Dean Barrett

Dean Barrett

BooksThailand.com teamed up with Dean Barrett.  Dean Barrett first came to Asia as a Chinese linguist and has lived in Asia for 30 years as a teacher, publisher, editor, writer and soldier.  He is a former NYC board member of Mystery Writers of America and Dramatist Guild.

Having lived in Asia for over a quarter of a century, and most of his writing is set in Asia, or, as in the case of Murder in China Red, sets an Asian detective in a Western setting.  Whether it be conspiracies based on fact in 19th century Hong Kong, love and deception in modern Thailand, or a Chinese detective on the trail of a murderer in New York, he hopes you find something you like.   His goal is to bring readers the smell of black powder and the sharp crack of a flintlock rifle echoing in the Chinese mountains, the beauty of a flotilla of junks with butterfly-wing sails sailing the South China Sea, the pungent odors of a spicy coconut curry soup in a small Bangkok restaurant, and the mirth and madness of the streets of New York's East Village as seen through the eyes of a China-born detective.

Dean's books set in Thailand include, 'Permanent Damaage', 'Kingdom of Make Believe' and 'Skytrain to Murder'.

'Permanent Damage' Excerpt

In the dusk, the emerald green rice fields below the two UH-1D helicopters seemed overlaid with a bluish hue, and appeared almost suspended in the heat and humidity.  The second helicopter had a crew of four Americans and ten passengers: Three Americans and seven Montagnards, their faces and hands camouflaged with green and black paint; and they carried weapons of their choice as well as maps and radios.  They were a "sterile" team - no documents, no ranks, untraceable uniforms and weapons.  They were one of the teams of MACV-SOG, Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group, a cover name for Special Forces carrying out covert operations.  Their mission was to check on an NVA camp just inside Laos possibly holding an American prisoner.  If the intelligence report was confirmed they were to attempt rescue, otherwise were instructed to avoid contact with the enemy and radio for extraction.  

Both doors of the chopper were open and cool, humid air rushed through the ship past the silent men.  The door gunner leaned back just as the sun briefly broke through clouds and his ammunition belt seemed to glow.  As the rice fields gave way to jungle-covered foothills, Staff Sergeant Adam Bates felt good to have passed safely over the rice fields; as if flying over elephant grass, steep ridges and triple-canopy jungle meant the greatest danger was over.  Logically, he knew better, but if they ran into problems the jungle offered a much better chance of escape than rice fields.  He remembered the adrenalin and the fear the last time his team had been ambushed by the North Vietnamese in what had seemed a deserted village surrounded by abandoned rice fields.... To read more of 'Permanent Damage' please follow this link.