Private Dancer and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a £0.25 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card
Private Dancer
 
 
Start reading Private Dancer on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Private Dancer [Paperback]

Stephen Leather
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £6.07 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.92 (24%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Want guaranteed delivery by Saturday, February 11? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £3.99  
Paperback £6.07  
Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Private Dancer for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Fair Game (The 8th Spider Shepherd Thriller) £4.19

Private Dancer + Fair Game (The 8th Spider Shepherd Thriller)
Price For Both: £10.26

Show availability and delivery details



Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Monsoon Books Pte Ltd (1 Aug 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 9810539169
  • ISBN-13: 978-9810539160
  • Product Dimensions: 18.9 x 11.2 x 2.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 28,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Leather
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Stephen Leather Page

Product Description

Review

Because of all its local wisdom, Private Dancer ought to be made available to every tourist at port entry. --Bernard Trink, Bangkok Post

Product Description

This is an engrossing thriller about relationships with bar girls by a bestselling crime author. It is set in Thailand in 1996, the year of the Rat. Pete, a young travel writer, wanders into a Bangkok go-go bar and meets the love of his life. Joy is the girl of his dreams: young, stunningly pretty and one of the Zombie Bar's top earning pole dancers. What follows is a roller-coaster ride of sex, drugs and deception, as Pete discovers that his own very private dancer is not all that she claims to be and that far from being the girl of his dreams, Joy is his own personal nightmare.

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


 

Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (20)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Hey ,Joe! Me love you long time., 22 Dec 2005
By 
Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Private Dancer (Paperback)
When I was young and single, I fantasized about visiting Bangkok's fleshpot buffet. But, even 11 years in the Navy didn't provide the opportunity as I never made it away from Stateside. Now that I'm older, married, and only marginally wiser, I doubt that my wife would let me go - even if I could imagine conjuring up the energy to carouse once I got there. And there is, of course, the sobering specter of AIDS. But, should any of you young studs embark on the tour, PRIVATE DANCER should be required reading before reaching the airport departure gate.

Pete is a freelance writer hired by a publishing house to edit a new cookery book/travel guide for Thailand. Once ensconced in Bangkok, Pete is introduced to the red-light district by friend Nigel, where Pete meets pole dancer/prostitute Joy in the Zombie Bar. Pete is smitten despite advice from the resident expats that it's best not to get emotionally involved with a bar babe. And despite all the evidence, some provided by a private detective, that Joy is simply using Pete as a cash ATM, that she's married to a Thai man, and that she has sex with other farang (foreign) customers when he's out of town, Pete remains enamored of his PRIVATE DANCER. He desperately wants to believe her excuses, lies, and proclamations of true love - "I love you and have you in my heart only one. Miss you all the time."

Author Stephen Leather takes an interesting approach to the story, telling it alternately from the viewpoints of Pete, Joy, Pete's farang friends and acquaintances (Nigel, Big Ron, Bruce, Jimmy), the private detective Phiraphan, Pete's employer Alistair, and a certain Professor Bruno Mayer, an expert on prostitution in Thailand and cross-cultural relationships between the sex workers and their customers. What results is a fascinating and informative parable on the perils of falling for a Bangkok hooker that's probably just as valid no matter what the city, country, or nationality of the working girl. Indeed, as Stephen describes the milieu of Pete's tragic experience, the reader perhaps understands that it's more of a culture clash than anything else. From Joy's perspective, her life and means of getting money for herself and her family back in their village are nothing unusual or immoral. For her, emotional love for, and the provision of money by, a man are two sides of the same coin. The problem for westerner Pete, a Brit, is that he necessarily separates the two. In the end, the open-minded reader can rightly attach no blame to either, but only marvel at Pete's foolishness in the face of good advice from his Anglo and Australian friends that are old Bangkok hands.

PRIVATE DANCER seemed, at times, a bit too long for the message. In an email correspondence with Leather, I asked if the tale was based on the experience of anyone he knew. With utter candor, the author implied that at least some of the story derived from his own youthful follies. Perhaps Stephen was driven to over-emphasize the lesson - "Don't let this happen to you!" In any case, the book is an engaging addition to the backpack as you set out to sample the neon-bathed, x-rated delights of Patpong, Nana Plaza, and Soi Cowboy.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Bang on the button., 14 Nov 2007
This review is from: Private Dancer (Paperback)
I bought this book, basically, to confirm that I knew it all already. I first went all over S.E.Asia in the early sixties, helping the USA. get a foothold (not for very long) in Vietnam. Also went to BKK before the Nana Plaza and the Nana Hotel were there. Patpong was kicking off then and I had a good time all of the time!!. I drifted back over there in 1989, mostly in Singapore, where I met up with a lot of Thai girls working in the remaining (few) night-clubs off Orchard road. They were, and still are, the same, and any old man who thinks these girls actually prefer the company of them to a man of their own age is in serious trouble. When I was 20 years old, the thought of having a 50yr. old girlfriend would never have been considered, let alone to happen. So, already being wise to these little beauties, prancing arouind shiny poles on a stage about 3 feet above the floor,some naked, some not, reinstated that it was business as usual. I spent a lot of time until 2004, during which I met and heard about old, and some young men, losing the whole lot to these 'bar girls'. whilst I was rotating to BKK from various oilfield (my occupation) locations for R & R as the Yanks called it. We called it I & I, intercourse and intoxication, preferably in that order. I almost got hooked once in ,01, falling a little bit overboard with a stunner from the Rainbow One bar, in Nana Plaza. I introduced her to a pal of mine who lived in BKK. and he was my 'Private Detective'. I was'nt away for more than a month or so and he confirmed that they dont go back home 'up country', as they call it. She had come with me to the airport when I left, already having in her hand a Thai Airways ticket,( I got it), for her return to Udon Thani to go home to Mama!. In fact, she was back in the bar that same night!!. So, I know the book contains 100% truth in the whole scenarios that crop up. I've seen them with scarred wrists and arms, drunk and /or spaced out and finding out from other girls what made them do it. Good thing is ; if you look upon the whole deal of taking them for a weeks holiday out of the bar after a one nighter, generally, they are damn good company as well as sating each other's natural needs. Some of the girls deserved oscars when I used to take them back to BKK and give them the NRB., (not required back)!!. So guys, and gal's (yes, women can buy men too), remember, the book is a must for a tourist to read prior to a trip to the Big Mango.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Too true!, 22 Feb 2006
By A Customer
This review is from: Private Dancer (Paperback)
I bought this book after several days in Bangkok, staying in a hotel bang on Nana Plaza. After hearing some sob stories from the westerners (Farangs) I came across in the bars it rings very true. Anyone who has been to one of the bars feels that the girls only have eyes for them when in fact a high proportion see the men as horny fools. The book captures this perfectly through the eyes of the girls and the guys, a rivetting read which I agree should be read by any man hoping to save any of the Gogo dancers from their life of sleeze. Top marks.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
 Go to Amazon.com to see all 28 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars 
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges