Skin Deep (31 page)
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The Queen of Patpong (Poke Rafferty # 4 -- pub date August 17, 2010)
For American travel-writer Poke Rafferty, life finally seems to hold some semblance of stability. He and his long-time love, Rose, have gone through with their much-deferred marriage ceremony, their adopted daughter, Miaow, a former street child, has become a loving--if sometimes difficult--part of the family, and the three of them live in relative comfort thanks to Rose’s housekeeping business and Poke’s writing.
Then a nightmare figure from Rose’s time as a Patpong dancer barges into their world, shattering the peace they’ve worked so hard to create. His appearance threatens everything they cherish: their love, their home…their very lives. As a foreigner who's seen some of the worst Bangkok has to offer and survived confrontations with the Thailand’s most powerful, most dangerous elements, Poke feels equal to most of the challenges Bangkok can throw at him. But now, his only hope is to discover the whole truth of Rose’s past--a journey down the dark and twisting road that turned a shy, awkward village teenager into the queen of Asia's most lurid red-light street: Patpong Road. And, just when Poke thought life was looking good, reality comes crashing in as he learns that the secrets from Rose’s former life are almost impossible to accept--and even harder to survive.
The Queen of Patpong
is a horrifying, heart-breaking, electrifying story of peril, love, and, ultimately, redemption in modern-day Thailand, and the most ambitious, affecting novel yet from thriller master Timothy Hallinan.
PRAISE FOR “THE QUEEN OF PATPONG” AND THE POKE RAFFERTY NOVELS
*
The Queen of Patpong - Booklist Starred Review
“Life in Bangkok is good for writer Poke Rafferty and his unlikely family. Poke’s new book is selling well, and he’s happily in love with wife Rose, once a Patpong bar girl. Daughter Miaow, just a few years removed from living on the streets, is enrolled in a good private school and becoming a feisty preadolescent. But their contentment is upended by Howard Horner, a dangerous man from Rose’s past.
Hallinan’s previous Poke thrillers have been reliably entertaining, featuring a fascinating and exotic locale and exceptionally malevolent bad guys (
Breathing Water
, 2009), but this one is a breakthrough. The backstory concerning Rose’s impoverished life in a squalid Isaan village, her father’s plan to sell her into prostitution, and her escape to Bangkok and life in the sex trade is riveting, genuinely moving, and entirely plausible. Miaow’s entry into a stormy adolescence, and her parents’ efforts to deal with it, are knowingly written. Even Bangkok seems more richly detailed than in past adventures, and Poke’s effort to condense “The Tempest” for Miaow’s school’s production (Miaow plays Ariel) is thoroughly charming.
The Queen of Patpong
is a terrific page-turner, and the surprising denouement will thrill readers who want the good guys—or girls—to win in the end.” -
Thomas Gaughan
* * *
*
The Queen of Patpong - Kirkus Starred Review: (
A star is assigned to books of unusual merit, determined by the editors of Kirkus Reviews.
)
“Hallinan (
Breathing Water
, 2009, etc.) takes his Poke Rafferty series to the next level with this taut, offbeat and fast-moving thriller that focuses on Bangkok’s red-light district and sex trade.
Travel writer Poke has finally persuaded his live-in love Rose, a statuesque former bar girl in Bangkok’s Patpong district, to marry him. The couple and their adopted daughter Miaow are happy. Miaow, a former street urchin, is doing well in school and preparing for her part in an upcoming version of The Tempest; Rose’s cleaning service, which hires former bar workers, is successful; and Poke’s latest book is doing well. But as anyone familiar with Hallinan’s previous entries in this series knows, that much serendipity means Poke’s trouble meter is running. This time the trouble centers around Rose, who finds her past flooding back to haunt her in the worst possible form—a man she thought was dead pops up with the clear intention of not only disrupting her life, but taking it, along with the lives of the other people who matter to her. Poke is well aware of Rose’s past—he met her in a bar—but he had no clue as to what she endured at the hands of this man, or the detailed story of her journey from village girl to prostitute. In the second part of the novel, Rose poignantly tells her story, and this is where Hallinan’s writing really shines: Readers can feel the grime and poverty of village life, smell the streets of Bangkok, taste the fear when Rose—previously known as “Kwan”—fights for her life in her own, private version of The Tempest. Stalked by a resourceful killer dedicated to wiping out his family, Poke and his loyal and incorruptible friend, police officer Arthit, still mourning the loss of his wife, put together a plan to bring the hunter into the kill zone, hoping they can end the nightmare that began years ago in a Bangkok club.
Hallinan’s unlikely hero shines in this sometimes funny, always engrossing and undeniably authentic story that explores a dark and fascinating side of Thailand.” - Kirkus Reviews
* * *
“Kwan is a bright, young teenager from the poor northeastern province of Thailand who is promised a scholarship to college by her teacher. How does she land up as a dancer in the red light district of Patpong Road, becoming the Queen of Patpong?
Fast forward to Bangkok many years later and to the beginning of the novel. Kwan has changed her name to Rose, is happily married to travel writer Poke Rafferty and is the mother of their adopted daughter, Miaow. Rose's settled and contented life is shattered by the re-appearance of a threatening man with a military bearing, an American who promises to shatter her life. Rose tells her story to Poke and Miaow, how she became the Queen of Patpong, and how she believed she had escaped her past, which has now come back to haunt and threaten her.
My comments:
The story of the Queen of Patpong, from her life in the village to dancing in the bars of Bangkok, to her escape from the stranger who now has returned, is the riveting story that had my heart pounding and my eyes glued to the pages of the book. A literary novel and a thriller rolled into one.
The Queen of Patpong: A Poke Rafferty Thriller
has some of the most suspenseful scenes I've ever read in a thriller, and the sociological aspects of the story are heartrending. Hallihan has excellent descriptive power and knows his subjects and their environment well.
I gave this novel five stars.
” -
(Book Bird Dog-www.bookbirddog.blogspot.com)
* * *
“...Rose had another life, long before Poke knew her, and the secrets she has kept must come forward if they’re to survive.
Rose will have to tell her tale quickly, though. For her devil has come back to Patpong, and desires to complete her long-overdue murder...
The latest chapter in Poke Rafferty’s life is as searing a beauty as its three predecessors, and is expertly balanced between horror, humor, and hope. Long-time fans of the series will be justly rewarded by the lengthy revelations of Rose’s past, and first time readers will have the joy of watching Poke make up plans on the run – sometimes surprising his foes, and sometimes himself. Poke and his family are just quiet and decent people trying to get by in the best worst city in the world, and Hallinan takes care to present both the good and bad sides of a country that, while dangerous, has a very human heart beating in its dingy, breakneck streets.
Thriller fans who want something more than just another “stacked odds” rundown in an exotic location should pick up
The Queen of Patpong
. All three previous books in the series (
A Nail Through the Heart
,
The Fourth Watcher
, and
Breathing Water
) are also available, and also excellent.” -
Jim Tremlett, Eastwood, Schulerbooks
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About Timothy Hallinan
Timothy Hallinan has written ten published novels, all thrillers, all critically praised.
In the 1990s he wrote six mysteries featuring the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, beginning with
The Four Last Things
, which made several Ten Best lists, including that of The Drood Review. The other books in the series were widely and well reviewed, and several of them were optioned for motion pictures. The series is now regarded as a cult favorite.
In 2007, the first of his Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers,
A Nail Through the Heart
, was published to unanimously enthusiastic reviews. “Hallinan scores big-time,” said Kirkus Reviews, which went on to call the book “dark, often funny, and ultimately enthralling.”
Nail
was a Booksense Pick of the Month and was named one of the top mysteries of the year by The Japan Times and several major online review sites.
Rafferty's Bangkok adventures continued with
The Fourth Watcher
(2008) and
Breathing Water
(2009), both of which also appeared on “year's best” lists. New York Times bestselling author John Lescroart said about the 2010 book,
The Queen of Patpong
, “You won't read a better thriller this year,” and Ken Bruen said, “John Burdett writes about Bangkok. Tim Hallinan is Bangkok. I adore this book.”
For almost thirty years Hallinan operated one of America's leading television consulting firms, working with Fortune 100 corporations in New York, Los Angeles, and London to focus their television sponsorship activities. He has written full-time since 2006. Since 1982 he has divided his time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, the setting for his Poke Rafferty novels.
Table of Contents
1 - Fireworks
2 - Syndication
3 - Panty Hose Oaks
4 - The Spice Rack
5 - Clothesline
6 - Saffron Says
7 - Dead Old Dad
8 - The Morning After
9 - Norman's Conquest
10 - Fan Fare
11 - Eleanor
12 - Saffron in the Morning
13 - The Wake
14 -Wastebaskets
15 - Things of the Spirit
16 - La Maison
17 - The Tornado
18 - Polaroids
19 - The Widow Sprunk
20 - Out Of Order
21 - Murder
22 -The Last Session
The Four Last Things (Simeon Grist #1)
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Everything But the Squeal (Simeon Grist #2)
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Skin Deep (Simeon Grist #3)
The Man With No Time (Simeon Grist #4)
A Nail Through the Heart (Poke Rafferty #1)
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The Fourth Watcher (Poke Rafferty #2)
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Breathing Water (Poke Rafferty #3)
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The Queen of Patpong (Poke Rafferty # 4 -- pub date August 17, 2010)
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