Bangkok Haunts Audiobook

Quotes

• “Bangkok 8 turned out to be such a dazzlingly unusual detective story that I bought twenty-five copies of the thing and began giving them away. John Burdett is the mastermind behind these cops and robbers tales set in Thailand. This is not the tourist’s Thailand! You won’t read anything else like Burdett, nor will you ever escape the spell of his extraordinary Buddhist detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep…Now, happily, he has another one titled Bangkok Haunts…Highly recommended.”

  — Liz Smith, New York Times bestselling author

• “Bangkok Haunts opens up new avenues of awe…The wonder of Burdett’s hallucinatory brand of Southeast Asian magic—which puts his novels in range of the fabulous Yellowthread Street procedurals William Marshall set in Hong Kong and of Colin Cotterill’s fanciful mysteries featuring the Laotian coroner-sleuth Dr. Siri Paiboun—is that this spooky stuff is manifested in a real world…The author, who clearly knows his territory, has a fine skill for distilling the morbid beauty (not to mention the grotesque humor) in scenes of everyday misery.”

  — New York Times Book Review

• “The pleasures derive…from the vivid portrait he paints of contemporary Thai life and mores.”

  — New Yorker

• “A wonderful mystery series that is at once sprightly and densely layered, like the Thais themselves…In Burdett’s always amazing Thailand, [Sonchai’s] differentness has made him a keen cultural anthropologist whose principles are as admirable as his insights are professionally useful and often deliciously droll…His captivating, sometimes teasing voice and Burdett’s affectionate take on everything visiting farangs find fascinatingly upside down and backward in Thailand never falter.”

  — Washington Post

• “Spellbinding…To conjure Burdett’s unique blend of garishness and gravitas, imagine a Conrad novel transformed into a video game…Burdett is equally good with male and female characters. His portrayal of Sonchai gains depth with each Bangkok novel, his apprehension of women ever more nuanced…[These] characters are scintillating; even more powerful is Burdett’s depiction of an economy with prostitution as a fundament…Shadowing Sonchai on his trip to the heart of darkness is haunting indeed.”

  — Boston Globe

• “First-person is a magic act most authors can’t work [but] Sonchai Jitpleecheep is, by contrast, as complex—and as conflicted—as his culture…Bangkok Haunts is a dreamy, dirty, remarkably nuanced book, a jewel half-buried in sordid earth, yet still aglitter.”

  — Paste

• “So rich with intellect and humor, with Thai atmosphere and Buddhist philosophy, even a denizen of Planet Yin may find herself bewitched and amused…Sonchai’s narrative is awash in a unique combination of mysticism and irony.”

  — Newsday

• “Superb…Expertly juggling elements that in lesser hands would become confused or hackneyed, Burdett has created a haunting, powerful story that transcends genre.”

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• “Burdett’s Bangkok may be the most vibrant landscape of any in current crime fiction, and Sonchai—an improbable mix of West and East, the fact-seeking investigator meets the tranquil Buddhist, at ease with contrary realities—is certainly the genre’s most intriguing sleuth.”

  — Booklist (starred review)

• “Another intriguing mystery/noir novel…Fast-paced action and heart-turning plots. Sonchai becomes deeper and more intelligent with each novel, as do Burdett’s portrayals of a city where ambiguity reigns…Bangkok Haunts is a compelling, worthwhile read.”

  — Bookmarks magazine