This is a superbly written novel and a great read. If you are looking for a good healthy dose of crime with no grisly details withheld, look no further.
If you are familiar with Jo Nesbø or Michael Connelly, you will find the same expert craftsmanship and complex plot twists here.
Living as he does in Singapore, Jake Needham is well suited to provide a good location for the story which takes place in Singapore and Bangkok. You can feel the heat and humidity of Asia rising from the pages as he describes the architecture, people and culture of Singapore and Thailand. The story starts off with the discovery of a woman’s body on a bed in an empty suite in the Marriott Hotel. The second body is discovered in Bangkok, in a seedy apartment close to the American embassy. Both are American women and both have been beaten viciously and shot in the head, their bodies stripped naked and crudely displayed. Yet no one is really sure who or what is behind the killings whether it is international terrorism or the work of a serial killer. Inspector Samuel Tay of Singapore CID is the person assigned to the case because he is the best but Tay soon finds himself in a case that nobody seems to want him to solve , not even his superiors!
This novel is fast paced, engaging and an enjoyable read. I did find the main character a bit on the dull side sometimes. He seems to be such an intensely split character, so apparently cheerless and drab on one side and yet a woman magnet, wealthy and loved by everyone on the other. But enjoyable is the key word here and this book delivers loads of it.
4 and a half stars out of 5
Reviewed by Roger Gerald Scott, award winning published author, also published on http://rogerrgeraldscott.blogspot.no/
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Sales links to the Kindle editions of all of Jake’s books:
THE UMBRELLA MAN
THE AMBASSADOR’S WIFE
A WORLD OF TROUBLE
KILLING PLATO
LAUNDRY MAN
THE BIG MANGO
