Suzanne
Rating:
Review
Third time's
not a charm in this most recent installment in John Burdett's Bangkok crime series. The writing feels tired, and sometimes the story is just depressing. It opens with Buddhist detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, now married, receiving an anonymous delivery of a snuff film. To make it worse, Sonchai knows the woman who was killed: Damrong, a prostitute who worked briefly in his family's brothel and had just as brief of an affair with him. Anguished over his unresolved feelings for her, Sonchai once again finds himself investigating a crime when his boss would prefer that he leave it alone. Prostitution is still the heavy-handed backdrop against which his sleuthing takes place, but this time the hard-core porn movie industry is the flavor of the month. The "haunting" part involves sexual visits by Damrong's ghost, much to the disgust of Sonchai's pregnant wife. Invoking the evil sorcery of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge along with some ugly misuse of elephants was too over the top for me. The Zen is gone
Best Line:
"To know how to cheer oneself up is a first step to enlightenment." (pg. 101)
Kim
Rating:
Review
I think Sonchai Jitpleecheep is tired. Or I'm tired of Sonchai, one or the other. The third book in Mr. Burdett's Bangkok series is long and sadly, slow going, making me wonder if the title character has run his course. In Haunts, we are still in Bangkok where Sonchai is still a detective and brothel co-owner, and once again the murder he is investigating hits close to home. After receiving a "snuff" film where Damrong, a prostitute whom Sonchai knew and loved, was killed, he begins the hunt for a killer. Slowly. Because he gets distracted by his new wife, Chanya and their unborn child, and FBI Agent Kimberley Jones, who is making a repeat appearance in this story, along with numerous call girls and ex-johns, a former husband, and the brother of the now dead Damrong. Throw in a particularly heinous threat of death by an elephant and it is business as usual in Thailand, I guess. The end of the story was a little out there for me, and in reality I was just glad to be done with the book.
Best Line:
"When you notice light seeping into your coffin, it's hard to go on pretending you're dead."
