Jake Needham
It takes a brave writer to create a bland protagonist, especially in a crime novel, where, presumably, the reader aspires to the lofty wit, intelligence, good looks, charm, and sexual skills of the hero(ine).
So let’s start off by saying Jake Needham has taken a pretty serious plunge into this little-traveled literary abyss, giving us Inspector Tay of the Singapore Police in The Ambassador’s Wife (2006, ISBN 974-93750-8-4), a man whose prime pleasures are drinking strong coffee, reading a book or two, and reflecting on the lack of excitement in his life.
Funny thing is, this construct actually works well, and represents, we’d guess, a metaphor of the well-scrubbed city-state of Singapore itself.
Tay is a man of comfortable routines, and the ghastly murder of a high-profile Western woman puts him at odds with an interesting collection of Occidental high-priests working for the underbelly of the covert world, all of whom – at least initially – consider him to be their intellectual inferior.
The fact that Needham is able to keep the reader riveted through the 349 pages of this formidable story is a tribute to Needhams’ growing mastery of the craft.
For our money, the unpredictable ending, combining with the bittersweet subplot of unsatisfied love interests, prompts us to ask ourselves if Inspector Tay deserves another book.
Frankly, it does.
Tay is an unusual protagonist, equally uncomfortable in Singapore and Bangkok, disestablished, but certainly not overmatched by the convoluted series of players in Bangkok’s evolving world of police, military, international politics, and the demimonde.
Needham has written a terrific book, and one that begs a sequel.
Jake Needham’s first novel, The Big Mango (1999, ISBN 974-8237-36-2), is a crafty tale of high-stakes money games centered in Bangkok, with a story line that stretches back to war-era Viet Nam.
While entertaining overall, there are a couple of characters who might have been developed to a greater extent (e.g. Winnebago Jones), and we would have liked to have found out what eventually happened with “Headlights.”
Needham’s second book, Tea Money (2000, ISBN 974-8237-46-2), represents a noticeable improvement.
Again featuring a lawyer-protagonist, with again, a CIA-inspired tale of international money intrigue, each of the novel’s characters contribute to the surprising outcome.
In 2004, Tea Money was substantially updated and renamed Laundry Man (ISBN 962-86319-2-6).
Needham’s Killing Plato (ISBN 974-619-112-8) underscored his growing maturity as a writer, in a fast-paced and intellectually stimulating trip through Thailand’s spook culture.
Reprising his Jack Shepherd protagonist from Tea Money/Laundry Man, Needham has forged a powerfully sardonic portrayal of an economics professor whose marriage is on the rocks, and who is suddenly faced with an impossible series of choices, none of which is attractive.
Needham’s description of the Nana Hotel culture on pages 257 and 267-8 is hilarious, even to those of us who don’t necessarily agree with all of it.
Be sure to visit: www.jakeneedham.com