'The Godfather of Kathmandu' is the fourth novel by John Burdett, featuring Sonchai Jitpleecheep as the 'luuk krung' (half-Thai, half-farang) detective, solving crimes in Police District 8 in Bangkok (we are not sure at the moment whether this district actually exists). Previous novels in this series are : Bangkok 8 (2002), Bangkok Tattoo (2005), and Bangkok Haunts (2007). John Burdett has also written a couple of novels in the 1990's, but he does not even care to mention them on his own website.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep's mind is preoccupied by Buddhist themes, which seem to pop up on many occasions. His detective help is a katoey (ladyboy), his mother operates a bar at Soi Cowboy, catering to an elderly clientele, his boss police colonel Vikorn is immensely rich and up to his ears in illegal activities, including the drugs' trade. Sonchai is quite loyal to his boss, and seems to be able to reconcile his Buddhist beliefs with helping him out pursuing less than wholesome activities. Crimes in Burdett's books are never simple gun shootings or knifings, but are always a bit bizarre and unreal.
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The Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett |
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Two stories intertwine in the 'Godfather of Kathmandu'.
A fat farang is found murdered (or so it appears) in a short-time little hotel. He has been gutted, a pebble and an 'imago' (is that a Buddha image?) are found in his mouth. Most striking is the fact that part of his skull has been sawed off, and the alleged perpetrator has enjoyed eating part of the brain of the victim. The victim turns out to be a famous Hollywood director of B-movies, leading a life of debauchery in Thailand.
Throughout the story (unless we missed something) is never becomes really clear why the victim was murdered in this manner.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep has been promoted to the (unofficial Thai) rank of 'consigliere', after his boss watched some Godfather DVDs. In this function Sonchai travels to Kathmandu to arrange a major drug deal. His contact and supplier of drugs is an exiled Tibetan called Tietsin, who is a yogin (an adherent of Yoga philosophy and/or a markedly reflective or mystical person, according to our dictionary).
While there Sonchai once again is overwhelmed by his Buddhist spirituality and decides on the spot that he wants to become an adept, seeking enlightenment to reach the 'Farther Shore'. So he receives a mantra, and for the rest of the story seems to undergo various mental torments and some real ones : his young son dies in a car accident, and his wife leaves him to enter a monastery.
Sonchai alternately spends time trying to solve the murder, and trying to arrange the major drug deal. Our murder victim has also spent time in Kathmandu, starring himself in a 'value' movie with a lot of exiled Tibetans.
A striking character in the story is a middle-aged high-society lady, who used to be a qualified pharmacist, but seems to only use her knowledge to try out and distribute various experimental drug cocktails.
There are many twists and turns in the story. At one point the murder seems to have been a staged assisted suicide, then again it turns out to have been a real murder.
Sonchai's boss, Vikorn, has to work together with his archenemy, army general Zinna, to get the drug deal done. The matter-of-factness of both police and army offices being involved in drug deals is kind of funny.
John Burdett, throughout the story, has his main character address the reader, mostly having Sonchai educate us regarding Thai or Buddhist concepts.
I was kind of puzzled to know how Sonchai can justify being involved in trading drugs, being such a self-declared good Buddhist, trying to find enlightenment. In the end though, he does try to avoid acquiring a load of bad karma. The characters in the book use various rationalizations to justify their drug trading. An interesting concept by Sonchai's boss Vikorn is that the illegal drugs are the real stuff, and kill less people than the artificial drugs manufactured by pharmaceutical companies.
To be honest, I get a bit lost when Karma and Dharma concepts are thrown into the story, and tend to read around it, catching up with the 'real' story. The novel is somewhat educational. It gives an almost travel guide description of Kathmandu's most interesting sites, tells us about recent Tibetan history, and towards the end, we become knowledgeable about the 'padparacha', a rare sapphire. It turns out our murder victim died because of involvement in the gems' trade.
We assume the attractive lady on the cover of the book is inspired by a yogin lover Sonchai meets in Kathmandu (also an acquaintance of our murder victim), who is an adept of Tantric love-making.
A good read, with some interesting twists in the story. It does look however that John Burdett is stuck in his genre of the weird and unreal. Maybe that is the reason for his low productivity (about one book every three years, is a bit meagre). Admittedly, it must take some time to have your imagination collect sufficient weird content for another novel.
By the way, the murder gets solved, and the drugs get delivered (although in an unlikely way).
Websites of English-language writers in Bangkok, and online bookstores.
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