Apparently Bangkok thrillers have a certain notoriety for sensationalism, and Burdett’s Bangkok 8 doesn’t fail in that regard, but it is also so much more. In fact, this noir detective story could be a Phillip Marlowe, if it weren’t for the fact that its hero’s name is a little harder to pronounce. Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is the son of a Thai bar girl and a long-gone Vietnam-era American soldier, is a little too comfortable with many of the denizens of Bangkok’s notorious red-light districts, is […]
Another tangled web of suspense by a true master
Lescroart has managed to produce another masterpiece of murder, corruption, and deceit in The Keeper, with the action this time centered around the character of Abe Glitsky in a brand-new role. Los Angeles prison guard Hal Chase’s wife has gone missing, and Hal—as the lead suspect in the as-yet unproven murder—hires defense attorney Dismas Hardy. It turns out Hardy’s wife had been the missing woman’s therapist and knows a few things about the marriage that she’s not allowed to tell. The tension ratchets up very […]
A Thrilling Mystery Amid U.S.-China Relations
This second in the “Red Princess” trilogy is an exciting and well-plotted mystery wrapped around a continued powerful in-depth look at modern China’s political, economic and social contradictions. The story begins in the impoverished Chinese countryside which was for a while the touted model of the Cultural Revolution, until it was once again abandoned to its fate and to the cruel exploitation of foreign investors and local opportunists. Then we are back in Beijing, where our heroine Detective Liu Hulan is called upon to investigate […]