Vulture Peak

October 10, 2011
Burdett’s fifth Bangkok novel (after 2010’s The Godfather of Kathmandu) opens with a memorable tableau—three corpses, laid neatly on a bed in a Phuket mansion and missing all commercially viable body parts, including their faces. It’s clearly a case for the quirky, pot-smoking police detective, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, whose investigations are often stymied by the double whammy of his country’s corruption and his own personal problems. When Jitpleecheep is on task, he’s doggedly pursuing traffickers in human organs, led by a beautiful but ruthless set of twins, Lilly and Polly Yip. The criminal ring uses as its source material executed Chinese prisoners, while its customers are wealthy Westerners whose internal organs have worn out. All too often, though, the story veers off into side issues concerning drug use, Jitpleecheep’s marital difficulties, and gender change. Burdett’s writing remains fresh, humorous, and full of insights into Thailand, but readers who prefer focus and suspense should look elsewhere. Author tour.

November 15, 2011
Thai detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep returns in Burdett's fifth Bangkok novel as he gets involved in murderous--and convoluted--doings working on a case involving the trafficking of human body parts. This triple homicide is particularly grisly because all three bodies have been discovered at a mansion on Vulture Peak, near Phuket, and are all unidentifiable because they've been mutilated for the harvesting of their organs as well as less prepossessing body parts like faces. Police Colonel Vikorn puts the detective in an awkward position because solving this crime would make the unfathomably corrupt colonel smell like a rose and the Thai people would get respect when this illegal trafficking is brought to a halt. The plan is for Sonchai to go undercover and pose as one of those very organ traffickers, and when he does so, he quickly comes up against Lilly and Polly Yip, Chinese twins with brains, beauty and ruthlessness. The twins have received medical training and are also pathological gamblers, willing to bet thousands, for example, on when a fly will get to the top of a window. It turns out the demand for organs is fueled by rich farangs (Westerners), and the Yips seem to be willing to supply body parts from Chinese criminals as well as from more unwilling and vulnerable members of society. Sonchai bounces his theories off of his girlfriend Chanya, a former prostitute now working on a doctorate in sociology. (She knows whereof she speaks because her topic is on prostitution in Bangkok.) Burdett's strengths are tilted toward characterization rather than plotting, for Buddhist Sonchai remains a fascinating cross between Buddhist monk and hard-boiled detective.

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February 1, 2011

Police colonel Vikorn has given Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep a little task: stop the trafficking in human organs. It seems that Vikorn is running for governor of Bangkok and needs to crack this case to look good. Soon, the morally upright Sonchai is traveling from Shanghai to Dubai to Monte Carlo as he chases down the Vultures, Chinese twins who dominate the illicit body-parts business. Burdett's work caught on at the beginning and remains strong; all thriller readers should enjoy.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
Burdett's fifth Sonchai Jitplecheep novel finds the Bangkok police detective hip-deep in the world of illegal organ harvesting. Naturally, corruption drives the organ trade, as Sonchai's bent boss, Colonel Vikorn, now running for governor, seeks to turn the tables on his archrival in the underworld, General Zinna, who has a corner on the organ-trafficking business. The trail leads to a set of beautiful but nutso Chinese twins, who operate a fully staffed hospital for extracting body parts. As Sonchai runs an elaborate sting operation aimed at snaring both the twins and Zinna, he finds himself facing a vision of evil beyond comprehension, a future in which humanity descends to a state of functional barbarism in which we are all eating each other. And, on top of all that, Sonchai's wife may be having an affair. As always, Burdett manages his multilevel plot with great dexterity, and, with Sonchai as our guide, he explores the lower depths of depravity with a bravura mix of horror and black humor. This series is not to be missed by anyone unafraid of crime fiction's edgiest neighborhoods.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2011

A ghoulish triple homicide brings Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep to the hilltop compound known as Vulture Peak. Three bodies, laid neatly on a bed, are missing eyes, kidneys, livers, and genitals. The ever-corrupt, opportunistic Colonel Vikorn, Sonchai's boss, wants to know what's going on. And, incidentally, he wants to be the new governor of Bangkok. As in the last four novels in Burdett's series, Sonchai is maneuvering in a nearly bewildering stew of greed, ambition, sex, drugs, and sheer criminal insanity. While the tale does not meander as much as its predecessor, The Godfather of Kathmandu, there are sinuous twists as our detective tries to make sense of the international machinations of the Yip sisters and Vikorn's arch rival, General Zinna. VERDICT There are some truly stomach-turning scenes, and even a hardened reader of thrillers will blanch. Burdett, as usual, can't resist his tendency to lecture farangs (Thai slang for Westerners) on materialism and the myriad weaknesses of the Western mind. While these lectures are getting tiresome, Sonchai and his gritty adventures as philosopher-cop will have fans looking for the next installment. [See Prepub Alert, 7/18/11.]--Sally Harrison, Ocean Cty. Lib., Waretown, NJ

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.