A Nail Through the Heart: A Novel of Bangkok [Kindle Edition]

If you like a novel in an exotic setting with an affable, affecting, imperfect hero, spend some hours with A Nail Trhough the Heart. Author Hallinan has divided his time between California and southeast Asia for the past 20 years, thus his descriptions of Bangkok are vividly drawn, alive with authentic sights and sounds. His knowledge of the Thai people and respect for their culture ring throughout, which invites the reader to share his affection for this land.

As Hallinan has said there is a saying in Thailand, "gilding the Buddha's back." Temples throughout Thailand have large statues of Buddha covered in gold leaf. Purchased in small squares by believers, this gold leaf is pressed on the statue until it appears to be entirely covered in gold. If you look at the back of the statue, you will see that the back of it is as richly ornamented as the front. Gilding the Buddha's back means doing good in private, where it will not be noticed. Isn't that a moving thought? And, after relating this saying and its provenance Hallinan said that in treating Thai culture carefully in his book he hoped that he had in some small way gilded the Buddha's back. He has, indeed.

Our imperfect hero is Poke Rafferty, a travel writer, who has gone to Bangkok to write. He's penned a series of travel related pieces titled Looking for Trouble. Bangkok is where trouble finds him in the form of Rose, a former go-go girl with whom he falls in love, Miaow, an eight-year-old orphan who lived on the streets, and her friend, a rather frightening skinny street boy with the unlikely nickname of Superman. We learn how harsh life on the streets can be on the young.

It is Poke's hope to marry Rose and adopt Miaow. Problem is that Poke hasn't mastered the art of saying no. So, when a policeman seeks his help in finding a woman's uncle he agrees. This chase leads to a meeting with MadameWing who offers a substantial amount of money if he will help her find someone who stole from her. The money is too tempting - it would enable Poke to help Rose with her business and adopt Miaow.

However, all is not as it seems as Poke finds himself caught in a web of deceit.

Hallinan is an astute author drawing readers in with brilliantly crafted descriptions of places and personalities. As he describes a person's physical appearance, one is also given a glimpse of his or her emotional state. Although he describes Bangkok with respect, he doesn't diminish its darker side. Thus, A Nail Through the Heart is not always an easy read; it is a compelling one.

- Gail Cooke

This is an excellent novel set in contemporary Bangkok. While technically a thriller, it is written with both the flair and depth that you would want from a `literary' novel. This is proper writing - it begins with a beautifully set scene: `across the river, a city of eight million shimmers like the ghost of a brushfire', and keeps up this standard, with vivid, imaginative metaphors and, of course, plenty of dark Chandleresque wise-cracking from the narrator-hero and his colleague in the Thai police. The novel's central characters are real and complex, not the 2-dimensional types who inhabit pulp thrillers.

Of course, what pulp thrillers have, and many literary novels lack, is pace and plotting. This book is not `literary' in this sense: the plot twists and turns and kept me guessing till the end. There's a particularly neat reversal in chapter 42...

Along with the literary writer's art and the thriller-plotter's craft, we get the benefit of the sensitivity to and insight into another culture of the travel writer. The author lives in Bangkok and his wife is Thai. He weaves the knowledge that this gives him gently but pervasively into the story - I didn't feel lectured, but by the end both had many mental images of Bangkok and, more valuable, the beginnings of an understanding of Buddhism and the way it influences the mindset of Thai people (and, beyond that, a reminder of how different the Eastern mindset is from that of the West).

The story itself... Well, I won't give it away. Suffice it to say it's complex, it does stack up looking back, and it takes us to some very dark places. Too dark? That depends on your taste. Unlike many `noir' thrillers, the darkness is balanced by the family life of the hero, which, though it has its tensions, is loving and honourable. Actually that's another thing I really like about this book. Light and dark, not just Kurtz-like gloom.

I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

This is simply the best thriller I have read in a long time. Not only is suitably complex, a real page turner and difficult to guess where it will all end, it is well and intelligently written, has a thread of humour, despite being quite dark, and credible characters too. A joy to find this one. What really makes it is the background: set in Bangkok it really brings this extraordinary city to life in a way that is accurate (the author has lived there) and will tell you more about the people and culture than many a guide book; indeed the background and culture is integral to the story. The same lead character is in further books: "The Fourth Watcher" is at least as good if not better and I can't wait to read the third, "Breathing Water". This author and this series is a real find - very successful and well reviewed in the States, why not more evident here in UK? A must read for anyone who likes this sort of thriller, especially if you like SE Asia.