While its predecessors in this delightful series set in Thailand focused on all the trouble in which Poke Rafferty could find himself, this novel is exclusively the property of his wife, Rose. As readers of the previous entries have learned, Rose was a bar girl (i.e., dancer and prostitute) before meeting and marrying Poke. And as most know, that is a dangerous profession.
While the domestic side of the novel includes Poke’s participation in a school production of “The Tempest,” in which his adopted daughter, Miaow, stars as Ariel, the dangerous aspect of the plot arises from Rose’s past. This gives the author the opportunity to accomplish two objectives. First, of course, is to show the miserable lives and inherent dangers of the life of a bar girl. Second is to force Poke to really face Rose’s past and come to grips with its meanness and horrors.
The recounting of Rose’s life is poignant and sensitive, and the various characters in her life are skillfully drawn. Descriptions of Patpong Street and Bangkok and the strip joints and bars are graphic. The suspense builds and builds.
Recommended.
