In his latest book, The Fear Artist (2012, ISBN 978-1-61695-112-2), veteran Bangkok Fiction writer Timothy Hallinan sure knows how to make a reader feel that he or she is in Bangkok: 

The soi itself is almost as featureless as the stucco wall: a thin seam of asphalt too narrow for two cars, framed by a sidewalk of tilting, badly set paving stones that are interrupted every now and then by one of those peculiarly Bangkok trees, wizened, largely leaf-free little spindles that look like they’d be more comfortable bent over a walker. Trees that look like they’ve got a cough.

Man, we here at WoWasis were dripping wet and looking for a bar as soon as we read that passage, stumbling over badly-laid sidewalk pavers, low-bridging under eyebrow-level power lines, and dodging crotch-high fireplugs (our personal favorite). The book is the latest in the ongoing saga of travel writer Poke Rafferty and his family, ex- bar girl Rose, and adopted daughter Miaow. But unlike the other books, wife and daughter, ensconced upcountry, don’t make an appearance, leaving Rafferty on his own. The great news is two other exceptional characters appear. One is his American half-sister. The other is the distressed child of the book’s villain. And it all takes place in sunny, bucolic Bangkok.

The villain, Murphy, is classic Hallinan, an out-of-control and lethal product of the Vietnam war machine, consumed with killing anyone still alive who would be able to report his heinous war crimes, along with any ancillary persons who happen to be nearby. And the stage is set when Rafferty, out for an innocent excursion to buy paint for his absent daughter’s bedroom, runs full-blast into a murder. 

The plot moves forward at surging pace, and has its expected Hallinan twists: good guys look like bad guys, women are innocently lethal, the police are alternately criminal, helpful, inefficient, and befuddlingly bureaucratic. A delicious aspect of Hallinan’s writing is that no one is to be trusted, including tried-and-true friends. As experienced Thailand-watchers know, money and power grease all gates in the Land of Smiles. 

Hallinan’s younger half-Chinese half-sister, Ming-Li, an intelligent but streetwise American in Bangkok, is a surprise protagonist here. And clearly, this young woman, who grew up in the U.S. in the home of a father/Spook, has some opinions about her same-age American contemporaries, as she defends her outlook to Rafferty: 

“I’ve seen the alternatives. Hanging around with girls just like me, picking on girls who aren’t just like me, buying ugly clothes with famous names to appeal to boys who talk through their noses and think tattoos are really daring. Whoa, dude, take your life in your hands, light a cigarette. Hey, man, let’s rebel by refusing to learn anything. Let’s be dull, stupid, ordinary kids who are looking forward to being dull, stupid, ordinary adults. No thanks, and with change. And by the way, I don’t see you living in some plaid-shirt American town and flashing your junk at Builders Emporium all weekend.”

Hallinan has her character nailed down well, and she becomes an essential element in the book’s outcome. As does the “wild-child” daughter of Murphy. By the end, we’ve got at least one other compelling member of Rafferty’s family to deal with. The book ends with a climactic scene of destruction, but one that leaves the reader wondering if everything is as neatly wrapped up as it seems. There seems to be a morsel of thread left hanging there, and one suspects that it may be pulled out a little further in Hallinan’s next book. 

Readers of Hallinan’s earlier Rafferty books will welcome this one. And those new to Hallinan’s writing will experience a roller-coaster ride of intrigue into the bowels of one of the world’s most fascinating, enigmatic, and — for those who stumble into the wrong situation — deadly cities. Buy this book at the WoWasis eStore.