Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett

First published in 2007

In Bangkok Haunts, we learn that before Sonchai Jitpleecheep married Chanya (a central character in Bangkok Tattoo), he was in love with another of the sex workers employed in his mother's bar, an alluring woman named Damrong. After leaving Jitpleecheep, Damrong ended up starring in a snuff film, her first and last role. Jitpleecheep's investigation of her death leads him to powerful bankers, impoverished villagers, and a Buddhist monk. The investigation is complicated by Damrong's sexually adventurous ghost. (If you haven't read one of these books, this probably sounds like a reason not to, but trust me, it all makes sense in the context of the story.) As Jitpleecheep learns more about Damrong, he realizes that karma will exact a price for the ecstatic days he spent with her, oblivious to her painful past. Eventually he learns more about Damrong, and about himself, than he really wants to know.

Of John Burdett's first three Bangkok novels, Bangkok 8 remains my favorite, but this one is a close second. The plot is less twisty than the first two stories. I appreciate the simplicity because in Bangkok Haunts the story never gets in the way of the characters. And the character of Jitpleecheep is amazing: a complex, burdened man, always conflicted, always battling personal and cultural ghosts, always striving for growth, yet always funny, gracious, endearing, and very human. Some reviewers at this site criticize Burdett's depiction of Buddhism or of the Thai people in these books, but to me the novels are all about Jitpleecheep -- and whether he resembles other half-Thai, half farang Buddhists matters not; he is who he is. Reading about his life and struggles and adventures and fears is inevitably enlightening, amusing, and richly entertaining.

A word of caution: in addition to the usual sex scenes that populate Burdett's Bangkok novels, Bangkok Haunts deals with a certain sexual taboo in a nonjudgmental, even accepting manner. While that approach is true to the novel's theme and to Jitpleecheep's character, it might bother those readers who perceive the failure to condemn such behavior as a sign of moral weakness. Fans of the series, however, are likely to understand the point Jitpleecheep is making about the influence of poverty and horrific parenting upon sexual behavior, and will thus understand the absence of harsh judgment.

Bangkok Haunts blends humor and tragedy into a powerful, compassionate, haunting story. The ending is wild.

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