More reviews of Timothy Hallinan's books.
The Queen of Patpong is the fourth novel by Timothy Hallinan in the Poke Rafferty action-thriller series. Besides taking care of the bad guys, Hallinan again deals with a social issue, this time prostitution, its causes and dangers.
Poke Rafferty and his little family (Rose, his wife and former prostitute, and Miaow, his somewhat precocious and obnoxious, but much loved, stepdaughter) are enjoying a pleasant dinner in a Bangkok restaurant, when they are suddenly confronted with a ghost from Rose's paste : a 'client' that once intended to kill her, but got his comeuppance (Rose actually thought she had killed him). Now he and his buddy want sweet revenge.
 |
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan. |
|
Most of this novel concerns the history of Rose. How she had a dreadful life in a small village with an abusive father and a self-effacing mother. She ends up coming to Bangkok to work as a prostitute in 1997 (as the author states in an epilogue at the end, because she has 'limited choices'). We are taken through the 'conversion' of Rose from an innocent country girl, to one proficient in satisfying the needs of her clients. Rose is stunningly beautiful, she and we are told, something to do with her being tall, having a long neck and particularly shaped cheekbones. Hallinan offers no sexually explicit details, and somehow we felt that the conversion of Rose was actually not such a big deal (which possibly in reality often may be true).
Of course, many writers have included the nightlife and prostitution scene in Bangkok as a topic for a novel, but Hallinan takes us step by step through the different stages of becoming a prostitute bar girl, how the bars are run, what hazards the girls encounter etc. Clearly, the author has not much sympathy for the girls' clients. He describes them as mostly fat and smelly middle-aged men, with a tendency for asking for anal sex, but only after first slapping their 'conquest' around a little bit.
(The underlying assumption is that the bargirls themselves are stupid. While dangers are real, who would want to participate in this business, if a large portion of men had such violent tendencies).
Anyway, Rose seems to be doing rather well. Because of her beauty, she can be selective, and tends to have longer-term relationships with farangs, rather than many short-term encounters. This is how she meets Horner, who is most courteous at first, but turns out to be a nasty piece of work.
Interestingly, Timothy Hallinan stages his story and the life of Rose at Patpong. Patpong nowadays is not what it was 20 or 30 years ago, and surely is way behind other entertainment venues like Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy, in the number of customers is attracts. Actually, if you would wander around Patpong at night nowadays, you have to be quite observant to notice any bars in between the chaotic night market stalls that seem to cover every square inch of the street. What makes it a bit more believable is that Rose's life as a prostitute starts somewhere in 1997, when things were probably just a little bit different from now. But, of course, it is rather likely that the author did not rely on new research, but rather on old memories, while writing this story. Horner (Rose's handsome conquest), it turns out, has a habit of getting into relationships with the better looking bar girls, and then torturing and murdering them. Rose could escape, but now, many years later Horner turns up again, wanting his revenge.
As usual, Poke Rafferty takes care of the problem himself. He is the protector of his little family (though in the beginning a bit negligent), investigator, judge and jury all in one person. Our travel writer, who never seems to work, gets help from his good friend and police colonel Arthit, and some other reliable police officers. Poke again is good at street fighting, and the more he suffers, the greater are his obstinance, and retribution.
As said, most of the book concerns the life of Rose. The mostly violent scenes between Rafferty and Horner (and his buddy) take up less space at the beginning and end of the book. While describing the violence and various street chases, Hallinan uses a technique that may be called 'descriptive overkill'. Fighting scenes are described as happening in slow motion, and every turn of a wrist, thumb or limb appears to occur as the result of a logical thought process. But when reading these passages, it is actually quite easy to loose track of what exactly is going on.
At the end Horner is taken care of in a way reminiscent of 'Murder on the Orient Express' (Agatha Christie).
A few chapters in the book, when Miaow is rehearsing for a play by Shakespeare, are quite tedious, but probably necessary to show that Poke Rafferty is a caring family man. Timothy Hallinan does not follow up on all story lines. While we learn a lot of the family of Rose in the beginning of the book, no information is given later on about the fate of the individual family members. And who, and why is Horner making phone calls in the middle of the Andaman Sea?
As said some chapters are a bit tedious. The bar girl story line offers the stereotypical view of life as a prostitute in Bangkok and is clearly outdated. After all, it is not anymore about getting food on the table and taking care of a sick buffalo in the village, but about getting the latest Blackberry phone and fancy clothes. Nevertheless, the story likely describes accurately a moment in time (let's say 15-20 years ago), when life in the countryside was more dire.
That said, we do not want to deny the truths about prostitution in Thailand and its more sordid forms. Just the other day (this is written 10 February 2011), police freed a number of young girls that were working in a restaurant as prostitutes in Suphanburi province, apparently against their will.
By the way, the first two chapters of 'The Queen of Patpong' are rather splendid, almost worth buying the book for those 20 pages or so. Hopefully this was not the last novel in the Poke Rafferty series.
At the time of this review, 'The Queen of Patpong' was not yet available in Thailand, while it has been on the market for many months elsewhere. Apparently only the paperback version will make it here.
Timothy Hallinan website : You can buy the books online.
A (long) interview with Timothy Hallinan.
|
