Long-term Bangkok resident and former New Orleans cop Bob Turtledove has a knack for getting people out of difficult situations. So when a young man from Utah goes missing in Bangkok, his parents are soon knocking on Bob's door asking for help. But what starts out as a simple missing person case takes a deadly turn as Bangkok Bob's search for the missing Mormon brings him up against Russian gangsters, hired killers, corrupt cops and kickboxing thugs. And he learns that even in the Land of Smiles, people can have murder on their minds.

The book starts off where we get to meet ‘Bangkok Bob’ when some worried parents of a young man who has come on an extended holiday goes missing in Thailand.   So Bangkok Bob starts his search into the Bangkok underworld, which he knows only too well after befriending lots of high ranking Thai officials, policemen and businessmen with the aid of his ever faithful wife.

A lot of research has gone into the book and it is not your typical bar girl story like the fantastic 'Private Dancer' and there are some great parts to the story with some great characters, with a lot of typical stereotyping taking place throughout giving the reader a perfect insight into life in Thailand regarding living here as an expat and how the law enforcement in Thailand go about their work, or don't go about their work.

Bangkok Bob takes us on a journey where every lead turns into a new lead, not least being the fire in the night club 'Kube' where there is a lot of detail relating to the fire in a night club not to dissimilar to an actual occurrence in the Thai capital.  It sometimes feels that a little too much has been written about this.

Overall a good easy read but sometimes feels that the author is detracting from the plot of the story and goes a bit too in-depth into certain things, at some parts in the novel I started wondering if the novel was an endorsement for Phuket Beer rather than an unsolved missing persons case.  Not as gripping as other Stephen Leather novels but worth a read all the same.

To read more about Stephen Leather and his works please follow this link.

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