Displaying an enviable gift for pacing and action, Hallinan’s first installment in this new series is an intelligent suspense thriller that is firing on all cylinders. Vivid descriptions of Bangkok provide a dramatic contrast to the dangers and unflinching moral depravity that isn’t truly hidden, but most never see. Page by page the surface layer is peeled away, revealing a disturbing and ominous dark side. Each character is flawed and somewhat of an outcast, yet together their complexities tell a three dimensional story that is sure to please even the most astute reader.
Poke Rafferty has made a living writing travelers guides for the not so average tourist. The series, aptly titled “Looking for Trouble” was a how to guide for the odd and unusual. Tips on how to bribe a cop, advice on how to beat the exchange rates and spot counterfeit jewels, even how to discern a transvestite prostitute before it was too late. Trouble had never been too far away from Poke Rafferty, but that was before Bangkok, or so he thought. Poke had fallen in love with the city and a former Pat-pong bar girl. He hoped Rose would one day accept his proposal and become his wife. He was in the process of adopting Miaow, an eight year old street orphan, he loved as his own daughter. It felt as if his life was finally coming together. Until the day an injured street kid, everyone called “Superman” came into his life. Unknowingly setting into motion a chain of events that would expose a world, that exists in the shadows and welcomes newcomers with sly glances and wicked smiles.
It is while juggling his girlfriend, the arrival of “Superman”, and the adoption of Miaow that Poke, in need of money, agrees to investigate the disappearance of Claus Ulrich. While working on this case, he meets Madame Wing, a rich old woman with secrets. The kind people will go to great lengths to keep hidden. She offers to pay him thirty thousand dollars and her instructions are non-negotiable. Poke is to find the Cambodian man and the envelope he stole and return the envelope to her. There was but one stipulation, Rafferty could not know what the envelope contained. As Poke gets more involved, the lines that so clearly divided these three events, as well as, those defining morality and decency begin to blur.
A heart stopping fusion of mystery and intrigue, that entertains while simultaneously stimulating the reader intellectually. I highly recommend this novel and anxiously await the second in the series!
A Nail Through The Heart
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