In The Fourth Watcher: Poke RaffertyThriller #2 (Harper Collins,
2009, 324 pages, $7.99) author Timothy Hallinan takes the Bangkok
based travel writer, problem solver, family man, and seeker of
adrenaline rushes another step deeper into life in his chosen home of
Bangkok, while opening wider and wider cracks into the story of what
makes him tick. Again, Hallinan creates the steamy environment of
this tropical city, always on the verge of a tropical downpour and
super-saturated with an atmosphere just about ready to let loose. The
weather stands as a metaphor for the overheated political, social,
sexual environment of what can arguably be called the sex-tourism
capital of the world. It's an appropriate place for Poke to have
settled, as his metier is tourism from the seamy side. Poke is
practicing evasion tactics, trying to recognize and escape being
followed by a team, which his friend Arnold Prettyman, a retired spy,
has assembled to help train him. Thinking he has identified and
shaken the followers, Poke comes up against a beautiful Chinese woman
who shoots him in the face, with a dissolving pellet and disappears.
Poke has been
carrying a ring around in his pocket, struggling to work up enough
courage to ask, once again, for his lover and companion Rose to marry
him. Rose, an unspeakably and believably beautiful woman, has been
with Poke since he liberated, rescued, freed, you-name-it her from
her previous job as a nude dancer and prostitute in the sex district
of Bangkok. She now runs a domestic cleaning service with her friend
Pansy. Together they have adopted a Thai street child named Miaow, at
once fragile, resourceful, damaged, and brilliant. Rose has just
accepted Poke's proposal, when the police arrive at the door to
arrest her for distributing counterfeit Thai and U.S. currency, and
the story is on. Hallinan is one of the best in the business at
creating cliff hanger chapter endings, making it nearly impossible to
unwrap oneself from one of his books before reaching the end. The
ability to create and direct dramatic tension to just below the
unbearable point is a great skill, which Hallinan possesses in gobs.
Writing
a series of novels gives a writer an enlarged window in which to fill
in the details and nuances of the heroes back-story. In his Travis
McGee novels, John D. McDonald never really did this. Although there
were continuing characters and occasional references to incidents in
past books, McDonald made no real effort to disclose formative events
in McGee's life. I would say this was true with the Spenser novels of
Robert B. Parker, too. On the other hand, in James Lee Burke's Dave
Roubichaux stories, the character develops, ages, and changes through
the years. In The Fourth Watcher,
we meet Poke's father and his Chinese half sister, which reveals more
of the motivation for his disdain for his own background as well as
his need to gather, cherish, and grow a family composed of damaged
birds. This opportunity to look into the genesis of a character works
very well for me, as Poke becomes more complex and interesting.
In TheFourth Watcher Hallinan
introduces Frank, Poke's estranged father who had left Poke's mother
many years before to return to China, as well as a beautiful and
skilled half sister he never before knew existed. The plot revolves
around counterfeiting orchestrated by Korea and Frank's efforts to
escape the clutches of a vicious Chinese overlord. Meanwhile, the
domestic issues confronting Poke continue to develop, as does his
friendship and guarded partnership with the English educated, Thai
policeman, Arthit. All told this is an absorbing and hard-driving
thriller that, from time to time, forced me to set it aside to allow
my own excitement to be reduced. That's always a good signal for me.
Timothy Hallinan
Tim
Hallinan is one of the most accessible of writers. He lives an active
social media life on FaceBook
and can be contacted through that or through the contact
page on his web site. He responds to good questions with
thoughtful answers that truly contribute to a reader's sense of
contact with the characters in his books and with him. His web site
also contains a section called
Finish Your Novel, providing a wonderful resource for aspiring
writers about the writing process and how he's developed his own
skills. He's thoughtful, articulate, and generous in his approach to
mentoring other writers and sharing his own experience.
The Fourth Watcher:
Poke Rafferty Thriller #2 (
Harper Collins, 2009, 324 pages, $7.99) presents high tension and
adventure while advancing the experiences and character of the Poke
Rafferty character. I recommend it wholeheartedly to readers wishing
to fill in their experience with Poke. I also am finding it quite
gratifying to read through the stories chronologically, although
that's not necessary. I bought the book used through Thrift
Books, which I find to be a useful place to purchase print books
these days, when I don't want to pay Amazon prices. I recommend all
of Hallinan's books I've read so far and am looking forward to more.
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