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Cambodia Noir

Nick Seeley,

Nicholas Seeley (Goodreads Author)

3.39 · Rating details · 493 ratings · 120 reviews

Phnom Penh, Cambodia: the end of the line. Lawless, drug-soaked, forgotten—it's where bad journalists go to die. For once-great war photographer Will Keller, that's kind of a mission statement: he spends his days floating from one score to the next, taking any job that pays; his nights are a haze of sex, drugs, booze, and brawling. But Will's spiral toward oblivion is inte ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published March 15th 2016 by Scribner

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· 493 ratings · 120 reviews

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Apr 01, 2016 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, read-2016, drugs-is-bad, everyone-loved-but-me

I really didn't. But I sure feel like I did.

Will Keller used to be a hotshot photographer but then he went into a personal hell and has never left it since. He has ended up in Cambodia just staying drunk, drugged out of his mind and just waiting to die. He is approached by a woman named Kara saying that she wants him to find her sister. Will has some connections to her missing sister and that sister's suitcases are at his place.

The missing sister June was an intern at a local paper, but it t ...more

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Jan 14, 2016 Delee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, reviewed, mystery, historical-fiction

Well done Nick Seeley. Well done!

Nick knows his S!@T.....Ohhhhh....may I call you Nick???? There is nothing I like better than to dive into a book of an author that knows what he is doing. I felt safe there...I felt comfortable knowing that he knew much more than I did- and that he could guide me through it. I knew some things about Cambodia- but....

...word of advice- if you are going to read it- brush up on a bit of Cambodian history- I can guarantee a little knowledge before hand will make you ...more

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Oct 27, 2015 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016-books, crime-noir

I think I need to preface this review by saying that I discovered very quickly that I'm probably not the intended audience for this book. I read the description and saw the cover, so was expecting a thriller, but this one was a bit too much for me. Several other reviewers seem to love it.

Debut novelist Nicholas Seeley delivers readers a fast-paced look into the seedy, corrupted underbelly of Cambodia. And what a depraved world it is. Alcohol, drugs, prostitution, kidnapping, poverty, smuggling, ...more

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Oct 11, 2015 Sandra rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley, arc, from-publisher, 2016, cover-love, favorites, grit-lit-noir, debut, eastern-roots

This is a goddamn war.

Hot damn. This book was a pure acid trip on its own!

Will Keller, a photojournalist, is living his life fast. And hard.
Sex, drugs and booze are on his daily menu.
Haunted by his past, he now tries to outrun it.

Set against the backdrop of beautiful Cambodia, Will leads us through the darkest places mankind has known. Corruption is thriving, and a war is brewing. Whether for power, or scoring the much needed high. Then Will is approached by a mysterious woman who wa ...more

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Nov 02, 2015 ☼♄Jülie  rated it it was amazing

Recommended to ☼♄Jülie  by: Self

Shelves: own-kindle-book, aussie-author, debut-novel, netgalley-for-review, crime-mystery, netgalley-arc, cultural-asia, noir, author-to-watch

Incredibly good!

What a brilliant read this was!
I have recently returned from a trip to Cambodia and found this story all the more compelling for that as I could easily identify with the descriptions of the people, the streets, and the places along the river.. the pulse of the place which never seems to sleep.
Nick Seeley has an artful way of describing the soul of Cambodia, the way it gets into you. For all of it's shades of dark and light, there is something about the place that gets into your s ...more

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Feb 17, 2016 Ioana rated it really liked it

Shelves: noir, fiction, favorite-headtrips

"She didn't care about the money... She didn't care about the story. Or me, or Sam, or even drugs. She didn't have reasons. She just wanted to see what was in the dark..."

Cambodia Noir reads like a drug-induced frenzy, like falling into an abyss of human depravity, senselessness, unmoored emptiness and despair. Steely's voice as our protagonist, washed-out journalist Will, is mesmerizing, and offers - for the reader at least - a sobering portrait of how far any of us may fall through a combinati ...more

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Jan 29, 2016 The Shayne-Train rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

This book is amazing.

A first-person present-tense feverdream, equal parts Raymond Chandler and Bret Easton Ellis. Drugs and crime, political coups and sex workers, and blood, and blood, and blood.

Visit a locale you may not have literarily been to before. The humidity and corruption of the place actually seeps from the printed words into your soul. You're tasting the fish soup and pollution as you devour page after page, even when it starts to make you feel a bit sick.

Highly recommended for anyo ...more

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Nov 11, 2016 Michael rated it really liked it

Cambodia is a country slowly healing from its recent past. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's reign was one of murder, torture, starvation and corruption. It is against this backdrop that the book is based on with corruption still rampant and the country now being overrun by drugs. It is also a haven for washed up foreign reporters looking for a place to hide and die. One of them is Will Keller, who was once a star reporter but now works for a small local paper and has little to do.

Will spends much o Cambodia is a country slowly healing from its recent past. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's reign was one of murder, torture, starvation and corruption. It is against this backdrop that the book is based on with corruption still rampant and the country now being overrun by drugs. It is also a haven for washed up foreign reporters looking for a place to hide and die. One of them is Will Keller, who was once a star reporter but now works for a small local paper and has little to do.

Will spends much of his time enjoying the decadence the country with drugs, booze, and women aplenty. That will all change when he finds himself embroiled in the latest election that sees the countries fledgling democracy hanging by a thread. While the standoff between the government and the military over drugs makes things interesting, it will be a beautiful American looking for her sister that will drag Will totally out of his slumber.

Kara's sister has disappeared into the seedy underworld of Cambodia and it is left to Will to try and follow the trail left in June's diary to found out her whereabouts. In order to achieve this, he will need to keep his wits about him as he fights through his drug induced mind with the only knowledge being is she was an intern at a local paper. With Phnom Penh's drug lords in disarray after a major drug bust, the murder of a local reporter and the shambles of the election, there is so many issues June could find herself getting caught up in that finding her may be impossible. The best clue is the diary and what it reveal's will be one of revelation after revelation.

If you like your reads on the cozy side then this will not be read you enjoy. Cambodia Noir pulls no punches with its descriptions of drug taking, sex, and violence that takes no prisoners as the reader comes along for the ride. Will as a character is unsettling as someone who is dragged through the ringer with drug taking that would make Keith Richards proud, and equally can endure superhuman levels of beatings. If you like your mysteries on the gritty and dark side then I would wholeheartedly recommend giving this book a try. ...more

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Mar 08, 2016 Anne rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, thank-you-netgalley, books-i-own

I know this book will be beloved by many. I know I may get trolled for disliking it. But honestly, it just annoyed me, from start to finish. There were so many things that, taken separately, I could've overlooked; taken altogether, I just couldn't wait for this book to be over.

The first and biggest problem with this novel was the narrator. Will Keller is a washed-up photojournalist who, having once been listed for a Pulitzer, now has only one goal in life: to numb his pathetic, cowardly self wit ...more

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Jan 21, 2018 Josh rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: own, read_2018, crime

In summary: a misguided and confused plot presented through a psychedelic haze, further hampered by the lack of a plausible protagonist and an attempt at poetic prose which failed to resonate with this reader.

Author Nick Seeley tries to emulate the noir stylings of James Sallis by way of Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor series but misses on both. The premise is sound but the end result frustrating; Will Keller, a newspaper photographer is hired by a mysterious woman to find a missing journalist, who happ ...more

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Mar 02, 2016 CL rated it it was amazing

Nicholas Seeley knows how to write in a way that keeps you wanting more from beginning to end. The topic is depressing and violent but is written during a time when it could be described in no other way. Cambodia’s politics, the drug trade and the military are all fighting for control. Corruption is everywhere and there is a war about to start. William Keller, a journalist who drinks too much and who uses drugs, has been asked by Kara to find her sister Jun, a fellow journalist who has gone miss ...more

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Feb 11, 2016 Cheri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, debut-novel, arc, 2016, cambodia

Nick Seeley’s quick rapid fire sentences, merging with a story packed with sinister shadows and seemingly endless, unsolvable mysteries, a photographer who feeds on the dark thrills of Cambodia’s sordid neighborhoods, lives there, maybe even lives for those places, maybe as part of his punishment for the dark things he keeps trying to bury deep in his soul.

Riveting. You will be sucked into this world where everything is so vivid and real and rich, where every mystery leads to another unknown ta ...more

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Feb 22, 2016 Paromjit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: thriller, crime-fiction, netgalley

Nicholas Seeley has created a vibrant, in your face, fast paced picture of what hell looks and feels like. This is a not to be missed debut novel that, once read, will not be forgotten and I loved it! Cambodia is a dangerous country with a history that no-one should have to live through.

Amidst this seething morass of horror and corruption we have Will Keller. He is a has-been war photo journalist looking for oblivion from his troubled memories. He is surviving on a day to day basis awash with d ...more

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Nov 03, 2015 Amy Gianero Berry rated it it was amazing

Not for the faint of heart. A hardcore mess with your brain book. Drugs, Sex, Violence, The Underworld of Cambodia. I think it was brilliant & would love to see more. Not for everyone-I think you need to be somewhat evil & dark to understand & like this novel. I found myself thinking this would make an excellent & action packed movie-Nick Seeley spins his web so perfectly & takes you into this high paced super graphic masterpiece. Looking forward to more-what happens to Will Keller? I would like ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 س rated it it was amazing

Gritty, bloody, sexy, this is noir at its finest. Will Keller is a fantastic narrator, with echoes of a young Phillip Marlowe. The suspense, combined with some heartbreaking moments (that scene in Afghanistan....) makes this unputdownable. Like Graham Greene but angrier and dirtier. Read it.

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Mar 16, 2016 Katherine rated it really liked it

I used to be a big fan of crime thrillers, devouring Kathy Reichs and Ian Rankin novels in a rabid frenzy. However, after a while the patterns become a little too obvious, and even hits like I Am Pilgrim start to fall a little flat. It’s not enough to just have a gruesome crime and a scattering of intriguing clues; I want more. Cambodia Noir delivers: it is so much more than a crime thriller. More Hunter S Thompson than Nancy Drew, it’s a drug-soaked psychological labyrinth that sucks you in and
I used to be a big fan of crime thrillers, devouring Kathy Reichs and Ian Rankin novels in a rabid frenzy. However, after a while the patterns become a little too obvious, and even hits like I Am Pilgrim start to fall a little flat. It’s not enough to just have a gruesome crime and a scattering of intriguing clues; I want more. Cambodia Noir delivers: it is so much more than a crime thriller. More Hunter S Thompson than Nancy Drew, it’s a drug-soaked psychological labyrinth that sucks you in and vomits you out afterwards.

When the door opens, the heat slams into me like a fist, a physical blow – then gives way, suffocating and wet. I have stepped into the maw of something, I am breathing its air. Metal steps down to the tarmac, still glistening from the monsoon. The runway is a narrow ribbon of black; beyond, darkness and wet grass. In the distance, hot wind whips a row of palms against a sky of looming violet cloud. Lightning in the distance flashes red, like a scar. Cambodia.

This novel’s strength is the author’s ability to convey a sense of place: Seeley puts you right into Cambodia, evoking the smells, atmosphere, sounds, sweat and the undercurrents of tension as the political system ramps up for what may be another coup. As someone who has lived in Asia and visited South East Asia, I was convinced. This is the kind of book that can only be written by someone who has immersed themselves in a community for an extended period of time. And it’s not all the same old expat commentary on the quaintness of rickshaws, temples and overloaded mopeds; Seeley explores the arrogance and tunnel vision of the expat community and contrasts it with the lived experiences of Cambodians who have lived through the war and continue to live there today. It’s a colourful and exciting book, but it is also self-aware, and those layers of awareness give it a richness and depth that I have never encountered in crime fiction before – perhaps this is why it ended up on my shelf as a literary novel.

God, God, why do I do this to myself? I knew, I must have known, what waited here – did I really think I could steer my way past all the bitter, sharp and poisonous things that give this place its reputation? And yet I let myself be drawn, again and again, to these… these excrescences of death. It only took a week for them to get me to the torture chamber.

The form of the novel is interesting – June is missing, but she has left behind some downright confusing stream-of-consciousness and poetic journals for Will to page through, which are as incomprehensible as the blurry photographs she’s fond of taking. Sections of the journals are interspersed with Will’s narrative, and as June spirals downwards, Will matches her madness with his own increasing desperation to find her. I found that it became a bit of a plot hole, though, as I felt that either Will was discovering clues in the journal sections that the readers weren’t given too, or he was making miraculous inferences. In William Huntington Wright’s 20 Rules for Writing Detective Stories, he says, “The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery,” and those “miraculous” inferences became a sore point for me as the novel went on and they began to pop up more and more frequently.

Cambo only existed for her through the lens of those places we created: a world built to reflect us back at ourselves, a world of poverty and deference. She thought she was lost, that she had fallen outside of history – guess that was what she wanted. But history goes on. Even here, where so many have tried to end it.

As a mystery, this novel fell a bit short – the plot became a bit far-fetched at times and the links between clues and conclusions were sometimes a little too miraculous to keep my eyebrows from raising skeptically. However, as a literary novel with a mysterious plot, in which the reader focuses more on the psychological, descriptive and sociological elements of the novel, it is exquisite. Seeley’s rhythms and stylistic flourishes give a poetic edge to the grit and grime of this story of a clash of underworlds.

I always knew who I was, and I knew that I was going somewhere. Then I came here, where there is no history. No stories left, just skulls in nameless piles. No traditions, their keepers were murdered. No time, or if there is, it is not a river but the sea, vast and gray and on every side the same. Here I am neither measured against the past nor connected to the future, for past and future are interchangeable. Here, I am free.

Ultimately this is an amazing first novel; it’s written with the lexical flair acquired through the author’s years of experience as a journalist, and captures the grit and tempos of Cambodia. Although it’s not necessarily a great crime-thriller, it is poetic, pensive, and self-aware; it criticizes behaviors and the erasure of history. Cambodia Noir is a modern story, wrapped in layers of history and the pain of several generations. It’s a story about culture and psychology and the madness of trauma, violence and betrayal. It’s a hell of a ride. ...more

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Mar 03, 2016 Kelsi H rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, read-in-2016

Please check out all of my reviews at http://ultraviolentlit.blogspot.ca!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the end of the road for a group of washed up journalists, including our protagonist Will Keller. He is a photographer, working for a friend who edits a local newspaper, and drifting in a haze of drugs and alcohol – which inevitably lead to sex and violence. Will is halfway through a downward spiral in a city that’s easy to get lost in, when he accidentally photographs a major governmental conspiracy Please check out all of my reviews at http://ultraviolentlit.blogspot.ca!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the end of the road for a group of washed up journalists, including our protagonist Will Keller. He is a photographer, working for a friend who edits a local newspaper, and drifting in a haze of drugs and alcohol – which inevitably lead to sex and violence. Will is halfway through a downward spiral in a city that’s easy to get lost in, when he accidentally photographs a major governmental conspiracy in the works. Other journalists are getting killed for less, so Will burrows deeper into the underground world of Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Will is approached by a woman named Kara Saito – she has come to Phnom Penh to find her missing sister June, who was interning at Will’s newspaper. June left the city to track down a story in the surrounding countryside, and she hasn’t been seen or heard from since. She left behind her luggage in Will’s apartment building, including a journal from her travels around the world. As Will flips through the words and pictures in hope of finding a clue to June’s whereabouts, he begins to realize that she was not who she said she was, and Kara might not be either.

Will inefficiently attempts to track down June, and even her travel diaries are not much help – she travelled to many countries, seeking something that is left undefined. Meanwhile, the government is in an uproar over the incident from Will’s photographs, and the seedy underworld of Phnom Penh is closing ranks around the journalist expats. It probably helps to know a little bit about Cambodia’s political situation to follow the events of the novel, but in any case, there’s no mistaking the gritty, depraved world of poverty, drugs and prostitution.

Both the language and setting are realistic and evocative – reading this novel feels like slipping into Will’s sweaty, drug-induced nightmare. The effect is hallucinatory, intense and exciting, especially for a debut novel. The story moves quickly, and it is a thrilling ride. This is true noir, at its best.

I received this novel from Scribner and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
...more

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Jun 27, 2018 Jeff rated it liked it

Delivers pretty much what you’d expect given the title and synopsis, although it almost completely falls apart in the final act. Carried over the bumps by a deeply flawed protagonist, vivid setting, and some flashes of wit.

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Oct 27, 2015 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, review-books, crime, netgalley, asian

CAMBODIA NOIR will appeal to readers who like anything from wild west adventure novels, through to classic noir styled lone wolf investigations, set in a country with a difficult recent past, and a fraught present. Because it is a combination of all of those elements, and then some.

Dark and violent, with explicit drug taking and sex, author Nick Seeley has written a book that makes no attempt at all to cushion the blows that his characters, and his readers encounter whilst reading. It's a tough, ...more

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Nov 19, 2015 Sharon rated it it was ok

Shelves: first-reads, suspense

I won a copy of Cambodia Noir during a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway, in exchange for an honest review.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Will Keller, a once great war photographer who spends his days shifting between chasing a high and a story, and June Saito, an intern at the local paper who disappeared. Her diary documents the time before her sister hired Will to track her, as well as sheds some light on her professional interests. When Will gets closer and closer to the truth, will he ...more

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Dec 16, 2015 Ralph Blackburn rated it it was amazing

Cambodia Noir by Nick Seeley- Will Keller is a photo-journalist living in Cambodia for nine years, working for a local newspaper, and taking too many drugs and drinking too much booze, trying to forget his past. His editor tasks him with finding a lost journalist, a young girl who went out on an assignment and never came back- not unusual for this Country it seems. Armed with the girl's recent diaries, Will begins a decent into the Cambodian underworld that scares him even as he continues to dod ...more

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Mar 29, 2016 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: east-asian-crime, netgalley

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this free ebook in return for an honest review.
Will Keller is an American reporter/photographer living in Cambodia in 2003. He has become a drug addict/alcoholic, but is still a very good photographer. A beautiful woman comes to him and hires him to find her sister, who disappeared a few months ago.
Will agrees to look for her. He then digs into the dangerous underworld of drugs and politics. He is attacked several times. I found it hard to believ ...more

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Jan 12, 2017 Dann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I grabbed this book at the library because it sounded interesting; I had never heard of Seeley or the book. But I was grabbed by it immediately; it's a great throwback to the classic days of hardboiled detective fiction, but updated for a modern age. Drugs, sex, violence . . . it's all there. And the mystery is a good one that will keep you guessing. Cambodia is a great backdrop for this story, and Seeley's descriptions of setting will definitely make you feel like you're there; he has a notable ...more

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Jan 03, 2016 Fiona rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: people who enjoy action/murder mysteries

Shelves: publisher-gift

The plot: Standard hard drinking, hard drugging, antihero type with a dark past seeks missing girl in violent Cambodia. The verdict: Really well done, with consistent pacing and plenty of action but characterization (especially of minor characters) needs work, as everyone seemed to blend together. Also, there was just too much substance abuse for my taste, although I appreciate its usefulness as a plot device, keeping our narrator too addled to figure shit out.

I won this advance reading copy thr ...more

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Oct 08, 2015 Barry Hammond rated it liked it

Pretty impressive first novel which explores the dark underbelly (is there any other belly?) of Cambodia eyeballing the drug trade, police and military corruption, gangs, journalism and the generally dark side of human beings with a flare for language and the razor shadings of despair. Not for the weak of heart but rewarding. - BH.

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Jan 13, 2018 Katy rated it it was ok

So this is really more of a 2.5 for me. I can appreciate what the author was trying to do and I can see why some people enjoy it. However, I don't enjoy reading the perspective of someone who is drugged out a good portion of the time and trying to follow their train of thought as they try to solve a mystery. I just couldn't and didn't want put myself into the head space of this world. ...more

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Nov 21, 2015 Liz rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

Cambodia Noir has all you would hope for in a novel about an exotic and mysterious country. Things are never what they seem to be; people surprise you with their guile and ruthlessness. Living in Southeast Asia could be this exciting!

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Sep 24, 2015 Neil Plakcy rated it it was amazing

Loved this book. Great sense of atmosphere, interesting premise and characters I wanted to know more about. Couldn't put it down. ...more

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Mar 01, 2016 Ellie rated it it was ok

Hmmmmm...while well written, I found this too violent, too drugged out, and too vicious for me..

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Feb 17, 2016 Karmen rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, giveaway-won, donation, 2016

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Free uncorrected proof copy received in return for unadulterated review.

Where: Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Southeast Asia)
Working for unnamed paper managed by Gabriel; reporter Gus
When: 2003 and present day
Genre: Contemporary mystery
Protagonist: Will Keller, war photographer; Jun Saito, missing intern; Kara Saito (sister to Jun); Channi, girl at bar (quasi love interest)

Will has settled (landed) in PP as result of personal trauma from tour in Afghanistan. Working for small indie paper under Gabriel, ...more

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