Vulture Peak
A Royal Thai Detective Novel (5)
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4.3 • 89 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Nobody knows Bangkok like Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, and there is no one quite like Sonchai: a police officer who has kept his Buddhist soul intact—more or less—despite the fact that his job shoves him face-to-face with some of the most vile and outrageous crimes and criminals in Bangkok. But for his newest assignment, everything he knows about his city—and himself—will be a mere starting point.
He’s put in charge of the highest-profile criminal case in Thailand—an attempt to bring an end to trafficking in human organs. He sets in motion a massive sting operation and stays at its center, traveling to Phuket, Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, and Monte Carlo. He draws in a host of unwitting players that includes an aging rock star wearing out his second liver and the mysterious, diabolical, albeit gorgeous co-queenpins of the international body-parts trade: the Chinese twins known as the Vultures. And yet, it’s closer to home that Sonchai will discover things getting really dicey: rumors will reach him suggesting that his ex-prostitute wife, Chanya, is having an affair. Will Sonchai be enlightened enough—forget Buddha, think jealous husband—to cope with his very own compromised and compromising world?
All will be revealed here, in John Burdett’s most mordantly funny, propulsive, fiendishly entertaining novel yet.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burdett's fifth Bangkok novel (after 2010's The Godfather of Kathmandu) opens with a memorable tableau three corpses, laid neatly on a bed in a Phuket mansion and missing all commercially viable body parts, including their faces. It's clearly a case for the quirky, pot-smoking police detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, whose investigations are often stymied by the double whammy of his country's corruption and his own personal problems. When Jitpleecheep is on task, he's doggedly pursuing traffickers in human organs, led by a beautiful but ruthless set of twins, Lilly and Polly Yip. The criminal ring uses as its source material executed Chinese prisoners, while its customers are wealthy Westerners whose internal organs have worn out. All too often, though, the story veers off into side issues concerning drug use, Jitpleecheep's marital difficulties, and gender change. Burdett's writing remains fresh, humorous, and full of insights into Thailand, but readers who prefer focus and suspense should look elsewhere. Author tour.
Customer Reviews
Typical Burdett
This is a good read but not near as great as Bangkok 8 or Tattoo. Still it is hard to pass these books by because you know it will keep you entertained even if not in ecstasy. So, my advice is buy it . You won't regret it.
Vulture Peak
As one who has read, with increasing appreciation, all of Burdett's books. I anticipated Vulture Peak eagerly, and read it as soon as it became available. Though the characters are, as typical of the author, an interesting agglomeration of personalities and idiosyncrasies, the novel somehow did not elicit--at least from me--the same level of enjoyment as Burdett's previous works. The Buddhist influences, insights and practices seem more forced, the plot more contrived, the internal anguish less credible and less engaging.
The wonderful city of Bangkok, heretofore a major character that lent continuity to Burdett's earlier works, is less emphasized here, which works to the novel's detriment, and the relationship between the Thai and Chinese detectives relies more on clever (forced) repartee than growing respect and admiration. In short, the characters seem more like caricatures.
On the positive side, John Burdett writes extremely well and the plot is clever and fast-paced so "Vulture Peak" was an enjoyable, if ultimately disappointing read that's not up to the standards of his earlier work.