Vox Publica

Bangkok Tatoo

Bangkok Tatoo is the 2nd book in the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series by John Burdett.
Once again we are treated to an unspeakable crime, the details of which don't arise until the end of the book, but which resurrects the old prejudices about horrorizing Eastern cruelty. Or human cruelty, rather. Indeed, the Thailand that Burdett describes, with its corruption, its bloody rivalry between two crime-bosses for power, money and hegemony (and control of the drug trade), its culture of absolute moral relativism, its lawlessness and killings and its sole good cop (who tries to be ethical but bends himself and his morals to the reality of his circumstances) is exactly like the Old West as depicted in the HBO series Deadwood. Change the locale and the name of the protagonists, and you have the same setting and the same plot - Seth Bullock is Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

One of the pleasures of Bangkok Tattoo, like its predecesor Bangkok 8, is reading about Bhudism as explained by Detective Jitpleecheep - who constantly chastizes the Western point of view of life (which, judged by Deadwood, is not as much western as post-industrial). Jitpleecheep addresses the reader directly when talking about such matters, and while not all of the criticism is justified and some of it seems naiive, it does give you stuff to think about. Alas, with so many innocent bystanders being killed and suffering, it doesn't seem that having a Bhuddist perspective gives Thai much of an advantage over Westerners, though it may make it easier for their bosses to control them.

Still, I enjoyed this book quite a lot and look forward to the next installment (and the next season of Deadwood for that matter).