Bangkok 8: A Novel
by John Burdett
List Price:
Our Price: $4.38
You Save: $9.57 (69%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.49 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John BurdettEdition: Paperback
Published: 2004-07-13
ISBN: 1400032903
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Bangkok 8: A Novel
Book Review: A HODGEPODGE OF INGENUITY!
Summary: 5 Stars
Forget about whether or not this book accurately depicts Bangkok life, or is slanted by the misconstrued vision of the author. After all, it is not a travelogue, it is a work of fiction first and foremost. And it is a work of fiction of extreme ingenuity. The writer is highly talented. He is also highly complex, and so is his story.
And he is funny as all get out. I can't count the many times this book got a laugh out of me, either for its outright humor, or its subtle, more hidden ironic meanings.
Yes, I agree with some other reviewers that there is a tendency to bash "farangs" in black and white terms. They are facilely pigeonholed. Although this view is seen through the eyes of his fascinating main character (fascinating because it is impossible to guess what he is going to say or do next - the unexpected is always forthcoming), the reader senses (correctly or incorrectly) that the main character expresses the views of his creator. Only Mr. Burdett himself can confirm or deny the truth of this impression.
This book is about divides and contradictions; finding, losing and searching again. Confusion? Yes. But always in the cloak of ingenuity.
The only weakness that I can point out is that the male characters are drawn very three dimensionally, while the female characters always remain somewhat in the mist. None are clearly wholly defined. They don't come out into the sunlight as do the males. In fact, one can almost say they are drawn stereotypically. Almost, but not quite.
As the writer is exceptionally gifted, he has created an exceptional book. Its uniqueness ensures that this novel has no predecessor, and it is not likely there will ever be another one even resembling it. For its complexity, its genius, and for just a plain old-fashioned fascinating read, I would highly recommend it. It is full of contradictions that have yet to be resolved. And it leaves it's reader (and perhaps the author as well) with the responsibility of doing so.
Summary of Bangkok 8: A Novel
When a U.S. Marine is killed in Bangkok, the task of finding the murderer falls to Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, seemingly the only member of the Royal Thai Police Force whose idea of justice precludes his fellow officers' customary system of bribery. This assignment's especially important to the devout detective for during the investigation of the murder scene, the methamphetamine-stoked snakes that bit the marine also kill Sonchai's police partner, best friend, and Buddhist soul-mate Pichai. Sonchai's pursuit of revenge will team him with a sexually frustrated FBI agent and leave them at the mercy of yaa-baa-fueled motorcycle-taxi drivers as they hurtle through neon-lit Bangkok and into the labyrinthine and deadly machinations of the international jade and drug trades in search of the killer.As Sonchai himself notes at one point, "This isn't a whodunit, is it?" And, no, it isn't, but author John Burdett (A Personal History of Thirst, The Last Six Million Seconds) infuses the plot with enough suspense, detail, and dry Asian insight to keep readers rapt as the story careens about the bars and brothels of Thailand's flesh trade, through its cut-rate plastic surgery parlors, and ends in a climax with a fittingly Buddhist twist. Bangkok 8 is highly recommended for readers in the mood for Thai. --Benjamin Reese
A thriller with attitude to spare, Bangkok 8 is a sexy, razor-edged, often darkly hilarious novel set in one of the world’s most exotic cities.
Witnessed by a throng of gaping spectators, a charismatic Marine sergeant is murdered under a Bangkok bridge inside a bolted-shut Mercedes Benz. Among the witnesses are the only two cops in the city not on the take, but within moments one is murdered and his partner, Sonchai Jitpleecheep—a devout Buddhist and the son of a Thai bar girl and a long-gone Vietnam War G.I.—is hell-bent on wreaking revenge. On a vigilante mission to capture his partner’s murderer, Sonchai is begrudgingly paired with a beautiful FBI agent named Jones and captures her heart in the process. In a city fueled by illicit drugs and infinite corruption, prostitution and priceless art, Sonchai’s quest for vengeance takes him into a world much more sinister than he could have ever imagined.
Electrifying, darkly comic, razor-edged -- a thriller unlike any other.
Under a Bangkok bridge, inside a bolted-shut Mercedes: a murder by snake -- a charismatic African American Marine sergeant killed by a methamphetamine-stoked python and a swarm of stoned cobras.
Two cops -- the only two in the city not on the take -- arrive too late. Minutes later, only one is alive: Sonchai Jitpleecheep -- a devout Buddhist, equally versed in the sacred and the profane -- son of a long-gone Vietnam War G.I. and a Thai bar girl whose subsequent international clientele contributed richly to Sonchai's sophistication.
Now, his partner dead, Sonchai is doubly compelled to find the murderer, to maneuver through the world he knows all to well -- illicit drugs, prostitution, infinite corruption -- and into a realm he has never before encountered: the moneyed underbelly of the city, where desire rules and the human body is no less custom-designable than a raw hunk of jade. And where Sonchai tracks the killer -- and a predator of an even more sinister variety.
Thick with the authentic -- and hallucinogenic -- atmosphere of Bangkok, crowded with astonishing characters, uniquely smart and skeptical, literary and wildly readable, Bangkok 8 is one of a kind.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Chuck's Great List
Cryptonomiconby Neal Stephenson
HarperCollins e-books; HarperCollins e-books; Release date: 2003-05-06; Published: 2003-05-06; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Best price: $6.39
Price in other shops:
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book)by Neal Stephenson
Spectra; Published: 2000-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Everything Is Illuminatedby Jonathan Safran Foer
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novelby Milan Kundera
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 1999-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.02
Price in other shops:
Bangkok Hauntsby John Burdett
Knopf; Published: 2007-06-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops:
Bangkok 8: A Novelby John Burdett
Vintage; Published: 2004-07-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
The Lord of the Rings. 3 Vol. Setby J.R.R. Tolkien
Houghton Mifflin; Published: 2003-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops:
Sharpe's Tiger (Richard Sharpe's Adventure Series #1)by Bernard Cornwell
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 1999-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.78
Price in other shops:
Master and Commanderby Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1990-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
American Psychoby Bret Easton Ellis
Vintage; Published: 1991-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Tin Roof Blowdown (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries)by James Lee Burke
Pocket; Published: 2008-06-17; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Murder at the Horny Toad Bar: & Other Outrageous Tales of Thailandby Dean Barrett
Village East Books; Published: 2004-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.17
Price in other shops:
Sunshineby Robin McKinley
Remainder; Berkley Books; Published: 2003-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.70
Price in other shops:
The Thin Placeby Kathryn Davis
Back Bay Books; Published: 2007-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.04
Price in other shops:
The Coroner's Lunchby Colin Cotterill
Soho Crime; Published: 2005-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.79
Price in other shops:
The Last Six Million Seconds: A Thrillerby John Burdett
William Morrow & Co; Published: 1997-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $41.99
Metzger's Dog: A Novelby Thomas Perry
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2003-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops:
Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko Novelby Martin Cruz Smith
Pocket; Published: 2008-06-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.65
Price in other shops:
Bangkok Haunts (Vintage)by John Burdett
Vintage; Published: 2008-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.22
Price in other shops:
Bangkok Tattooby John Burdett
Vintage; Published: 2006-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: