Review: BREATHING WATER (William Morrow 2009)Author: Timothy Hallinan
BREATHING WATER is set amid the honky-tonk, flash and squalor of Bangkok. Told from multiple points of view, the main character is an American ex-pat writer named Poke Rafferty, who gets stuck between a rock and a hard place after winning a poker bet. Rafferty has a family consisting of – of course – a drop-dead gorgeous wife, Rose, who used to work as a stripper (but never a prostitute!) and an adopted street child named Miaow (precocious, naturally).
Other characters include a girl working for "the man" begging for money on the streets of Bangkok, because her village was destroyed after a dam diverted water from it. The girl – named Da – is given a baby, because people will give more money to a girl with a kid. She eventually falls in with a group of street urchins led by Boo (also known as Superman, for reasons best understood by reading earlier books in the series).
Rafferty is, for lack of a better description, a man's man. As such, he likes to play poker, which is what he's doing when the story opens. Rafferty is winning big against a weighty (both physically and politically) and famously jealous-of-his-privacy opponent named Khun Pan. When Rafferty wins Pan's permission to write his biography, this seems like a major coup, at first.
However, Rafferty starts getting threats from mysterious sources who tell him not to write the book, on pain of death or perhaps worse to himself and his family. At the same time, Rafferty is pressured by other forces to write the book – a negative one – or else. (Or else what? Well, bad things. To himself, his family, etc.) Events spiral out of control as Rafferty is kidnapped, threatened, beaten and struggles to protect himself and his loved ones from both sides.
Part of what makes this book enjoyable is not only Timothy Hallinan's intimate knowledge of the place he's writing about and the way he makes Bangkok both a colorful backdrop and a character in the story, but his depiction of Rafferty, who's streetwise and funny – but not perfect. Watching Rafferty muddle his way through his "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation keeps one turning the pages to find out how he'll deal with the next problem.
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2 comments:
I was afraid to read your review very closely, Debbi, because you always point to such wonderful details and I am starting Tim's series at the beginning! But I'm glad you caught up with his latest--I find the whole Bangkok thing really fascinating and original--and I agree, like Lee Child, Tim writes a man's thriller (that somehow women love). How do they do that?
It immediately started me wondering--how will men feel about my book? Do I write suspense with a female slant?
Where does gender come in, if at all, where mysteries are concerned?
Regarding details in my reviews, I try to capture enough to give readers an idea of what the story's like without revealing spoilers. I hate when reviewers tell you too much and I sincerely hope to avoid doing that.
As to gender, I don't know that fiction written by women would necessarily be less appealing to men. I've had several men tell me they enjoyed my novel, IDENTITY CRISIS, even though it has a female protagonist.
I think a lot of it depends on your views on men and women, in general. If you tend to see them as being more alike than different (as I tend to), I think that attitude probably comes out in your writing and may make your book appealing to both sexes. But that's just me talking and what do I know? :)
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