Want Some Ink?

Bangkok Tattoo
John Burdett

I can be a bit loopy at times and pick something up without knowing it's a sequel. That's what happened when I chanced upon this book. I wasn't planning on buying it but a part of my brain cells remembered Jessica Zafra mentioning this series once in her blog. If you're Filipino you probably know who Jessica Zafra is. I adore her. I worship the ground beneath her feet. And if she liked the series I might as well try it. That being said, I was scared to even approach her and say "I'm a big fan" when I saw her once (twice, three times a lady) in Gateway. But I digress.

This is the second book in the series. That notwithstanding, you're never going to get lost in a crime novel. I haven't read the first because it wasn't available on sale at that time, hahaha! I picked this up from my favorite Book Sale, that haven for book lovers with stacks and stacks of previously owned books that are way, way cheaper than crisp, new ones. Plus, it's not exactly new for me to read books (and comics) out of order. I started Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series on the third book until such time as the first two books became available again here. And if you're one of my regular three readers, you know how I jumped from one Fables volume to another. Again, I digress.

A crime novel starts with a crime and in this one we discover the body of an American in a hotel room with his severed penis placed like an offering on top of a table, and the skin on his back peeled off. The dead guy is not just another tourist. He was CIA. His suspected killer, Chanya, is the best sex worker in The Old Man's Club, a club owned by Detective Sonchai Jitleecheep's mother. Oh and Sonchai loves Chanya too, but that's just one side of this story that takes the readers from the rice paddies of Thailand, the escort girls of Washington, D.C., Japanese tattoo artists, transgender sensibilities, Yakuza and Triad connections (which somehow reminds me of Mafia Wars, hahaha), back to the borders between Thailand and Indonesia where extremist groups are said to proliferate. Or something to that effect. Forgive me, I read this more than a month ago and I may have forgotten a couple or so things.

The great thing about this book is the narration. Sonchai takes you to the heart of a third-world country like Thailand and makes it familiar. Speaking with a voice that sounds local, Burdett weaves a tale of murder, politics and corruption, religion and social commentary about how foreigners, Westerners, look upon their counterparts in the East and how the latter are as shrewd if not moreso than them. Burdett also observes, through Sonchai's eyes, the lives and loves of Thai's sex workers. It's a glimpse that sheds some light to the business nature of the aspect of sex trade from the women's points of view. Or at least from Chanya, and Sonchai's mother, on the one hand. Like this conversation between Chanya and CIA agent Mitch:

"But you prostitute yourself for men. So you're a slave for money."

"When you say money, you give it a farang meaning. When I say it, I give it Thai meaning."

"What's the Thai meaning?"

"Freedom. I turn trick lasts maybe an hour, two hours, if I want I can live on the money for the rest of the week. I'm not dominated by man, and I'm not dominated by the system. I'm free."

"You're still prostituting yourself. You're still working."

"Ah, you see you contradict yourself. I'm working just the same as other women, you just said it."

"But you sell your body. How's that being a good Buddhist?"

"You don't understand. I only prostitute part of the body that isn't important, and nobody suffers except my karma a little bit. You prostitute your mind. Mind is seat of Buddha."

Immersed in the Thai culture from the first page on, readers can taste what it's like to live in Thailand and see how people go about their business, of course if you exclude the murder part and the apparent corruption that Burdett states from the start as fiction.

And there's one thing I learned about the whole book, among other things Thai for that matter. It's about the full body armor. Donburi. You know, the full body ink? I mean, the book is titled Bangkok Tattoo for goodness sake! But the thing I didn't know about previously is actually part of the plot so I won't reveal that. Hahaha! Thing is, just last week I saw on the History Channel on cable an actual full body ink donated to a Japanese medical school and it reminded me of that plot part I won't reveal and actuall sent shivers down my spine.

So it's a good thing I discovered this book among the bargain bins. Sonchai is a wonderful narrator. Maybe because I'm from a third-world country myself and most of the times I could relate to what he's saying (again, if you take away the crime aspect of the book). Maybe because the story is compelling as it shoots in different directions: one minute it's about the dead CIA, next minute you're dealing with terrorists, and then yet again with the mafia, and then with Chanya and being a practicing Buddhist. You can read this in one sitting and be totally lost in the sights and sounds of another country. Ah, now I wish I could read the first book and then hopefully the succeeding books after this. I now have another crime novelist to watch out for!

And all this talk about Thailand is making me want some pad thai. Or mi goreng. Plus curry and naan bread. Excuse me while I find a suitable substitute.