John Burdett is Back with Vulture Peak

[+ Lucky]

eeyore and newatthis are two fellow posters who may be already ahead of me on this one. We have together read all of the John Burdett novels, taking place mostly in Bangkok, and involving the intriguing detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Not specifically gay, the stories take us to the hidden Thailand, where corruption prevails and mystic spirits can be found. Jitpleecheep tries to remain uncorrupted, and part of the attraction is rooting for him to do so. Bangkok 8 would be the novel to start with if the series appeals to you.

I just picked up Vulture peak at the library, so don't know how it holds up to the other novels. Burdett went a little far afield in one recent novel, The Godfather of Kathmandu, so I hope he reigns it in a bit here.

[+ newatthis]

You're a little ahead of me. I'm #1 on the reserve list. Actually I could have picked it up a while back, but postponed b/c I had so much other reading at home.

[+ Lucky]

I looked forward to the book for a long time, and now, 24 hours later, I am done with it. The reviews are very positive at Amazon, but I'll save mine until you have finished!

[+ g56whiz]

Hey Lucky me too! I'm in this John Burdett fan club (although Det. Jitpleecheep's journeys through Nepal in the last book were somewhat disappointing to me).

 

I got started with this series whilst being "next of kin" to a Thai friend of mine who became wholly paralyzed with Guillain-Barre. As much as he needed my assistance for some basic matters of personal hygiene (brushing teeth, shampoo, diaper change on occasion) he seemed to resent what I was doing for him. In the Burdett books I learned about the Thai sense of indebtedness that and realized his fear was that he would never be able to "repay" for my services. It took a while for me to convince him that not being Thai, my motives were more "Christian" in nature. I shared my Burdett collection with this fellow's brother who assured me that Burdett is spot on with respect to Thai sensibilities.

 

I'm looking forward to this one but won't rush. I mean once I finish it I'll just have to wait for its sequel.

 

I'm wondering why someone hasn't figured out how use these as a film fodder. It's got to be better than that last Nick Cage disaster!