Christopher G. Moore
Christopher G. Moore is a Canadian author living in Bangkok. Initially I read the 'Land of Smiles' trilogy. The books are works of fiction, but many of the observations are real and one suspects the characters are either real, or made up from parts of real characters.
Like the books by Paul Adirex, the topic of one of my other pages, I discovered the works of Christopher G. Moore by chance while looking for something to read, during a stop over at Bangkok Airport. This trilogy 'A Killing Smile', 'A Bewitching Smile' and 'A Haunting Smile' were originally published by White Lotus Co. Ltd., between 1991 - 1993. My copy of 'A Killing Smile' is a 1996 reprint by book Siam. If you live outside Thailand you can order the books from http://www.cgmoore.com/
Alternatively they can sometimes be obtained from Amazon.com
I thoroughly recommend all three books, although I thought the first 'A Killing Smile' was outstanding, in the way it delves into what lies beneath the surface of the Thai smile. The 'book Siam' cover of 'A Killing Smile' includes the words 'Love you, Hate you, Kill you...', which is a good synopsis.
The books describe the exploits of various Western expats living in Bangkok. The stories explore how these expats interact with each other and various local Thais. The Thai characters range from Bar Girls to Army Generals and would be Politicians. The realities, emotions and where appropriate motives surrounding Charity, Kindness, Love, Superstition, Loss of Face, Revenge, Greed, Corruption and many more are considered in depth as the stories unfold.
Each book is a complete story in itself so can be read in isolation, but reading the complete trilogy builds up a deeper insight into the characters, who form a common thread through the stories.
I considered including a synopsis of each story on this page. However this would completely fail to do justice to what the books are really about. So buy them and read them !!!
Having enjoyed these books so much I then embarked on the five books which make up the 'Calvino' Series. Calvino being a Bangkok based private investigator. The books in this series are 'Spirit House', 'Asia Hand', 'Cut Out', 'Comfort Zone' and 'The Big Weird'. I read 'The Big Weird' first even though it is the most recent. Apart from being a great story, the characters are painted in some depth. As well as continuing the exploration of the minds of local Thai and male expats (continuing in the tradition of Christopher's other books), this book also considers the effect of The Big Weird (Bangkok) on the expat female.
On the strength of how much I enjoyed 'The Big Weird', I then acquired two more of the 'Calvino' series books, followed by the others. Three of these stories take place in Bangkok, while in Cut Out, Calvino's searches lead him to Cambodia. Then in Comfort Zone he is dispatched to Vietnam.
Christopher's most recent book 'God of Darkness' hit the streets in June 1998. It is claimed to be the fourth in the 'Land of Smiles' series. Personally I think it deserves a place on it's own or as part of a new series. Otherwise it will force me to change my references to the 'trilogy' above to 'qaudrology'.
On the surface this book is a kind of reverse murder mystery. The difference is that you find out who the killer is very early on and only find out who the victim is, in the very last chapter. Characters are introduced and as their backgrounds evolve, become in the readers mind, candidates for a hit. As this is unfolding Thailand is modernising it's telecommunications systems and massive Amounts of money are poured into property development. Many of the characters work in those industries, both locals and foreigners. Then the economic 'Crisis' of 1997/8 bites.
It would seem that the characters with power get it from a combination of access to money and an unabashed willingness, to send any opponent to the next life. One question is, can that power be maintained once the money dries up?
Superstition dictates that the 'Crisis' has been caused by 'Rahu' the 'God of Darkness'. Of course such gods need to be appeased, even if, in typically Thai fashion they can be identified as a modern day force.
Most of the characters in 'God of Darkness' come from higher levels in the social strata than those portrayed in the 'Land of smiles' trilogy. However a crisis can have some equalising effect.
If I had to recommend just two of Christopher G. Moore's books they would be 'A killing Smile' and 'God of Darkness'. I would be amazed if after reading one or both of those, that the others would not be at the top of any reader's acquisition list.
Christopher has also written a non fiction book, Heart Talk. It was first published in 1992. In 1998 an expanded edition is available in hard back and is published by Heaven Lake Press. The book explains the meaning of a large number of 'Jai' (heart) phrases. As you can imagine at 225 pages, there are a lot of Jai phrases in Thai. A few examples of the many hundred of Jai phrases are 'Cool Heart', 'Pleased Heart', 'Joyful Heart', 'Worried Heart', 'Perverted Heart', 'Good Heart' etc.
As well as the English phrase, each phrase also appears in Thai characters and a roman charater pronunciation guide. Each Jai phrase is also accompanied by an in depth English description of the meaning of the phrase.
COLD HIT
Review
The end of the Millenium approaches. In fact I am writing this review on 31 December 1999 and hoping I can upload it to my web site before midnight strikes. I read Christopher’s latest book Cold Hit about ten days ago, and have since been trying to mentally articulate my impressions, before applying fingers to keyboard and mouse.
Cold Hit is the sixth book in the Calvino series. As always I don’t want to give away the plot so will say little more than that it entertains in much the same way as do the other Calvino books. All of Christopher’s books are rich in local colour. Cold Hit is probably even more so. Reading Cold Hit you quickly find that clever lyrical descriptions gush from the pages, where as in his previous books they merely poured from them.
By way of illustration I will include a couple of direct quotes from the book in italics below. These are by no means the best quotes and the book is generously peppered with such gems.
For someone who has not read the earlier Calvino books they may be a little puzzled as to why this senior Thai police official ‘Pratt’ has such a close relationship with Calvino, the scruffy, near down and out Private Investigator from the USA. They may wonder also at the fierce loyalty of Ratana, Calvino’s secretary. For those who have read the earlier books, they will be grateful not to have it explained to them again.
As I said earlier, the end of the Millenium is imminent. The world revolves around internet and for some older males, Viagra. As another sign of the times, inflation has taken it’s toll in Bangkok’s bars, and a short time with a pooying has doubled in price (in local currency terms) from a purple to a grey. Maybe the inflation is because Viagra has increased the number of customers seeking these services. Calvino himself is not far from moving into another phase in the aging process, or as Christopher puts it
Calvino was holding onto his forties like a drunken chef holding onto the wrong end of a greasy spoon.
There is an informal internet group known as the Cause. They are interested in self indulgence, mainly sex and drugs. Bangkok is one of their favourite destinations. When several members of the Cause die in Thailand, Calvino brings the matter to Pratt’s attention "Hey I’m from New York. I can smell a murder. A serial killer is doing these guys, Pratt". Pratt was not moved by Calvino’s olfactory facilities.
Calvino is not persuaded to Pratt’s point of view, but usually short of money, Calvino will do almost anything legal to earn some. A couple of little jobs come up to distract his attention from the serial killer. Of the first of these jobs, his secretary Ratana says "That’s a lot of money for delivering a card". Deep in her Chinese genes was a built in abacus that calculated the value of service or goods faster than a Nasa mainframe computer.
Well it turns out that Ratana is correct and the same applies to the second job. Along the way many unique characters are introduced such as One of the waitresses who hustled drinks was twenty-eight years old, under five-foot and weighed about 80 pounds. Ewok was her nickname given to her by some Star Wars freak boyfriend from Austin, Texas that no one could remember. From this short passage you can imagine exactly what Ewok looks like, exactly the kind of guy her boyfriend was, as well as getting a sharp reminder of how quickly you are forgotten once you’ve headed for that departing flight from Don Muang airport.
Christopher G. Moore is a master of observation and has a unique gift for packaging those observations in such a way, that you hardly notice what’s being laid in front of you. If you ever need to get to the Hampton Inn (currently being renamed to the Zenith Hotel) or one of the other establishments on Soi 3 Sukhumvit, you will probably appreciate the short cut that Calvino uses. If you want to know how a long time bar girl manages to break through the hard core exterior, of an American bachelor lawyer tough nut, by answering a call of nature while drunk, you will have to read Cold Hit.
For more info on Christopher G. Moore's books try http://www.cgmoore.com/