John Burdett's Bangkok Haunts the Reader

Wanting a respite from reading Jack Bauer type thriller heroes, I followed my son-in-law, Alex' suggestion to read John Burdett.  I am so glad I did. If you like mystery reads, you should try him, too.

We first meet Sonchai Jitpleecheep in Bangkok 8, the first in the mystery series. Our unusual and unlikely hero is tormented by his Buddhist ideals while surrounded by corruption and violence in his everyday work as detective of Bangkok District 8. He must solve the death of an American Marine stung by venomous cobras.  The cobras also kill Sonchai's partner and Buddhist soul brother, Pinchai, thus making the solution of the crime even more pressing, for now, he must kill the perp to avenge Pinchai's death.

Sonchai is not your ordinary detective.  Describing himself as the son of a whore, Sonchai is the son of a former prostitute (rented wife) and a farang(Westerner), a US military man whom he has never met but fantasizes about.  His mother's former occupation brings Sonchai in contact with farang men who teach him social graces, English, French, and high fashion which, he cannot, of course, afford. An earlier crime led him and his soul brother, Pinchai, to a Buddhist monastery and the protection of the Abbott, also the brother of Sonchai's superior, the corrupt but benevolent Colonel Vikorn.  The Abbot decides that Vikorn should employ and protect these soul brothers who turn out to be the only District 8 police officers immune to bribery. Sonchai's Buddhist training allows him to meditate anywhere and clear his mind to see how the puzzle pieces fit. Seeing clearly merely adds to the difficult decisions he must make.  Thus is set the adventures and angst of  Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

Burdett's Bangkok series is a juxtposition of opposites which often play in Sonchai's soul.  Just like his mixed genealogy, Sonchai must work with the American FBI in the persona of a feminist FBI agent, Kimberly Jones, pitting Thai sense of tradition with western logic and technology. The pull of Sonchai's Buddhist beliefs is countered by Vikorn, the not so subtle purveyor of large scale drug traffic and who, in every turn, tries to lure his protege into the ways of the world. Eventually, Sonchai finds himself part owner of a gentleman's club brothel owned by his mother and Vikorn.

Just as Walter Mosley brought us the Black experience of 1960's Los Angeles in his Easy Rawlins series and Dennis Lehane, life in Dorchester, Massachusets in the Patrick Kenzie/ Angela Genaro series, (Gone Baby Gone,) Burdett brings Bangkok with its culture and red light district as a main character in these books. We see prostitution in a different light as seen in the eyes of the different characters, often with admiration. East meets West in Bangkok where real and fake Gucci and Armani stores are side by side with Buddhist religious houses.

The Godfather of Kathmandu is the latest of the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series (released Jan 12,2010.) As in previous books, a crime so heinous, involving an American leads Sonchai to pit his wits with a cunning murderer. Sonchai is not himself.  He has just suffered the death of his son and he whacks his mind with pot to numb his heart. Complicating the investigations is his new found assignment as consiglieri to his superior, Vikorn (who has been studying The Godfather DVDs) and the competing military drug lord, General Senna.  The job brings Sonchai to Nepal where he meets  unconventional freedom loving Tibetan monk, Teitsin. Teitsin furthers Sonchai's meditative abilities and becomes his guru even as he masterminds a huge drug trade for the liberation of his people, another juxtaposition of opposites. The book is not as tightly woven and exciting as the previous ones but  still this mystery novel is full of cruel crime, twists, humor, and angst as the trials and growth of Sonchai Jiptleecheep continues to unfold. 

John Burdett gave up law practice for his love of writing.  He lives in France, Spain and Hongkong.

Steig Larsson and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest: A Fitting Conclusion to the Millenium Trilogy

Unable to contain my suspense after reading the first two books of the Millennium Trilogy, I ordered a UK edition of Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  The US publication is due to come out on May 5, 2010.  Stieg Larsson fans have to read this last book or they would forever be in suspense.  Those of you who have not read Stieg Larsson's books, I implore you, start with the first, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, then move to the second, The Girl Who Played with Fire.  Each volume builds on the previous.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is Lisbeth Salander, an unlikely and uniquely strange heroine.  A math genius, Salander is a master hacker, the best in the business, and previously employed by a research and security firm in Stockholm.  We meet her in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when she is employed by social activist writer, Mikael Blomkvist, part owner of Millenium Publishing who in turn is hired by the patriarch of wealthy Swedish Vanger family to research family secrets.  Salander and Blomkvist forge a strange but loyal friendship.  Having gone through a horrific childhood in the hands of her father and the Swedish mental health system, Salander has serious relationship problems. Salander is a loner. She chooses who she works for, works with deliberate accuracy and has no qualms about intruding into other people's privacy or operating outside the law.  Skinny as a young boy, she is capable of changing her identity and fading away if she does not want to be found.  Tenacious, resilient, cunning and extremely resourceful, Salander can exact revenge on those who have harmed her and fight to the end those who plan her demise.

The writing is fast paced and gripping and the reader is compelled to keep on reading to the last page  to learn what happens to this unlikely heroine.  As in the first two books, Hornet's Nest is entertaining and answers many questions from Tattoo and Fire.  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is long, meanders somewhat in the beginning but becomes more action packed in the last 200 pages as the reader wonders how Salander will get out of her predicament.  If she survives a head wound, will bad guys succeed in killing her? If she survives both, how will she evade her enemies in the Swedish government who are determined to return her to the modern dungeons of the mental health system.

While the Millenium Trilogy is a mystery series, the books actually decry violence to women and speak to the threats to the Swedish democratic system.  So few writers are able to weave social statements into a spell-binding novel and here, Larsson excels. Stieg Larsson was a social activist from a very young age.  He was a spokesperson against racism and right wing extremists who try to influence youth into white supremacy ideology.  He founded the Swedish Expo Foundation and became editor of its magazine, Expo.  His life was under constant threat.  He submitted manuscripts for the three Millenium books just before his death of a heart attack in 2004.  It is rumored that there was to have been a series of 10 books and that he had written the beginning and ending of a fourth book.  To the reader's misfortune, a future book is unlikely due to some estate problems which pit Larsson's father and brother against Larsson,s lifelong companion Eva Gabrielsson who had been a collaborator in the research of the novels.

Larsson was the second bestselling author in the world in 2008.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was adapted to the screen in Sweden and released under the title, Men Who Hate Women starring Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist.  Sony and producer Scott Rudin bought the rights to an English language remake and a US version is soon to come.   Besides leaving a wonderful trio of mystery novels, another Larsson legacy is that his success has brought the works of Swedish writers into the international scene such as earlier writer Hakan Nesser whose crime novels featuring Inspector Van Veeteren have been translated into English.

                                                       Stieg Larsson 1954-2004