Salty Sweet

I will admit I've slacked on the blogger scene lately.

My brain has been preoccupied with another writing project and when I finally wrap up at the end of the day, my eyeballs are dry and tired from excessive screen time.

I've chosen reading over blogging to give my eyes a rest. And besides, the book I was reading offered me total escape. Authored by Mark Haskell Smith, it was called Salty.

Salty, hot and sweaty it was. It took place in Thailand, alternating settings between a tourist beach on Phuket, a mangrove swamp not too far away, and the raunchy streets of Bangkok. It was a tale of kidnappings, ransoms, rock stars and supermodels.

It would have been a great beach read, but it was also perfect as my mid-winter-blahs release.

It reminded me of three other books I've read -- the Bangkok 8 series by John Burdett.

Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo and Bangkok Haunts are books I can only describe as racy, sexy, thrilling and definitely NOT for the faint-of-heart reader.

In them, Sonchai Jitpleecheep (the only non-corrupt detective in all of Bangkok's police force) solves the graphic murders of foreigners that inevitably involve the seedy underbelly of Thailand -- drugs, prostitution, terrorism, etc.

I'm not a die-hard mystery reader, nor am I big on series, so I'm surprised I rush for Burdett's titles when I see a new one has been released. Given the most recent is still out in hardcover, I guess I'll have a while before the fourth one hits my nightstand.