Thailand & Ghosts: by Wipanan Chaichanta
Born in England and educated at Warwick University, John Burdett practiced law in England and Hong Kong before deciding on a career in writing. After honing his narrative chops with the intriguing thrillers A Personal History of Thirst and The Last Six Million Seconds, he went on to write three arresting novels featuring the unforgettable detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep: Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, and most recently, Bangkok Haunts (Knopf, $24.95).
Sonchai, the son of a Thai prostitute and an American father he has never seen, is perhaps the only moral cop in the Bangkok police force, though he still helps his mother run her brothel. Besides the increasingly complex character of Sonchai, Bangkok Haunts revolves around the fascinating figure of Damrong, a prostitute who has been killed in a snuff film, yet whose presence permeates the novel in the form of video, dreams, and ghosts.Burdett, who now lives in Bangkok himself, offers a novelist’s perspective about Thailand and its unique culture in the following interview.
Wipanan Chaichanta: Your main character is half-Thai and half-American, the son of a Thai whore and a devout Buddhist. How did you develop a character whose ethnic and moral background offers polarizing views of Thailand and the West?
John Burdett: Sonchai evolved very slowly. I took more than a year before I bit the bullet and wrote in the first person as a Bangkok cop. I knew negative voices would cry “Arrogant Farang!” or words to that effect, but narratively it was the only way to go. It was only after I had taken this step that the other elements fell into place—his Buddhism, his mother’s profession, his perfect English and imperfect French, his rich education in both Asia and the West.