Bangkok Bob and The Missing Mormon

Long-term Bangkok resident and former New Orleans cop Bob Turtledove has the knack of getting people out of difficult situations. So when a.
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Not, you might think, the most gripping of ways to open. But, and this is important, it builds the atmosphere: Sounds like New York, doesn't it? And so the stage is set. And yes, I wanted to keep on reading, which is what a first chapter page, paragraph, sentence should do. Ultimately, it's about bums on seats and a reader who'll come back for more. Or Morre, if he's reading Christopher G. For me, a novel MUST be character driven. Setting is important the book must create its world , and plot ho-hum, might come back tomorrow He runs an antiques business, and sleuths in a private capacity.

Not investigating major crimes.

Smashwords – Bangkok Bob and The Missing Mormon – a book by Stephen Leather

The reason is that they're all dead. They got shot long ago. Murders and kidnappings are for the police. In SEA it's a different story. I actually know a real-life private sleuth in Cambodia. But that's another story. Anyway, Bob runs a business, and the US embassy sometimes sends him people with problems that the embassy can't solve. That's just about everything in Real Life - embassies, contrary to poluar opinion, are not there to solve your problems. You get a problem, they'll visit you in jail after it's over. Anyway, it makes for a great and genuine mise-en-scene.

I was talking about Bob. He's engaging, likeable, and has a life. We care about Bob. We care about Bob's battle with a colonoscopy. We even care that Bob gets kidnapped by thugs and taken to meet a mysterious Thai honcho who refuses to show his face. In addition to Bob there's a whole host of minor characters, all convincingly realised, ranging from English teachers in a shabby school Eglish teachers occupy the very lowest rung of the expat social ladder, fact , to Thais in mansions living on incomes that most Americans will only ever dream of.

So on characters I'm ok. I don't intend to give the plot away, but it involves a Mormon boy who's gone missing. He came for a holiday and decided to stay for That's what his parents would like to know, and what they hire Bob to find out. They went to the embassy first, and the embassy, would you believe, told them to go to the police! I mean, what for do we pay our taxes? Why isn't the ambassador out there trawling the streets and ricefields looking for the lad?


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These are the thoughts of every American. From that point on I mean the point at which Bob gets his orders - chapter 2, right after the traffic jam everything moves very cleanly. Not a lot of suspense if you want suspense, try Moore and Burdett , but a good, clean read. On the way we meet a lot of Bangkok.

Bangkok Bob and the Missing Mormon

And it's real, I can vouch for that. It's absorbing, it's instructive even, and it's a Great Read. Buy this book, you'll be so glad you did. Feb 19, Eddie Blatt rated it liked it Shelves: This story of a former New Orleans cop moonlighting in Bangkok as a private investigator for friends and acquaintances, has some enjoyable intrigue as well as genuinely funny moments.


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The dialogue is sharp, although repetitive at times. Where the book really falls short of the mark, however, are its lack of plot complexity, minimal suspense and not-quite believable characters. The character of Bangkok Bob, for example, would have been better served if he was single, not married, thus introducin This story of a former New Orleans cop moonlighting in Bangkok as a private investigator for friends and acquaintances, has some enjoyable intrigue as well as genuinely funny moments. The character of Bangkok Bob, for example, would have been better served if he was single, not married, thus introducing some much-needed sexual tension , and his ability to "speak perfect Thai" ie, without even an accent is simply not believable.

I enjoyed the book anyway because I've spent time in Thailand, and can vividly picture the scenes. Incidentally, Stephen Leather's earlier book on Bangkok bargirls and the foolish western foreigners who fall in love with them - titled "Private Dancer" - is a must-read for anyone venturing into that world! On the back of that book, I was hoping this one would be better than it was. Dec 26, John Marsh rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. Our son tells us everything.

John Juniors is the oldest. He folded his arms and sat back in his chair and glared at me as daring me to contradict him. I doodled on the notepad. The doodle was turning into an angel with spreading wings.

We discussed his plans, and we agreed that he should give it a go. If he wanted to be a teacher, that was up to him. But yes, I made my feelings clear on the subject, of course I did. He said he wanted to teach in Thailand, for a while at least, and we gave him our blessing. We have also taught our children to follow their own path, but to use the Lord as their guide. He checked out, just as he said he did. And checked all the hospitals. Mrs Clare shook her head. She looked at me earnestly, hoping for more information and I smiled as reassuringly as I could.

I wanted to tell her that doing my best was all I could promise, that whether or not I found him would be as much down to luck and fate as to the amount of effort I put into it. The police gather evidence, speak to witnesses, identify a suspect and, hopefully, arrest him. In Thailand, the police generally have a pretty good idea of who has committed a crime and then they work backwards to get the evidence to convict him.

Or if the perpetrator has enough money or connections to buy himself out of trouble, then they look for evidence to convict someone else. The end result is the same, but the approach is totally different.

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What I really wanted to tell Mr and Mrs Clare that the best way of finding where John Junior had gone would be to find out where he was and if that sounds a bit like Alice in Wonderland, then welcome to Thailand. I just kept on smiling reassuringly. I might be lucky and find him after a couple of phone calls. Or I might still be looking for him in two months. She looked into my eyes with such intensity that for a moment I believed that a blessing from her might actually count for something. I nodded and looked into her eyes and tried to make it look as if my opinion might actually count for something.

Her husband was leaning forward, his eyes narrowing as if he had the start of a headache. He looked like a man who had something on his mind. The nightclub they were talking about was the Kube. Two hundred and eighteen people had died.

A lot had been foreigners. I nodded and tried to look reassuring. I tried an even more reassuring smile to see if that would help. To my surprise, it did.

Bangkok Bob and The Missing Mormon

Would they even know? They said that the bodies.. More than fifty they said in the Tribune. But there are other considerations. Or the people he lived with. Or the people he worked with. Too many bad memories. But things have a way of working out for the best here. Posted by Stephen Leather at Newer Post Older Post Home.

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The Time In London. Stephen Leather Stephen Leather has written more than 30 novels and is one of Amazon's most successful self-publishers. You can see more of Stephen Leather's work at www. Incidentally, Stephen Leather's earlier book on Bangkok bargirls and the foolish western foreigners who fall in love with them - titled "Private Dancer" - is a must-read for anyone venturing into that world! On the back of that book, I was hoping this one would be better than it was.

Andrew Peters on Feb. I have read pretty much everything by Stephen Leather, and got this as the result of a free offer on his Facebook page. It's a good read, the story of a guy called Bob looking for a Missing Mormon surprise, surprise in parts of Thailand. The author obviously has a good knowledge of Thai society, and we meet some colourful characters I tend to prefer his books when they are set outside of modern Britain.

The plot is less complicated than in the author's longer books, so I could easily imagine it happening. The short novel holds the interest throughout, though I could have lived without descriptions of Bob's medical problems!! One slight jarring note is Bob's unlikely escape from death Mark Biggs on Feb.