A card game in Thailand goes awry. A foolish bet becomes all too real. Our hero is asked to write a book about one of the most powerful men in Thailand. One group doesn’t want the book written and threatens the lives of the writer and his family. A different group wants the book written, their way, and also threatens the lives of the writer and his family.
Both groups control immense power and wealth and control their own destinies, so this really can’t be all about a book, can it? Whatever it’s about, the lives of three people are at stake, and our hero doesn’t know how to win this particular game. Written in the present tense, Timothy Hallinan’s BREATHING WATER is a blood-pumping thriller in the Hitchcockian vein, with the protagonist unknowingly trapped in a series of sinister plots and facing almost impossible odds.
While it’s a great read, some things don’t jell. The card game gets violent too quickly; the display of wealth of the man who is to be the subject of the book is improbable; the corruption level of Thai police and businessmen seems overdone; and the alternating cockiness and foolhardiness of our protagonist makes him either too clever or too much of a dunce.
But if you don’t think about it and read BREATHING WATER for the exciting crime novel that it is, there is quite a lot to enjoy. Hallinan writes very naturally of family and having a young daughter, and his appreciation of Thai culture is infectious. There’s always something happening, as the story bounces from our endangered writer to a harried Thai policeman, to a beggar girl trying to save a child who is not her own. He does a great job with action scenes and realistic dialogue.
If you’re intrigued by the Thai setting, and ready for an adventurous mystery with an everyman hero, this one should be worth your while. —Mark Rose
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART by Timothy Hallinan
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