Thai Diamond Books: Bangkok Affections

Monday, 26 March 2012

Bangkok Affections

Author : Parmelee, James Aaron
ISBN : 978616-2450471
Category : Books on Asia
Pages : 281
Price: $6.99

Description

A teacher fighting demons. . . Is there life after death? An American English teacher in Bangkok is intrigued by his school's Virgin Mary statues weeping tears of real blood seemingly over the abuse and trafficking of children. With diligence, perseverance and a bit of good luck, he achieves personal fame by stopping clerical pedophiles in their tracks around the world except for a couple of vicious demons he overlooked in his own school. . .
A wonderful, if truly frightening, novel about heinous crimes taking place in Bangkok. James Parmelee not only knows and understands the world of being a foreigner teaching in Thailand, but also has an incredibly gifted writing style that gets you turning the pages in a hurry to see what happens next.
***
“Now, don’t interrupt me, Jack!” the general warned. “There’s a lot more information I have to tell you during this reverse interrogation. You see, your cell would be only twelve meters by five meters in dimension, and for sleeping would be shared by about sixty other men, all snoring and breaking wind, and so on. That kind of space would not allow you, even if you were only my size, to as much as stretch your legs at night without kicking someone, which is not a very wise thing to do in prison, Jack! But, given your size, well, you can imagine your greater difficulty in just trying to get some sleep.
“Then early in the morning our guards would take you after a thorough body search to a long trough of putrid water, where along with hundreds of other prisoners you could have a bath if you had something to dip the water out with, provided there was still enough left by the time you reached the trough.
“For your breakfast, there would be only the very worst Thai food imaginable, which generally turns the stomachs of foreigners, some of them complaining that even the cats who eat it vomit, though I’m not sure if that’s true or not. Of course, prisoners who have money can buy proper food to eat there, which is okay for them.
“However, in your case, you would not have any money at all, would you?” The general leered.
“Of course, to keep you busy during the day, they might have you doing something useful like making paper bags, for instance, and doing that would earn you a monthly salary of about three dollars U.S. How would you feel about all this Jack?”
Jack trembled. “Disgusted, of course,” he responded.
“And I don’t blame you! So now let’s get back to the second scenario, where we let you keep all of your money, and give you an extra ten million baht besides. Of course, you would need to exit Thailand forever, and probably take up a new identity somewhere else. Could you accept that?”
“I would have no choice,” admitted Jack, but with little enthusiasm.
“And what would you do for us to earn that splendid privilege, Jack?”
***
“You want to use me for a sting, don’t you?”
“Ah, Jack!” shouted the general in delight. “I knew that you were a man of superior intelligence all along!”