Bangkok Haunts


Bangkok Haunts is a 2007 novel by English novelist John Burdett.

Plot

Detective Sonchai, of the Royal Thai Police, is a former accessory to murder and a former Buddhist monk. A video is mailed to him anonymously. It is a snuff film of Damrong, a woman he once loved obsessively. It turns out Damrong has masterminded her own death, and the recording of it, with proceeds going to her brother, a Buddhist monk.

Themes

Revenge is one of the novel's themes. Damrong takes revenge on her father by informing the police about one of her father's burglaries. The police in the countryside orchestrate her father's death, via the "elephant game". Damrong has prepared for her father's murder by bringing a camera with an expensive zoom, so that she can take detailed pictures of the execution.

Inspiration for the novel

In the novel's afterword, the author acknowledges inspiration from the following sources: