Bangkok thriller is thoroughly literate and decadent

And now for something completely different. No, really different. In ?Bangkok Haunts,? emerging thriller superstar John Burdett has crafted a mid-air collision between two often contradictory literary sensibilities: those who seek the experience of losing themselves in language and milieu as rich and intoxicating as a Bangkok opium den, and those who want a dark little stroll on the wild side. One reader has a picture of John Updike on her den wall, the other a movie poster from “91/2 Weeks.” It’s rare when the two sides meet, but the author of two previous thrillers set in Thailand (“Bangkok Tattoo,” and “Bangkok 8″) manages home runs from both sides of the plate with a story as compelling as it is unfathomable. One has only to learn the name of the novel?s hero to get the idea: Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Read that again and consider the sheer audacity of the possibilities. Sonchai is a crafty Bangkok police detective working the mean streets of the world’s armpit of decadence, assisted by his cross-dressing protg and comforted by his pregnant wife, who knows little of the bewitching and satanically diabolical hooker to whom he once, and to some extent forever, gave his heart.
The story opens with a pitch that smacks down any preconception of the boundaries of police fiction: “Few crimes make us fear for the evolution of our species.” Enough said, perhaps, but Burdett has plenty of surprises in the wings.The crime in question connects to Sonchai’s past, sending him headlong down memory lane, where nothing is remotely what it seemed at the time. This is a world where snuff films and leveraged corporate buyouts and twisted revenge and sex with ghosts all dine at the same literary buffet. The fun springs from the realization that Jitpleecheep ; for a good time, say that with a mouthful of breath mints ? is as clueless as the reader. The ending defies logic or even premonition, and will stay with you long after you’ve forgotten how to spell our hero’s name, illogic and all. But the real treat here is the rare reading experience of a story told by a narrator who is orders of magnitude sharper and more human than not just those around him, but almost anyone who dares to read the book. It’s funny ; “I know that I’ve misjudged the strength of the product when the guy in the mural starts to play the saxophone and I can hear one of the riffs from Blade Runner” ; it’s provocative ; “Without that desperation born of claustrophobia, we would never leave that safest of safe havens (the womb); but the memory of those months of oceanic peace ensure we spend our lives trying to get back in” ; and at all times, utterly impossible to quit. That is , and you can pick your poison here , if you appreciate sheer linguistic genius, or if you want a taste of madness from the safety of that den. Larry Brooks is the author of four suspense thrillers.