The Paradise Eater

Field Trilogy #3

by John Ralston Saul

Drunk, businessman, journalist, John Field finds his life becomes much more purposeful when he investigates the death of an ex-lover in steamy Bangkok, Thailand

Genres: Fiction, Canada

270 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 1988

About the author

John Ralston Saul is a Canadian writer, essayist, and public intellectual best known for his provocative works on themes such as individualism, citizenship, democracy, globalization, and the role of the public intellectual. His books, widely translated and read around the world, challenge conventional economic and political thinking and advocate for civic responsibility and ethical governance. A celebrated critic of technocratic and corporatist ideologies, Saul is often recognized for his passionate defense of the public good and his deep belief in the transformative power of engaged citizenship.

Born in Ottawa, Saul was educated in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. He holds a PhD from King’s College London, where he focused on the modernization of France during the Algerian War. Early in his career, he worked in both the corporate world and in diplomacy, notably serving as an assistant to André Malraux, the famed French novelist and minister. These experiences informed his understanding of the interplay between power, culture, and politics, which would later become central to his writing.
Saul first gained international attention with his 1988 philosophical novel Voltaire’s Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, a critique of how rationality, while necessary, had been distorted into a cold, managerial ideology disconnected from ethics, culture, and human values. The book, and subsequent works like The Unconscious Civilization and The Doubter’s Companion, positioned him as a leading voice in what he called “responsible humanism”—a worldview that values reason but insists it be balanced by intuition, memory, and imagination.
His 2008 book A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada argued that Canada’s political culture is deeply shaped by Indigenous values, particularly egalitarianism, negotiation, and mutual respect. The book challenged traditional Eurocentric narratives and emphasized the need for a new national conversation built on inclusion and reconciliation. This work reflects Saul’s long-standing commitment to Indigenous issues in Canada, which has also shaped his public advocacy.
Saul served as president of PEN International, the global writers’ organization, from 2009 to 2015, where he championed freedom of expression and supported writers under threat around the world. He is also the longtime companion and husband of Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada, and served as her close advisor during her tenure from 1999 to 2005.
His many awards include the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction, the Pablo Neruda Medal, and the Canada Council Molson Prize. Saul is also a Companion of the Order of Canada and a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
Through his essays, novels, lectures, and international work, John Ralston Saul has established himself as one of Canada’s foremost thinkers—a defender of thoughtful dissent and a persistent voice for a more just, inclusive, and imaginative society. His work continues to influence debates on democracy, culture, and civic engagement both in Canada and abroad.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel is packed with seedy atmosphere and sleazy characters, yet the book cries out for a compelling storyline that is never provided. These seamy qualities might have put the lock on a delectable 'noirish' thriller, yet the book ultimately fails to satisfy.
John Field is an Canadian expatriate journalist who has lived in Bangkok for over twenty years, and has never once been back to the west. He no longer is in the writing trade and makes a spotty living as a kind of 'middleman' putting together business deals for various shady characters, and his life basically consists of hanging out with his pals, drinking and carousing with local prostitutes. He gets caught up in an international heroin smuggling operation involving powerful and shady figures in the military and national government, he's implicated in a vicious double murder, he buys the contract of a young prostitute to get her 'out of the life', he raises his daughter to be an educated Thai, and finally contracts an STD seemingly impervious to treatment.
However, it's a real letdown when the reader realizes how little excitement is generated. The book is fairly well-written, yet the storyline reflects more 'bumbling around' than 'hard hitting' drama. All the elements are in place to make John Field the Jason Bourne of The East but unfortunately, not much tension or drama is introduced. This really could have taken off in a big way, but, unfortunately, it never does.

[Kristine Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first I enjoyed this book, got into the characters, loved the setting, but then it got pretty tedious with the protagonist running around Bangkok with no clue as to what was happening and in the end it resolves itself in a very minor way.

[Susana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, you can feel the rain and the despair of the tropics in the rainy season. Saul's hero is an anti-hero desolate, alcoholic and cynical events propel him to action which ultimately serve others rather than himself. Intention, corruption and cynicism mire the the story in a miasma I couldn't put down. Not for readers who want a simple binary narrative.

[Simon Drouin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Triller combiné à une critique sociale de la Thaïlande qui est difficile à suivre (du moins dans sa version française). Le texte a probablement très mal vieilli et est victime de plusieurs des préjugées qu’il semble dénoncer.

[David Frazier · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unexpectedly good Bangkok novel and, a rarity for a city that mostly exists in genre fiction, an exceptionally writerly one. The plot is of a journalist with incurable gonorrhea and a disastrous personal life who gets tangled up in a drug caper involving Thai generals, Sino-Thai bankers, the Lao military, and all strata of Thai and farang society. But best of all, the book wonderfully captures 1980s Bangkok and especially the character of a Bangkok Post newspaper columnist here called Henry Crappe but representing the real and legendary nightlife columnist Bernard Trink. It's hardly a perfect; from midway through the plot begins to meander, and its final section does not wrap up as quickly and tightly as it should. But the writing is solid, the atmosphere is thick, and it's a wonderful snapshot of Bangkok in a sort of golden era for expats.

[Eduardo Montes Coello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanto este libro, la trama el desenvolvimiento de los personajes y todo ese tipo de cosas, drogas, prostitución, muerte, todo lo que pasa en una ciudad donde se desenvuelven un sin fin de probabilidades, que te dejan atónito pero con un placer en la mente que te hace imaginar todas las cosas que ahí suceden...

[Bekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even get half way through.