Bangkok 8 by John Burdett

Rating: 1/5 Stars

• Pub. Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Format: NOOKbook (eBook)
• Sonchai Jitpleecheep Series , #1
• ISBN: 1400040914

Sonchai Jitpleecheep is a cop in Bangkok, one of the few cops who don't take money or free sex from prostitutes. When is partner, Pichai, dies at a chrime scene with a dead farang (American) marine, the FBI gets involved. Out for revenge for Pichai's death, Sonchai tries to stay one step ahead of the FBI.

For me something was very off in this book, I think it was mostly the fact that there was so much information about sex and prostitutes in Bangkok's red light district that it seemed obsessive. There was a murder mystery intertwined with all the sex and prostitution stories but in the end it all came down to a very strange outcome that completely creeped me out and made me wish I could have the time I spent reading the book back. I want to say more but I don't want to give away plot details in case someone happens to want to read this book which I do not recommend.

This is the first book in the series and I can assure you that I will not read more. I see at Amazon there are many good reviews for this book so it's hit some kind of niche for some readers but not this one.

This book fits the following Challenges:

Hogwarts: Arithmancy

A-Z title : B for Bangkok

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Pub. Date: March 1997
Publisher: New Press, The
Format: Hardcover, 284pp
Series: Kurt Wallander Series, #1
ISBN-13: 9781565843417
Library Loan

This book was originally published in Sweden as Mordare utan ansikte in 1991 and was translated into English by Stephen T. Murray for this publication.

I obtained this book from the library in order to read it for my Fantasy Thrillers and Horrors Yahoo Book Group.

Kurt Wallander is a severely flawed man - he has an tricky relationship with his ex-wife, a daughter who doesn't want anything to do with him, and an aging a father who is hard to deal with. With all of these personal issues he has to solve the highly volitale case of a brutal murder of an elderly couple in a swedish farmhouse with very few clues.

In this first book of the Kurt Wallander Series we follow Wallander through his daily routines of life and work and get a glimpse of the Swedish way of life. I found these glimpses interesting but I can't seem myself continuing on with the series. I don't know if it was the translation or the Swedish murder mystery that made this book seem too simple and more about the main characters development than solving the actual mystery, it was like made for tv mystery for me. I found that the ending was very anti-climatic and I wished there was a better wrap-up and that the clues found in the beginning of the story actually meant more to the solving of the crime.

This book fits the following challenges/categories for me:

• Hogwart's Reading Challenge (Muggle Studies)
• Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge
• Monthly Mixer Mele Challenge
• New Authors Challenge ** FINISHED CHALLENGE **
• Fantasy Thriller and Horror Reading Group