Bangkok 8

Bangkok 8

Bangkok 8
After reading the novel Bangkok 8, I was impressed with the authors writing techniques.   The entire book kept me interested; I did not want to set the book down. The title of the book refers to a police district in the teeming city, the territory of police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Sonchai is the son of an unidentified American GI and a Bangkok hooker. I am not usually a fan of detective stories, so I was a little bit skeptical when we were assigned to read the book. This work a mystery, a thriller, and a fantasy all together with Buddhism and Thai culture. He portrays both Buddhism and Thai culture openly, accurately, and in a way that any type of reader can relate to.
As the story opens, Sonchai and Pichai Apiradee, his childhood friend and police partner, are assigned to follow William Bradley, an American Marine sergeant. Sonchai narrates the novel. Not only does Sonchai tell us about his attempts to solve the mystery, but he educates us in the way of Buddhism, Thailand, and the difference between life in the East and the West. He is the son of a Thai woman, a prostitute, and an American serviceman during the Vietnam War. They lose track of Bradley's Mercedes, but pick up the trail not long after, only to find him dead in the back seat, wrapped in a seventeen-foot python. When Pichai opens the car door to investigate, he is attacked by one of several dozen small but highly venomous cobras, and dies on the spot. Sonchai swears vengeance on those responsible for his friend's death.
          The characters in this story, especially Sonchai, are very detailed. Burdett's understanding between the Western and Eastern worlds in Bangkok is excellent, as well as the corruption in Southeast Asia. Thai detective Sonchai's first adventure as a   Buddhist cop must uncover the truth. This is complicated by his view of karma and his visions into past lives explains and complicates the present. Sonchai teams us with a female investigator from the FBI, who...