from the sex trade industry to American greed. Though crit
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Jan 01, 2011
Leonardo
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Good, fun story. The commentary by Sonchai this time was more annoying than illuminating. In the first book he showed more compassion and understanding, a truly unique outlook. This time every time he calls the reader farang it is to make a point about how screwed up the west is versus the oh so well adjusted Thai. Very condescending, and not very original – standard decadent civilization versus noble savage .
I liked the plot very much however. As always the cover-up is worse than More...
I liked the plot very much however. As always the cover-up is worse than More...
Nov 12, 2010
Toni
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Book 2 in the Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep mystery series
This sequel to "Bangkok 8" has all the elements necessary to take the readers on a precarious ride through the sweltering hot and sticky streets that form the flamboyant underbelly of one of Asia's most lively cities.... Bangkok.
The mystery is told in the riveting voice of detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a product of mixed parentage with Buddhist beliefs, a good cop by day and a papasan in the family b More...
This sequel to "Bangkok 8" has all the elements necessary to take the readers on a precarious ride through the sweltering hot and sticky streets that form the flamboyant underbelly of one of Asia's most lively cities.... Bangkok.
The mystery is told in the riveting voice of detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a product of mixed parentage with Buddhist beliefs, a good cop by day and a papasan in the family b More...
Oct 12, 2010
Shawna
rated it:
for some reason i was really annoyed by this book. I enjoyed the first book, but this one disappointed me. Even more than the first book, it felt like John Burdett was speaking through the main character in a really weird, orientalist way. It's like this white dude pretending to be a thai native, preaching the glories of asia and the depravities of the west... and talking about how happy everyone is in thailand, especially the women who work in the red light district. The only problem is, he'
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Dec 01, 2008
Robb
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The adventures of Sonchai Jittlecheep the buddhist police detective continues in this second novel in the series by John Burdett. A world where the very lowest scum of Thailand are hiding in the shadows around
every corner. Burdett's paints a rich and spicey literary palette of the gritty streets of Bangkok and the characters that engulf it. I didn't find this book to be a continuation of the first book "Bangkok 8", but more of a stand alone story with some of the characters from More...
every corner. Burdett's paints a rich and spicey literary palette of the gritty streets of Bangkok and the characters that engulf it. I didn't find this book to be a continuation of the first book "Bangkok 8", but more of a stand alone story with some of the characters from More...
Aug 17, 2010
Tocotin
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It's a very enjoyable book, and I liked the style, although the repeated farang got on my nerves. What I didn't like was the strangely sweet, sentimental and idealized picture of Thailand as some sort of mild paradise: prostitutes, policemen, pimps, Malaysian muslims, transsexual people, parents selling their children, they all know their place and are quite contented with their current situation in life. That would be kinda all right, if the narrator didn't feel the necessity to denigrate other
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Aug 02, 2010
Pikachu
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i think i would have liked this book a lot more if it weren't for the endless usage of the word farang (the thai word for "foreigner") and the haughty attitude of the narrator as he glorifies political corruption and prostitution. granted, he makes some interesting and valid observations but i could have done without the condescension.
the plot itself is interesting. a murder mystery involving brothels, opiates, and mysterious japanese tattoos peppered with gratuitous usage More...
the plot itself is interesting. a murder mystery involving brothels, opiates, and mysterious japanese tattoos peppered with gratuitous usage More...
Mar 25, 2011
Jane
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Lurid, exotic, morally ambigious, brutal. I loved Detective SonchaiJitpleecheep as he investigates a killing in Bangkoks red light district which concerns the brothel that his mother and his police chief boss jointly own. I was happily transported to a different world, Bangkok's sex trade, lucious cruel and curiously matter of fact. My Western middle class guilt was piqued by the way Sonchai addresses the reader as farang and reviles us for our sallow confused and greedy values, but its intere
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Mar 20, 2011
Mike
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An unexpected pleasure. Picked it up as an easy read, but its a very well written story, with a very convincing narrative in the voice of a Thai detective. Conjures up the seedy world of Bangkok, at the same time shining some light on the motivation and thought processes of the characters.
For me the use of the term 'farang' to address the reader worked well. It emphasised the distance between eastern and western ways of thinking. The book has a surprisingly authentic feel conside More...
For me the use of the term 'farang' to address the reader worked well. It emphasised the distance between eastern and western ways of thinking. The book has a surprisingly authentic feel conside More...
Jan 24, 2010
Dayna
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A perfect read for Thailand, I actually picked up a lot of interesting detail about Sukhumvit in Bangkok, the prostitution trade and Buddhism. It actually added a lot of color to the trip. An interesting tidbit was the fact that there are men, women and katoeys in Buddhism - katoeys are transgender people. It's a very accepted part of life there and we saw some evidence of that while out in Sukhumvit ourselves. I will definitely read more in this series. I liked that the detective story was more
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Jul 21, 2011
Ed
rated it: 
I discovered Burdett's Sonchai Jitpleecheep series by accident. I assumed it would be an amateur novel only interesting because it featured Bangkok as its venue. I was wrong.
This story contains all kinds of weird twists when a CIA agent is found brutally murdered in a brothel owned in part by Sonchai's mother and his boss, Colonel Vikorn. The murder is witnessed by a beautiful prostitute named Chanya, the club's most popular employee. In order to protect the business, Sonchai agrees More...
This story contains all kinds of weird twists when a CIA agent is found brutally murdered in a brothel owned in part by Sonchai's mother and his boss, Colonel Vikorn. The murder is witnessed by a beautiful prostitute named Chanya, the club's most popular employee. In order to protect the business, Sonchai agrees More...
Jul 17, 2010
Luci
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 26, 2010
Maddy
rated it:
RATING: 4.5
PROTAGONIST: Detec. Sonchai Jitplecheep
SETTING: Thailand
SERIES: # 2 of 2
What a treat to find such an engaging group of characters in such a well-detailed setting between the pages of a book! Having missed the debut novel of the series, BANGKOK 8, I was delighted to be introduced to royal Thai police detective Sonchai Jitplecheep; his incredibly innovative boss, Police Colonel Vikorn; his mother, Nong, who is part owner of the Old Man's Club (or "hou More...
PROTAGONIST: Detec. Sonchai Jitplecheep
SETTING: Thailand
SERIES: # 2 of 2
What a treat to find such an engaging group of characters in such a well-detailed setting between the pages of a book! Having missed the debut novel of the series, BANGKOK 8, I was delighted to be introduced to royal Thai police detective Sonchai Jitplecheep; his incredibly innovative boss, Police Colonel Vikorn; his mother, Nong, who is part owner of the Old Man's Club (or "hou More...
Feb 11, 2008
Paul
rated it:
Whatever you do, do yourself the favor of reading the first novel (which I reviewed briefly here awhile back) in what is now a "Bangkok trilogy" if you will; though that admittedly sounds like something a character in these novels might offer a special customer for an extra... but I digress. What was I saying? Oh yes, read Bangkok 8 first or you might find this novel tough to access otherwise. Full comprehension of this story is heavily dependent on prior familiarity with the main cha
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Jan 04, 2011
Osho
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The second of Burdett's novels featuring Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. This adventure opens with the apparent murder of a john by a prostitute employed by Sonchai's mother. What the book does well is to illustrate the Buddhist principle that what we take as reality is illusory. As the narrative unfolds, the reader constructs and is forced to discard multiple hypotheses regarding the murder and subsequent events. The motif of tattoos, which are a representation of life and thus themselves illus
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Sep 07, 2007
Naeem
rated it:
The novel Platform got me interested in the cultural political economy of sexual tourism, sexual encounter, and the sex service industry.
Then I heard about John Burdett's 4 novels (3 are out, he is writing the 4th one) based in Bangkok. Each is a detective story. The main character is what I call a "mixo" -- thai mother, african-american father. His mother is a retried sex worker, and he is a non-currupt detective who following the 8 fold path of Buddhism. The setting More...
Then I heard about John Burdett's 4 novels (3 are out, he is writing the 4th one) based in Bangkok. Each is a detective story. The main character is what I call a "mixo" -- thai mother, african-american father. His mother is a retried sex worker, and he is a non-currupt detective who following the 8 fold path of Buddhism. The setting More...
