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Bangkok 8

From Bangkok 8 by John Burdett:

A mighty leap causes the wooded house to shake and ends with the knife stuck in the panel and his visor clopping back over his face. Compared to my own problems, his next decision is hardly taxing: whether to wrestle the knife out of the wall with visor up or down? I watch fascinated while he attempts both at the same time, pushing the annoying visor up with the left while he pulls at the knife with the right. That thrust of his was quite something; the knife is stuck so fast between planks he needs a foot to press against the wall to pull it out, which requires two hands; whoops, that visor again. I have the feeling that things are not quite as urgent as I had thought, but decide to try a charge anyway.

That was a pretty long quote, but I think it gives you a good idea the tone of this book. Bangkok 8 is a fun read that centers around the Thai Buddhist detective Soncahi Jitpleecheep, the son of a prostitute and a farang (White person) and his quest for vengeance after the calculated murder of a U.S. marine leaves his partner dead as well. This book doesn’t really play like a murder mystery, our narrator, Sonchai, himself states, “This isn’t a whodunit, is it? More like a whatwillshedonext.” It’s an interesting read as Sonchai’s constant meditations lead to figuring out the “who’s” early on, but not the “why’s.” Lots of talk about the jade trade, prostitution in Thailand, corruption, even gender identity. This is also one of those books that just has a really satisfying ending. This is a fun crime thriller infused with a bit of dark humor and I recommend that you go ahead and read it!

Now… on to Gates of Fire…

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Financial, Political Drama / Murder Mystery Detective Story

I finished reading the late Stieg Larrson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I have to say, it was pretty awesome and impossible to put down. The original Swedish title was Män som hatar kvinnor, “Men That Hate Women,” a far better and more appropriate title. Also, let’s be honest, the name  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is pretty lame. I think the name Men That Hate Women is also much better in setting the general tone for this book. Regardless..

This is a really complex novel that seems to be part finance, business, political, crime thriller, and does pretty well on all parts. I will try to give a brief overview of the book. The book opens with our hero, Michael Blomkvist, losing a libel case to an accused industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström, putting his magazine at serious risk of collapsing. The disgraced journalist is hired by a wealthy old former industrialist, Henrik Vanger, who offers Blomkvist a huge sum to spend a year writing the Vanger family chronicle and attempting to solve the murder mystery of Vanger’s niece, Harriett of which there have been no developments in 40 years. The ensuing tale goes crazy.

That’s basically it. At times the language is a little clunky, I can’t tell if that’s the translator, Reg Keeland, to blame, or how Larrson intended it, and there are some almost masturbatory extended descriptions of Apple computers that seem a little bit unnecessary. Regardless, this is a super fun read and I’m sure you’ll tackle it within a week. There’s some messed up stuff in this book! Recommended reading. I will be reading the second one in the series after I get through some other books I have lined up.

By the way, their making a movie (actually made in Sweden, not a bastardized US version just yet), and I’m not sure what to make of it. As a movie, it looks a little bit corny… I feel like you can get away with more things in a novel, but once you start seeing them it’s a little meh…. but either way it looks interesting and I’m sure I’ll watch it at some point.

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The Alienist

From The Alienist by Caleb Carr:

And then all hell broke loose. With the speed and precision that only years of professional training can breed, an ape of a man leapt up and over the inner promenade fence and crushed Connor’s gun-wielding hand with a stout section of lead pipe. Before the other two things could react several lightning combinations of blows from two enormous fists laid them both out on the promenade. The howling Connor soon shared the same fate. Then, just for good measure, the newcomer- his face hidden under a miner’s cap- leaned over each man’s head in succession and delivered a series of resounding blows with the lead pipe. It was a clinic in violence that was awesome to behold- but my joy at the attack faded considerably when the performer stood up and finally revealed himself.

I feel bad for any book I read after having recently read Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram, but Caleb Carr’s The Alienist is a worthy read. This book is a historical-fiction crime novel that takes place in 1896 New York City and follows then-Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt and the controversial Dr. Laszlo Kreizler along with their investigative team in their attempt to catch a killer of boy prostitutes using new and unorthodox methods dealing with psychology and fingerprinting (when it was not yet a proven standard of evidence).

This book is painstakingly researched to be true to the time period and is a fun and thrilling read. In The Alienist’s afterword, Carr states that his intention with the novel was to create a story that revolved around two men, a murderer and a man who catches such murderers, both from abusive backgrounds, and “illustrate critical personal moments in a life (or lives) that steadily build and reinforce character and thus become the building blocks of action…”

It’s a thrilling adventure as the investigative team “reverse-engineers” an understanding of their killer by using his murderous rituals to establish his context.

Interesting fact, Caleb Carr’s father, Lucien Carr, stabbed and killed his scoutmaster when he made a move on him in the summer of 1944. Lucien Carr disposed of the evidence with the help of Jack Kerouac.

Anyway: Great story, characters, and the believable use of historical figures make this something you should definitely read.