One of the top 3 thrillers I¨ve read this year (2006). Fast-paced, full of turns and twists, with a lot of insight in the thai culture, buddhistic mentatlity and a lot of sex and gruellingt crime. You will never believe what it¨s all about...

RELEASE NOTES:

This one goes as a surprise to "Vexter" from Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is not the kind of books you have been reading until now, Vexter, but I really want to read what you think about this kind of thriller! Enjoy!

One of the many joys of BookCrossing is being surprised by something other than bills in your mail. :)) Thanks for this, book-man-8! I hope it's not another thriller that'll keep me up all night long! I'll make sure I read it during the weekend, just in case. ;)

Well, if I hadn't gotten up at 5 am, I would've ended up reading all night, but this way I fell asleep with book in my hands instead!

In case the above comment doesn't give it out, "Bangkok Tattoo" is a fascinating, extraordinary thriller/crime novel. Set in Bangkok (of course), narrated by one Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a police detective who's helping his mother run a bar (of the sort where lonely gentlemen meet friendly girls) when he's off duty, or sometimes on duty, as both lines of work seem to converge when one of the girls murders a customer. What first seems as a rather straightforward drug-induced crime just gets messier, more bizarre and more complicated as the CIA, Muslims and Chinese and Japanese businessmen start coming into the picture. Besides the twisting and turning plot, fascinating characters, lively language, and a rather dark sense of humour (that had me chuckling regularly, to my family's dismay), a major attraction of this book is its depiction of Thai culture, presented here without polishing or airbrushing the reality for the tourists and prejudiced Westerners. Of course, I have no idea if this depiction is accurate, and it worries me a little that the book was written by a Westerner (although one who has spent much of his life in Asia), but all things considered, it is presented with sympathy for Thailand and contempt for the more "modern" West.

I've seen reviews that claim Burdett's previous novel, "Bangkok 8", is much better than this one, so I can't help but wonder how extraordinarily good must that one be then? In any case, I recommend "Bangkok Tattoo" to every crime novel fan who's at least remotely interested in faraway places and other cultures.

This book is going on a journey as a bookray! PM me with shipping preferences to join.

Participants:
bartonz (USA)
perryfran (USA)
LyekkaMarengo (USA)
AliceF (UK) - prefers shipping inside UK, but Europe ok too
sofiajam (Portugal)
totoroandmei (Japan) - international shipping by surface mail

Please make a journal entry when you receive the book and when you send it on, so I can track the progress. Feel free to use the cheapest shipping method possible. There's no timetable, but if you need more than a month to finish the book, please add a note to your journal entry so we all know. Thank you!

The book is on its way to bartonz. Enjoy!

It's here! I have one other book ring to finish first and then I'll get right on it! :)

I loved this thriller with its fresh voice, cocky attitude and the odd twist of government corruption/Buddhist teaching/Yakuza crime/Al Queda/CIA. What a ride!

It's on the way to perryfran.

Received today. I have one book in front of this - should get to it in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to this one!

Update 5/8/07: Started reading this today. Hope to pass on to the next in line in a week or two.

I kind of had mixed reactions to this book. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the setting and the feel for Thailand, Bangkok, Thai feelings and Buddhism, the red-light district, the whores, drugs etc. The story did keep my interest with a lot of plot twists but I was not real surprised by the outcome and who was committing the murders. The thing I didn't like about the book was the repeated use of direct address to the reader by Sonchai, which for me distracted from the story, as well as a pervasive negative tone toward farangs (foreigners). This got old fast, and to me was very condescending as Sonchai painted Westerners and Americans in particular (the CIA agents) as bumbling idiots. I have heard that Bangkok 8 is a better novel - I have a copy of it and plan to read it when I get through some of the bookring books I currently have and am expecting.

Thanks for including me in this bookray. I will be getting it in the mail today to LyekkaMarengo.

Safe and sound in Central, PA, USA. As always happens all my pending bookrings have come to roost at once, but all are fairly short and look interesting. This one goes on the pile and I'm looking forward to it.

So very sorry for how long I've had this book but things sort of got away from me lately. Anyway, this was another brilliant John Burdett story. I have no way of knowing if the setting and characters are portrayed accurately but in the end it doesn't matter because this is just a rip-snorting good tale. In this one a man is brutally murdered in a Bangkok hotel and the self-confessed murderer is one of his mother's most successful "working girls" who it also happens Detective Sonchai is in love with. There are drug dealers, CIA agents, Mafia type bad guys, an intesnsely dedicated tatoo artist and of course, lots of bad cops, bad military and prostitutes. This is definately a different kind of thriller/mystery series and I'm sure not to everyone tastes but I love it. I see he has a new book in the series out. Hopefully someone will make a ring up for that one.

Thanks for the ring for this one. And this will move on to AliceF today.

Gratefully received in today''s post from LyekkaMarengo... thanks! Do I need to locate and read Bangkok 8 first?

Fascinating book... great mystery; deep, interesting characters; and a very comprehensive introduction to a previously undiscovered culture. The cultural elements of the story were provided very naturally, too; not like the author was trying to educate me, or to show off about his experience. Very, very good read; I'd recommend it.

I have tried sofiajam twice since finishing this book, but heard nothing... will try totoroandmei now.

On its way to totoroandmei in Japan, along with a relay book: enjoy!

Oh I have had this forever! Going to read this and release this book in Bangkok I hope!

Just got done. Will release in Thailand. Happy travels!

Happy travels