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gayatriii's review against another edition
3.0
A little east meets west thriller about a half white Buddhist cop whose partner is unintentionally killed off. The cop vows revenge and sets about to solve the case in the seedy, spiritual, drug and sex laden Thailand.
All the bits about Thailand, Buddha, The Eight Fold are phenomenal. The cultural vision in this book is very strong, something that even a hardened cynic will appreciate.
Alas, it did not go out with a bang for me. Bit lackluster, the ending. There are certain bits about the end that I find hard to digest, given what I had learnt about the characters.
Will probably not be buying the other Jitpleecheeps.
All the bits about Thailand, Buddha, The Eight Fold are phenomenal. The cultural vision in this book is very strong, something that even a hardened cynic will appreciate.
Alas, it did not go out with a bang for me. Bit lackluster, the ending. There are certain bits about the end that I find hard to digest, given what I had learnt about the characters.
Will probably not be buying the other Jitpleecheeps.
edhpbg2022's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
festibal's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
betseyboo's review against another edition
1.0
This book was not for me. It turned into work just reading it. The story lost momentum and I stopped caring.
kelinickole's review against another edition
I know this was published in 2003 but calling the only marine “the black American” “the black marine” “the negro”? Please. Goodbye.
Also the other three characters described were women and ALL of them were described in horrible light.
Also the other three characters described were women and ALL of them were described in horrible light.
debs4jc's review against another edition
4.0
police detective sonchai and his partner pichai are following a black american ex-marine. they catch up to him just after he has been killed by an assortment of drug crazed snakes--one of which also kills pichai. thus begins thai detective sonchai's first adventure as a virtuous buddhist cop who must uncover the truth and seek justice. this is complicated by his view of karma and his visions into past lives, which both explains and complicates the present. sonchai teams us with a female investigator from the fbi, who along with the reader learns a lot about thai culture and the seamy side of bangkok life from sonchai. sonchai is a well qualified teacher, as he is the son of a thai prostitute and an unknown american serviceman, speaks excellent english, and tends to philosophize on the differences between thai culture and the west. the mystery story is thrilling enough, but the real charm of this story is in experiencing a different culture. if you have any interest in modern day thailand, be sure to pick this book up.
darkzem's review against another edition
1.0
A slow plodding and poorly realized cop drama. It wants to be a witty hard boiled detective story with a unique perspective set in a beautiful and mysterious foreign land but it lands like the hindenburg. The characters feel shallow and often border on becoming racist stereotypes. The writing is pretentious and disjointed. The main character is a quiet literally holyer than thou asshole with zero liability and while the central plot is basically functional but it feels like it's barely proped up and does nothing to save tragic waste of a lot of potential. I can't honestly recommend this to anyone.
duparker's review against another edition
4.0
The originality of this book flows throughout. It was inventive, creative and full of twists that worked well with the odd (to me) setting. The overall mystery is a bit childish, but that is part of the point, and part of the intrigue.