The Fear Artist

Dec 01, 2012 Maddy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

PROTAGONIST: Poke Rafferty
SETTING: Bangkok, Thailand
SERIES: #5 if 5
RATING: 4.5

When his wife, Rose, and daughter, Miaow, are out of town, travel writer Poke Rafferty decides it would be an opportune time to redecorate their apartment. As he is leaving the paint store, he collides with a man who has just been shot and dies in Poke’s arms after uttering three words: “Helen Eckersley. Cheyenne.” Almost immediately, the Thai secret police take Poke into custody, demanding to know what the dying man s...more PROTAGONIST: Poke Rafferty
SETTING: Bangkok, Thailand
SERIES: #5 if 5
RATING: 4.5

When his wife, Rose, and daughter, Miaow, are out of town, travel writer Poke Rafferty decides it would be an opportune time to redecorate their apartment. As he is leaving the paint store, he collides with a man who has just been shot and dies in Poke’s arms after uttering three words: “Helen Eckersley. Cheyenne.” Almost immediately, the Thai secret police take Poke into custody, demanding to know what the dying man said to him. Under duress, Poke can’t quite remember. It seems strange indeed that they are showing such an interest in the incident. But stranger things are yet to come as Poke seeks to elude the agents who are now after him while figuring out what’s going on.

Forced to flee his apartment, Poke is staying in a series of low rent hotels while he tries to unravel what is of so much interest to the authorities. It turns out that there is a connection to a former member of the Phoenix Program, whose members committed horrific acts during the Vietnam War. Murphy is a sociopath of the highest order. There is nothing that he would not do to anyone who stands in his way. He has even trained his 12-year-old daughter, Treasure, in the ways of espionage. It’s sad to see how well she has learned his lessons—she is almost feral and even Murphy is somewhat afraid of her.

Poke is in desperate need of money to stay on the lam and contacts his estranged father, Frank, to ask for funds. They are delivered in person by Poke’s half sister, Ming Li, who in a parallel to Treasure has been trained by her father in the arts of subterfuge, although she is a lot more well adjusted. Poke is also aided by his police detective friend, Arthit, who is just beginning a new relationship after the death of his beloved wife.

Set against the backdrop of the devastating floods in Thailand, Hallinan once again succeeds in creating another superlative entry in what has become my favorite series. I admire the fact that every book in the series has an entirely different focus, with THE QUEEN OF PATPONG telling Rose’s story and THE FEAR ARTIST honing in on Poke almost exclusively. That being said, I have to admit that the negative in this book for me was the almost complete absence of Rose and Miaow. I missed them terribly!

Hallinan is an expert craftsman and is finally receiving some well-deserved recognition. It’s good to see that as a result of the success of the Poke Rafferty series many of the books from his earlier Simeon Grist series are now available as e-books. If you haven’t read any Poke Rafferty, do yourself a favor and try A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, the first book in the series. That should be all it takes to make you a fan as well.
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Oct 09, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: asia, fiction, mysteries, series, spies-and-such, foreign-affairs, funny

Hallinan has a series featuring Poke Rafferty, an Anglo-Asian male living in Bangkok. In Hallinan’s hands, Bangkok becomes an international center of intrigue focused on its restive Muslim south and juggling its overheated, overaged male spy population who had happily retired themselves only to be called back into harness. More importantly, Hallinan has created his most interesting and powerful female character yet, Ming Li.

Ming Li is the Anglo-Chinese step-sister of Poke and she aids his lates...more Hallinan has a series featuring Poke Rafferty, an Anglo-Asian male living in Bangkok. In Hallinan’s hands, Bangkok becomes an international center of intrigue focused on its restive Muslim south and juggling its overheated, overaged male spy population who had happily retired themselves only to be called back into harness. More importantly, Hallinan has created his most interesting and powerful female character yet, Ming Li.

Ming Li is the Anglo-Chinese step-sister of Poke and she aids his latest attempt to uncover a psychopath bent on destroying those who know his shadowy past. Young, (female), smart, (vulnerable), and irreverent, Ming Li blasts through accepted modes of spycraft to intuit actions of the players in advance. She does not spare her brother who, as a member of the male ruling class, had no need to learn lessons of body language and intent early on.

What I loved: 1) Poke Rafferty’s humanity. When attacked by a man with a gun, he manages to save his attacker before rushing off to save himself. Fearful as Poke might have been, he was a good man first. Rafferty is willing to believe the best of people he suspects, reserves judgment on their behalf, and stretches to preserve their basic dignity despite their iniquities—not including the really bad man who deserved everything coming to him. 2) Ming Li. Where Rafferty sees ambiguity, Ming Li cuts through the dross with a rapier mind and lays flat broad swathes of bad folk. 3) The way the author ratchets up the tension by having a long-winded Russian collaborator slow the action with pages-long detail at a critical moment when Rafferty (and readers!) just want the facts. It’s a gentle, funny way to tense us up and preserve forward momentum.

Hallinan did very well in raising the temperature of this thriller, but didn’t succeed without flaw: I disliked what I saw as the artificial character of “Treasure” when I first met her. Later, I realized how entirely possible it was to have such a character, neglected, abused, and exploited, when a psychopath is in charge. But the psychopath and the daughter felt like weak links.

And herein lie my only quibble: I would have preferred, were it at all possible, to have a bad man with more ambiguity, depth, and moral equivocation than our bad man here. He was so dark, he seemed like a caricature, and made everyone else a little like a caricature also. I believe the general outline of these characters and places are quite the real thing, with only a few of their sketch lines missing.

But you know what? It would have been a completely different book had Hallinan made it difficult for us with moral ambiguity. One could even argue the bad man wasn't as bad as he made out, since he did something uncharacteristic for his nature at the end of the book, one assumes because he was a father after all. And after the big event in the final pages, only one body was found instead of two, so one of the two that were "taken out" will be back, I fear. Which will it be?

I like Hallinan’s books very much, and when one needs a dose of the heat and flavour of Southeast Asia, or of Thailand's wonderful, complicated "anything goes" acceptance, I recommend having your moral compass realigned by reading a couple of Hallinan's books. Onward [Buddhist] soldier…and tell us more tales.
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Jun 18, 2013 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries

This is a new author for me, recommended by Nancy Pearl. She warned the listeners that they would want to burn through everything he has written, and it has certainly been true for me. Yes, they are well written, fast paced mysteries with interesting characters. The thing, however, that makes the difference to me is the amount I learn reading them. He writes about people, and he writes with understanding, of what gets a person into a situation, and how they might react, and in all the difficulty...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Andrew Macrae rated it 5 of 5 stars

THE FEAR ARTIST
By Timothy Hallinan

In a matter of hours, Poke Rafferty’s comfortable life as a successful travel writer living in Bangkok, Thailand is turned upside down and then inside out as a stranger dies in his arms, whispering three last words as his life slips away. Thai secret police officers haul Rafferty in for questioning yet at the same time denying the dying man was shot, waving away the still wet blood on Rafferty’s shirt as having no significance. When a mysterious and murderous Am...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Michael Sherer rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read my first Poke Rafferty novel, QUEEN OF PATPONG, on my Kindle. I know, I should have started at the beginning of the series, but I don't mind moving forward and backward in a series if I love the author's writing. (I did that with Bob Crais's Elvis Cole novels, and I'm not sure I've found/read them all, but love every one I've read. In fact, I think that's what we love about a series; if we find an author we like, we read everything the author has written.) But I digress. I heard so many g...more I read my first Poke Rafferty novel, QUEEN OF PATPONG, on my Kindle. I know, I should have started at the beginning of the series, but I don't mind moving forward and backward in a series if I love the author's writing. (I did that with Bob Crais's Elvis Cole novels, and I'm not sure I've found/read them all, but love every one I've read. In fact, I think that's what we love about a series; if we find an author we like, we read everything the author has written.) But I digress. I heard so many good things about THE FEAR ARTIST that I decided to work forward in this series before going backward.

This time I went out and bought the hardcover (at my wonderful local indie bookstore). For the next week or so, I spent a gleeful, joyful, jaw-dropping 20 to 80 minutes at bedtime (depending on how long I could keep my eyes open; though some nights Poke kept me up way past bedtime) not just reading, but underlining, penciling notes in the margins, and dog-earring pages as I encountered nugget after nugget of colorful, lyrical, wonderful writing. What sheer pleasure it is to pick up a book and not only be riveted by the taut, action-filled plot made more immediate by the use of present tense story-telling, but enthralled by the musicality of Hallinan's language.

Poke is a fine hero to spend time with, assertive and tough enough to face seemingly insurmountable odds, clever enough to devise ways of swinging the odds in his favor, conflicted enough by his upbringing to make him flawed yet interesting, and sensitive enough to show us his humanity and deeply moral character at the same time he's figuring out how to kill someone. He's a guy we can all root for, and enthusiastically so. Poke's family life also adds to the rich tapestry of this series. Here, Poke's wife Rose and adopted daughter Miaow are offscreen throughout the book, but not neglected. They still play a major part as Poke's support team and emotional motivation even though they don't drive the plot. The development in Poke's personal life that does serve the plot as well as provide both emotional conflict and support for Poke is the appearance of his half-sister Ming Li. She also serves as forewarning that Poke may see more of his estranged father Frank in future books.

This is thriller writing at its best and series writing at its most involving. I can't wait to take a look at Hallinan's Junior Bender series to see what he does with a different character. And I look forward to getting Poke's backstory from the previous Poke Rafferty novels. (less)

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Nov 05, 2012 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-and-or-evil, asian

This series about an expat travel writer in Thailand just keeps getting better and better.

Poke Rafferty's wife and daughter are away for a few days, and he is going to paint the apartment while they are gone. When he leaves the paint store, a man is shot in front of him, dies in his arms and whispers a name to him. Suddenly there is a video crew, and then a bunch of police who deny that the man was shot. Later that day secret service agents show up at Poke's apartment and take him in for interr...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Robert Carraher rated it 5 of 5 stars

I spent almost three weeks in Bangkok back in 1973. That was the only time I ever visited…until now. Timothy Hallinan is responsible for this latest trip, and in the middle of a torrential rain no less, with Poke Rafferty for a tour guide. Hallinan knows Thailand well, since he lives there part time, but a lot of people live in a lot of places and can’t impart to the reader the since of immediacy that Hallinan does in his Poke Rafferty novels.

You’ll get wet. You’ll stay wet. You buy and lose um...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

The description: An accidental collision on a Bangkok sidewalk goes very wrong when the man who ran into Rafferty dies in his arms, but not before saying three words: Helen Eckersley. Cheyenne. Seconds later, the police arrive, denying that the man was shot. That night, Rafferty is interrogated by Thai secret agents who demand to know what the dead man said, but Rafferty can't remember. When he's finally released, Rafferty arrives home to find that his apartment has been ransacked. In the days t...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Maxine McLister rated it 4 of 5 stars

The only plans Poke Rafferty has is to paint the apartment while his wife and daughter are out of town. But, as so often happens, things don't go as planned. A man is shot outside the paint store and, as he falls, he grabs onto Poke. Before he dies, he whispers a name to Rafferty and slips a laundry ticket into his pocket. As upsetting as this is, Rafferty doesn't see that it has anything to do with him, that is, until the police start showing up and demanding to know what Poke knows which, unfo...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Kathleen Hagen added it

The Fear Artist, by Timothy Hallinan, A. narrated by Victor Devine, produced by Audible Inc., downloaded from audible.com.

Poke is home alone as Rose and Miaow have gone to visit Rose’s mother. So Poke decides to paint the apartment. He goes out in the continuous rain to buy paint. Carrying his cans home, he runs into a group of people chasing a man. The chased man runs right into him and they both fall over. Then a shot rings out, and the man dies in Poke’s arms after uttering a couple of words....more

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Aug 07, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars

One thing you can always count on in a Poke Rafferty novel: Wherever he is, trouble will find him. Even in such an innocent task as buying two gallons of paint to refurbish his apartment while his wife and daughter are away. As Poke is leaving the store, a man is shot dead, whispering three words to Poke as he expires, and thereby setting off a chain of events that powers the plot.

Nearly at once, Poke is almost arrested by security forces, and he flees until he can ascertain what’s going on. And...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Debbi rated it 5 of 5 stars

American ex-pat Poke Rafferty is on a mission—to paint his apartment—when he collides with a stranger on the sidewalk fronting the home improvement store. Both men go down in an explosion of colors: Apricot Cream for Rafferty’s wife Rose, and Urban Decay, a rotted eggplant-like hue for Miao, their adopted teenaged daughter. The stranger dies on top of Rafferty, but not before whispering the words, “Helen Eckersley” and “Cheyenne.”

This brief contact makes Rafferty the unwitting subject of interes...more

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May 24, 2012 Leighton Gage rated it 5 of 5 stars

You can read Tim Hallinan’s latest novel, “The Fear Artist”, as a standalone.
Can. But why are earth would you want to?
The other books in the Poke Rafferty series are such a delight that you’d have to be whacky not to read them. And, if you haven’t done so as yet, I daresay it’s only because you’ve never heard of Hallinan, or because you don’t like mysteries set anywhere else than in your own backyard.
Either way, in my opinion, you run a grave risk of selling yourself short.
But suppose you’re...more You can read Tim Hallinan’s latest novel, “The Fear Artist”, as a standalone.
Can. But why are earth would you want to?
The other books in the Poke Rafferty series are such a delight that you’d have to be whacky not to read them. And, if you haven’t done so as yet, I daresay it’s only because you’ve never heard of Hallinan, or because you don’t like mysteries set anywhere else than in your own backyard.
Either way, in my opinion, you run a grave risk of selling yourself short.
But suppose you’re like me. Suppose you love “international” mysteries, and suppose you’ve been eagerly awaiting the next installment in this gripping, extraordinarily well-written series.
Is there anything about the book that might possibly disappoint you?
Well, yeah, actually there is.
If you’re anticipating another get-together with Poke’s wife, Rose, and his now-turned-troublesome teenage daughter Miaow, you’re going to have to put that pleasure aside for a while. At least until the next book.
They put in an occasional appearance in “The Fear Artist”, but they’re not really reunited with our hero until the very end.
Good thing, too, because while Rose and Miaow are out of rainy Bangkok, visiting her mother in Rose’s, remote “two buffalo” village, Poke is being pursued by Hallinan’s nastiest, most despicable villain yet.
Not that the author leaves him entirely without female, familial protection. In this one, Poke’s half-sister, Ming Li, is back – just the right person to help him through the difficult times – and that’s not only good for Rafferty, it’s also good for us, because, in Ming Li, Hallinan has created an absolutely delightful character.
I, for one, was delighted to see her put in another appearance.
“The Fear Artist” has deep roots, carrying us decades into the past, into the horrors of the war in Vietnam and the super-secret Phoenix Program – a plan to pacify the country by the indiscriminate torture and slaughter of people, often entirely innocent ones, who were suspected of being members of, or offering support to, the Viet Cong.
If you, like me, have a habit of reading before going to sleep, watch out for “The Fear Artist”. It’s like potato chips. You wind up promising yourself “just one more” – and, before you know it, you’ve finished them all. Chapters not chips.
Hallinan WILL keep you up until three AM. Fortunately, though, his novels don’t leave crumbs in your bed.
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Apr 05, 2013 Anne Moskoviz rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Fear Artist is the latest installment in Timothy Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series. While Hallinan usually doesn't disappoint with his descriptive powers - and certainly is in top form here - I was disappointed that Rose and Miaow were conspicuously absent from this book. The plot centers on a rogue operative - the Fear Artist - who is turned loose in Thailand by the US government to combat Islamic terrorists. Darned if I recall him dealing with any during this book. He seemed to be bent on pe...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Sheila Beaumont rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, mysteries-suspense-thrillers, spies

I've loved the wonderful Poke Rafferty series, set in Bangkok, ever since I read the first book, A Nail Through the Heart. Incredibly, each book in the series seems even better than the previous one! I think this has to do with the ongoing character development, so that we get to know the regular characters and their interrelationships more and more deeply.

In The Fear Artist, the fifth in the series, Poke's wife, Rose, and their adopted daughter, Miaow, who are obviously of utmost importance to...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Spuddie rated it 5 of 5 stars

The author says in his acknowledgments that this was a very difficult book to write. I can well believe him, because it was also a very difficult book to read. As with all of the books in the Poke Rafferty series, Hallinan opens the eyes of the average American suburbanite and takes us to places that we don't really want to go and shows us things we don't really want to see. The subject matter makes most of us decidedly uncomfortable, and we think to ourselves, time and again, "SOMEBODY should D...more The author says in his acknowledgments that this was a very difficult book to write. I can well believe him, because it was also a very difficult book to read. As with all of the books in the Poke Rafferty series, Hallinan opens the eyes of the average American suburbanite and takes us to places that we don't really want to go and shows us things we don't really want to see. The subject matter makes most of us decidedly uncomfortable, and we think to ourselves, time and again, "SOMEBODY should DO something!" And we're all the more discomfited because there isn't much that we, reading in our comfy, cozy rockers with our full bellies and the world at our fingertips, CAN do--at least not in the tangible, visceral sense that we want to.

Poke Rafferty, a half-Filipino, half-American travel writer living in Bangkok with his wife and daughter, steps out to buy paint so he can do a bit of remodeling while Rose and Miaow are in the country visiting Rose's family. He ends up on the sidewalk with the paint splattered around him and a bleeding man in his lap. Shot by an unknown assailant, the man croaks a few last words to Rafferty, who is then interrogated, intimidated and followed until he goes under deep cover to shake the powerful men who want so desperately to know what the man told Rafferty. He disguises himself, bringing out his more Asian features so he will blend in, roaming from cheap hotel to cheap hotel, trying to gather information, when help comes in the form of his half-sister all the way from America.

What they uncover chills Rafferty to the bone, and despite his one desire to have his cobbled-together family whole and together again, he knows he must stop the man behind the shooting, because his past leaves a trail of death and destruction that doesn't look to end anytime soon. A chilling, thrilling episode in this stellar series as Poke bounces from one disaster to another, never sure who to trust, and never knowing if the political strings he's pulling will close the net on Murphy--his target--or whether they will unravel completely.

The only complaint I have about this book is the absence of Rose and Miaow, except for contact by phone. Otherwise...just, wow. It was a very intense book and as much as I wanted to gulp it down and read it all at once, I had to read slowly, a few chapters at a time so I could fully digest it. Hats off and many thanks to the author for another excellent read. (less)

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Jun 25, 2012 Neil Plakcy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tim Hallinan writes so beautifully about Poke Rafferty’s wife Rose and his daughter Miaow that in every book I start to worry about them almost immediately. In THE FEAR ARTIST, though, Rose and Miaow head off to visit Rose’s family in the north of Thailand while Rafferty paints their apartment. I was happy not to be scared for them—but of course Hallinan won’t let us off so easily. There are plenty of others to care about, including his half-sister Ming Li and his friend Arthit. His strength is...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a gripping series of books set in modern Thailand. The main character is in love with his life, his family and the place he lives but he keeps getting mixed up in crazy, dangerous events. I can't think of another character like him in that joy he finds in his family (except for his father but he has many reasons for not thinking much of him). This main character is someone you'd want to know and who you'd be frustrated with at times too so. He's not a perfect person which comes through l...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Patricia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Poke Rafferty's wife, Rose, has taken their daughter Miaow out of town to visit Rose's mother. Poke is left to his own devices and decides to paint the apartment while they are gone. But Poke has a lot of hoops to jump through before he gets the apartment painted. As he exits the paint store, a large man runs into him and lands on top of him. As Poke struggles to get up, he sees that the man has been shot. Before he dies the man whispers three words to Poke. The words have no meaning to Poke but...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Lakis Fourouklas rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan that was is a fast-paced thriller that takes place in Bangkok, Thailand.

This is the fifth book in a series starring Poke Rafferty, a man who somehow always finds a way to get himself into trouble. It’s not as if he’s inviting it, it’s just that trouble follows him wherever he goes, even outside a shop that sells paints in a street in Bangkok.

The author seems to know the city inside out and so does his hero. Poke has been living there for years with his Thai wi...more The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan that was is a fast-paced thriller that takes place in Bangkok, Thailand.

This is the fifth book in a series starring Poke Rafferty, a man who somehow always finds a way to get himself into trouble. It’s not as if he’s inviting it, it’s just that trouble follows him wherever he goes, even outside a shop that sells paints in a street in Bangkok.

The author seems to know the city inside out and so does his hero. Poke has been living there for years with his Thai wife Rose and his adopted daughter Miaow.

As I already mentioned Poke has the special ability to attract trouble. What happens this time around though seems to be more than he can handle: a man virtually drops dead at his feet, as he’s coming out of a shop. He went there to buy some paints and what he bought was, well, business as usual. The man is a foreigner, most probably an American, and before he dies, from more than one gunshot wounds, he manages to whisper a name and a place in Poke’s ear, and drop a piece of paper in his pocket.

Poke is understandably stunned. And to make things even worse a TV crew is fast on the scene, so unless the world turns upside down he’s bound to become famous, at least for a day. However, that’s the least of his troubles, as the police arrives there soon enough and a couple of cops start to question him. He feels irritated but he tries hard to calm himself down, since he knows all too well that anger can get you nowhere.

At the moment he’s obviously considered a witness to a crime, soon enough though that is bound to change, and he’ll only have himself to thank for that; himself and his stubbornness and curiosity. Why, can’t he simply let sleeping dogs lie? Why does he have to ask too many questions? Why does he have to visit disreputable places and chit-chat with some suspicious characters, spooks of old, that can provide him with some answers, but who could also put him into more trouble?

Well, that’s Poke for you. As we follow him around Bangkok, in bars and hotels, in the streets and the malls and the police station, we get to know him better, and the better we get to know him the more we will understand his actions.

The truth is that before that man dropped dead before him, he felt happy and serene in an unlikely for his temperament way. His family meant the world to him, he had a good friend who was a cop and with whom he shared all his secrets, he had made peace with his past and started looking forward to the future; a future that all of a sudden seemed to be in jeopardy.

Poke is not a people’s person, but he’s a man of the people; someone who’ll do anything to help a friend, to save a poor soul from life on the street, to solve a murder. What we are is what we do, that’s what he thinks, and that’s how he acts. This time though he seems to have gone way over his head and in order to survive he has to seek some help. Some of it he’ll buy, most of it he’ll receive as an unexpected gift and a blessing in his life.
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Apr 24, 2013 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Enjoy Timothy Hallinan as an artist - whichever series I'm reading. This is a Poke Rafferty story - and I stayed up most of the night reading it. Poke gets involved in the death of a man he does not know but whose death really impacts Poke's life. He spends most of the book trying to be invisible while solving the mystery at the same time - with pockets full of prepaid phones; makeup to help him blend in; riding in the back of cars used by roving doctors/nurses; and staying in fleabag hotels. Th...more

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Jun 10, 2012 J Edward Tremlett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Bangkok, Thailand - a city in which it can honestly be said that you can't even go out and buy paint without getting into trouble.

Of course, trouble and Poke Rafferty tend to go hand in hand, much to his constant chagrin. Ever since he settled in Bangkok -- truly the best worst city in the world -- fell in love with Rose, and adopted Miaow, it seems like massive and dangerous problems have him on speed dial.

But nothing can prepare him for having a condemned man collapse on top of him during a co...more Bangkok, Thailand - a city in which it can honestly be said that you can't even go out and buy paint without getting into trouble.

Of course, trouble and Poke Rafferty tend to go hand in hand, much to his constant chagrin. Ever since he settled in Bangkok -- truly the best worst city in the world -- fell in love with Rose, and adopted Miaow, it seems like massive and dangerous problems have him on speed dial.

But nothing can prepare him for having a condemned man collapse on top of him during a come-from-nowhere riot on the street, and get shot for his troubles. With his dying breath he whispers three words to Poke, slips him a laundry ticket, and then slips away. And this leaves our hero with a riddle, as well as several very unfriendly Thai policemen who first insist there was no shooting, but then want Poke to tell them everything he knows about the dead man.

That's not the worst of it, though. Before long, it becomes clear that Poke is being targeted by someone who's convinced he knows more than he does. And this genuinely menacing person is high up enough to make him a wanted man -- putting his face in and the hands of every Bangkok cop, and across every television set in Thailand, as the prime suspect in the man's killing.

It's all Poke can do to grab some essentials, dash underground, and stay there, keeping in constant motion to avoid what will surely be a fatal arrest. Thankfully, Rose and Miaow are off visiting her family up North, but it may only be a matter of time before the dragnet gets to them, too.

Once again, Poke will have to rely on his extensive knowledge of the city that keeps trying to kill or save him, and her other adopted, lost children. Bangkok's community of former spooks might give him aid and information, but only so long as his money holds out. And while his many friends and neighbors are always happy to help, they have some problems of their own, and not all of them may be what they seem...

However, while Poke's the master of putting one enemy against another, and finding a third path between two oncoming hazards, this one's going to be truly tough -- especially while living on the run. For in order to discover what's happened to him, Poke will have to delve into the perilous twilight world of American intelligence in Southeast Asia, past and present. And this journey will lead him back to shadowy dealings in another age, and their current connection to the global War on Terror.

Only one man straddles the two eras, and he's the one holding the gun up to Poke's head. But who is this virtuoso of terror? Is he carrying out American policy, or acting on his own agenda? What does he really want, here?

And can Poke Rafferty find out without becoming yet another victim of the Fear Artist?

As always, Hallinan's writing is delicately balanced between humor, horror, and hope, as genuinely decent people are thrown to the lions, only to surprise their antagonists -- and occasionally even themselves -- by surviving. But while the way that Poke gets himself out of this one is a real stunner, the true applause should be withheld for the titular villain, himself: a three-dimensional, tragic monster who, while perhaps irredeemable, is not entirely bereft of humanity, or undeserving of our sympathy.

With The Fear Artist, Timothy Hallinan delivers yet another a white-knuckle thriller that takes us into a city we clearly do not know, and shows us that while it's worse than we were told, it's also better than we could have ever hoped. You could start reading from here, but it would be better to begin with "A Nail Through the Heart," and work your way forwards through a truly excellent series of exotic thrillers that offer much more than a risk-filled rundown through a suddenly-unhealthy foreign locale. (less)

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Jul 08, 2012 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries

The Fear Artist, Tim Hallinan, A+
Poke Rafferty #5
Bangkok, 2011
First line: Two two-gallon cans of paint weigh about five times as much as he'd thought they would.
Coming out of the paint store with said cans of paint, Poke finds himself caught up in a mini-riot which winds up with a farang dying in his arms of gunshot wounds. Before he knows what hit him, Poke is on the run from the Thai version of the CIA, a rogue American mercenary and the entire Bangkok police force.
Tim has out-done himself wit...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Ashland Mystery Oregon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ashland-mystery-2012, mystery-thailand

The Fear Artist doesn't appear until somewhere towards the middle of the book, but his presence is felt from page 1. The suspense and thrill that we've come to love and expect from Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series is right up front.

There's an odd series of events that puts Poke right back into the mix, starting with pails of paint that burst with color across the landscape. Poke's down on the street with a dying man whispering in his ear. The whispers of fear are a loud cry of despair, as those i...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Christopher rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Fear Artist contains the truly best elements of crime fiction by a master story teller. Set in Thailand, Timothy Hallinan shows a depth of understanding of Thai and expat life that give the story the kind of vivid, seamless, and magical lift that allows a reader to lose himself/herself in the narrative. From the first page, you know that you are in good hands, and sit back and enjoy the ride. In this crime novel, Hallinan knits the crimes of the past to the modern day Bangkok where the night...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Doreene rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have really enjoyed this series. Poke Rafferty, an American travel writer, is always getting into 'trouble' in his adopted home of Bangkok. He is married to Rose and they have adopted a 12 year old girl off of the streets - Miaow. In this book he gets caught up in some ancient history that started during the Vietnam War. An American that back than had killed many innocent women and children has resurfaced in Bangkok. He is working for the government under an old plan called the Phoenix Program...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-southeast-asia

Poke just wanted to paint his apartment and ends up having a man die in his arms on the way back from the hardware store. He's soon in the hands of the Homeland Security types of Thailand along with a few American spooks. Poke is now playing in the big leagues and this story takes on a spy thriller motif as the amateur goes against the professionals. We have whispers of the Phoenix Program from the Vietnam War along with Muslims in the south of Thailand. Meanwhile his family is safely away on va...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another Poke Rafferty mystery is always a welcome event and The Fear Artist was no exception. As you might have guessed by the title, this volume is a little darker. It is also a little more political - not in the partisan sense per se but in the worldview sense. It has a strong message that the war on terror has gone to far and allowed America to lose track of, or ignore, its ideals.

But this message, whether you agree with it or not, does not overwhelm the story. Hallinan once again weaves a gr...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tim Hallinan makes reading fun. Hallinan is a superb writer whose strength is characters and setting. In The Fear Artist we get plenty of both. The setting is Bangkok and it's flooding. Since this happened only 9 months ago in real life it was a nice surprise to see Tim blend that into the background and story given that he must have started the book before the flood began.

The characters are plentiful and vivid. The villain being Murphy, doing his villainy best to cover up previous atrocities in...more Tim Hallinan makes reading fun. Hallinan is a superb writer whose strength is characters and setting. In The Fear Artist we get plenty of both. The setting is Bangkok and it's flooding. Since this happened only 9 months ago in real life it was a nice surprise to see Tim blend that into the background and story given that he must have started the book before the flood began.

The characters are plentiful and vivid. The villain being Murphy, doing his villainy best to cover up previous atrocities in another time by committing more atrocities in real time. Hallinan's bad guys are top-notch. The protagonist in this series is Poke Rafferty, a travel writer with an inexplicable ability to attract trouble and protect himself and others from same.

This is the fifth in the Poke Rafferty series. Poke's family is largely absent this time around. His wife, Rose and daughter, Miaw have been sent up country, leaving Poke to go it alone, making him more similar to others and less unique than I found him to be in The Queen of Patpong. He is visited by his half-sister, Ming Li, she of 17 years old going on 30. Ming Li was fine but I missed the nuclear family settings found in Queen of Patpong during the long periods of time Poke was on the lamb in Fear Artist.

There was one plot point involving Poke's father, Frank that shook me out of the comfort of my suspended disbelief. I'm nit-picking but I felt like I'd been hit over the head with a two by four at the time.

Murphy's daughter, Treasure and the images of her at Murphy's house are worth the read alone. Captivating. Haunting. And I almost forgot ... Janos. Janos is an otherwise forgettable character that Hallinan brings alive for all his forgettable qualities. It is the type of bonus coverage one has come to expect from Hallinan.

I'm giving this one 4 and 1/2 stars, which I normally would round up. But unlike some of the reviewers that felt The Fear Artist is Hallinan's best in the series, I still give the nod to Queen of Patpong, which is a runaway 5 star thriller and less predictable. If you like thrillers and you like fun, read Tim Hallinan.(less)

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Apr 12, 2012 Cathy Cole rated it 4 of 5 stars

First Line: Two two-gallon cans of paint weigh about five times as much as he'd thought they would.

Rose and Miaow are out of town visiting relatives, and all Poke Rafferty has planned is getting the apartment painted while they're gone. But, like all best laid plans, everything goes downhill fast when Poke leaves the local hardware store with his paint.

There's noise, shouting, and a man barrels into Poke, sending them both down on the pavement. Holding the man in his arms, Poke realizes the man...more First Line: Two two-gallon cans of paint weigh about five times as much as he'd thought they would.

Rose and Miaow are out of town visiting relatives, and all Poke Rafferty has planned is getting the apartment painted while they're gone. But, like all best laid plans, everything goes downhill fast when Poke leaves the local hardware store with his paint.

There's noise, shouting, and a man barrels into Poke, sending them both down on the pavement. Holding the man in his arms, Poke realizes the man has been shot, and the stranger only has time to choke out three words before he dies: Helen Eckersley. Cheyenne. Within seconds the police arrive and deny that the man was shot. That same night, Poke is interrogated by Thai secret agents who insist on knowing what the dead man said, but he can't remember. When he is finally allowed to go home, he finds that the apartment has been ransacked. Not long after that, Poke knows that he's being followed.

The second time men in uniform show up at the door, Poke manages to give them the slip, and thus begins his life as a fugitive. It's not easy hiding from everyone who's looking for him, and as Poke tries to fly beneath the radar, he manages to gather bits and pieces of information and put them together. He's caught in the margins of the war on terror, and his opponent is a master artist whose medium is... fear.

I love Timothy Hallinan's books because he writes beautifully, with intelligence, and from the heart. As he said at the 2012 Poisoned Pen Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona, the mystery is important, but at the heart of any story-- first and foremost-- are the people. Hallinan's characters are some of the very best in crime fiction, and his fast-paced stories give an outsider's unforgettable view of Thailand and its people.

Poke Rafferty's life as a fugitive on the streets of Bangkok kept my pulse rate elevated. The people fighting the war on terror are deadly serious and seem to think nothing of employing any and all methods to obtain the information they want. As one character says in the book, "We're using bad people to fight bad people, and you do not want to be in the middle of that." Are Americans sometimes the bad guys in Timothy Hallinan's books? Yes. But so are Thais and people from many other countries.

Speaking of any and all methods leads me to one of the scariest villains I've met in a long time, the fear artist himself, "Red" Murphy, who's been operating his business since Vietnam, when he learned how the application of varying degrees of fear (and pain) will give him anything he desires. The more I learned about Murphy, the less I wanted Poke to meet him until I reached the point where I wanted my favorite writer in Thailand to put this monster out of business. Permanently. (And all the poor guy wanted to do was paint his apartment!)

That's what happens when you enter the world of Poke Rafferty and Timothy Hallinan. You fall in love with Thailand, and you're besieged by the rich tapestry of characters this very talented writer has created to people his landscape. Open the cover of one of his books, and you're not only investing your time, you're investing your mind and your heart.(less)

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The Fear Artist (Poke Rafferty Mystery #5)

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