BREATHING WATER, by Timothy Hallinan

3/series. Set in turbulent Bangkok, starring Poke Rafferty, this mesmerizing novel will have you pinned to your seat from the opening scene to the very satisfactory ending. Poke, in a card game that's really a sting he's helping the cops , finds himself pitted against Pan, one of Thailand's wealthiest nouveau riche. Poke wins the hand and the right to write Pan's biography. Which ought to be a blockbuster: rags to riches always conceals great crimes. Da, a young country girl, is forced to beg on the streets carrying an infant that's not hers. Click below for more...
Part of a wide organized criminally-controlled system, Da's too spirited to submit, and winds up locked in a closet awaiting a midnight visit of one of the thugs. Meanwhile, Poke has two gangs after him: those who want the bio written, and those who don't. Both threaten his wife Rose, and their adopted daughter Miaow. Rarely does an author actually put a character through a major trauma, but Hallinan does just that. Everyone in the book is in trouble, and everyone gets their just desserts, and that's as close to a spoiler as you'll ever get from me. This is GOOD STUFF. It's a 5, and you're guaranteed to become a Hallinan fan.

Find the author at www.timothyhallinan.com
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