The Queen of Patpong
By Timothy Hallinan
Timothy Halllinan has written nine thrillers, including a
series featuring travel writer Poke Rafferty.
This novel is the fourth in the Poke Rafferty series. The novel is set in Bangkok .
Poke is married to a former dancer from the notorious red-light district
of Bangkok , Patpong Road . They have an adopted daughter, a street child
who is now a teenager. This is all back story
which evolved over the first three books.
This novel starts with Rose now running an employment agency
which helps former exotic dancers and prostitutes transition to a more traditional
and socially acceptable lifestyle. Poke
continues to write and their daughter Miaow is starring as Ariel in her school’s
presentation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Life for this family has settled
into somewhat of a routine when an ugly reminder of Rose’s past
resurfaces. Howard Horner is an
independent defense contractor working in Afghanistan
who likes to take breaks in Thailand . He had become quite possessive of Rose early
in her career and had dubbed her The Queen of Patpong. He resurfaces in Bangkok and seems bound and determined to
make life miserable for the Rafferty family, following and harassing them daily. Rose, in particular seems terrified of this
man.
The middle third of the book tells the story of Kwan, a
beautiful tall girl from a small impoverished village in northern Thailand . The girl is the oldest of five children and
her father attempts to sell her in to prostitution in Bangkok in order to make ends meet. Kwan is then lured away from this situation
by a former town girl who promises her that if Kwan follows her back to
Bangkok, she will just have to work as a
bar girl and “not do anything she doesn’t want to do.” Kwan travels to Bangkok and is then immediately swept up into
the exotic dancing and prostitution of Patpong Road despite promises to the
contrary. There she remains until she is
selected by Howard Horner who renames her “Rose”. Their relationship turns violent and a brutal
confrontation occurs on a boat near the resort city of Phuket .
Rose escapes, hides for several years and then reinvents herself in Bangkok with her
employment agency and new family.
The concluding third of the book is an investigation by Poke
into Howard Horner and the realization that Rose is just one of many girls
Howard has taken and then killed. As the
lone survivor, Rose is a threat to his freedom.
There is an ultra-violent conclusion to this story which involves car
chases, knives and multiple automatic weapons.
Leave it said that justice is served.
This book was interesting on several levels. It seems to be a thoroughly researched book
and the descriptions of the Patpong
Road environment are lurid. As a sociologic statement on the treatment of
young girls and women in Southeast Asia it is
damning. As a serial killer story it is
fairly mundane and the characters of Howard Horner and his accomplice are
pretty standard. The Rafferty family is
interesting and these are the strongest characters in the story. I enjoyed reading this book, but I doubt that
I will go back and read any of the others.
No comments:
Post a Comment