The first edition of Alfred McCoy’s The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Drug Trade was written in 1972 and was updated in 1991 and 2013. It has an amazing longevity, and has been cited numerous times in other works. As a plethora of researchers have discovered, the book, although nearly 50 years old […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Crime Scams & Espionage' Category
WoWasis book review: Asian Godfathers, powerful, influential, dangerous business barons in Asia
For those of us who frequently travel to and do business in Asia, it becomes increasingly important to understand who the major players in the business world are, and how they have traditionally operated. Two books we here at WoWasis have reported on before are Martin Booth’s The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Foul Play Suspected in disappearance of journalist Dave Walker in Cambodia
As was reported in the Phnom Penh Post this week, noted Canadian journalist and filmmmaker Dave Walker has been reported missing from his Siem Reap guest house for five days. His passport, telephone, computer, and possessions were all left behind, and foul play is suspected. Walker reportedly left the Green Village Angkor guesthouse on February […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Bangkok Express’ by James A. Newman
Admittedly, it’s a challenge coming up with new twists when writing Bangkok Fiction. Bar girls, bad girls, corruption, and “influential” bad guys are all staples. It’s a brave writer that newly dips is foot in this muddy stream, and James A. Newman is one of the latest, in his detective novel Bangkok Express (2012, ISBN […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Ying Yang Tattoo,’ Korea-based fiction by Ron McMillan
Probably because Thailand is such a draw for literary expats, there’s a dearth of well-written hard-boiled fiction situated in other Asian countries, Korea being no exception. For that reason, we here at WoWasis were particularly interested in Ron McMillan’s Yin Yang Tattoo (2010, ISBN 978-1-905207-31-2). McMillan’s not a veteran writer. It’s his second book, and […]
Read the rest of this entry »How can I stop my Thai wife from gambling? An answer from Pa Farang
The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s dilemma: How can I stop my Thai wife from gambling? Dear Pa Farang, I’ve been married to my 23 year old Thai wife for about a year now. I’m a farang guy that retired to Thailand, living comfortably. We bought some land near […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bangkok’s grisly museum of death: WoWasis revisits the Siriraj Medical Museum
What may very well be the world’s grisliest museum isn’t all that hard to get to, as long as you know where it is and what you’re in store for. But if you’re not a medical professional, you might need a strong stomach to get through it. We here at WoWasis first visited here in […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Ron McMillan’s ‘Bangkok Cowboy’
Today’s review is guest-written by Iain Millar. I first met Ron McMillan in the bar at Aberdeen airport too many years ago when we were both en route to an assignment in further-north waters. Within minutes the pints were pulled, the pool balls were racked up and the tales were being spun. And if that […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Stephen Leather’s ‘Hungry Ghost’ from Hong Kong
Stephen Leather never ceases to tantalize us. It’s not just the vicious murderers or the fetching murderesses, either. Hungry Ghost (ISBN 978-0-340-96072-1), originally published in 1992 and re-released in 2008, is replete with all the cerebral stuff we’ve grown to expect from the author. His “no stones unturned” approach is something we figure he picked […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Haruki Murakami’s Japanese sci-fi novel ‘Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’
In his sci-fi novel Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (2003, ISBN 978-0099-448-785), Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami weaves a cerebral tale of speculative fiction that explores the concept of parallel worlds. In one, a man finds himself tasked with reading the memories of previous residents of a walled town, by drawing out the […]
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