
Bangkok 8
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $13.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
B.D. Wong
-
By:
-
John Burdett
About this listen
Electrifying, darkly comic, razor-edged - a thriller unlike any other.
Under a Bangkok bridge, inside a bolted-shut Mercedes: a murder by snake - a charismatic African-American Marine sergeant killed by a methamphetamine-stoked python and a swarm of stoned cobras.
Two cops - the only two in the city not on the take - arrive too late. Minutes later, only one is alive: Sonchai Jitpleecheep - a devout Buddhist, equally versed in the sacred and the profane - son of a long-gone Vietnam War G.I. and a Thai bar girl whose subsequent international clientele contributed richly to Sonchai’s sophistication.
Now, his partner dead, Sonchai is doubly compelled to find the murderer, to maneuver through the world he knows all to well - illicit drugs, prostitution, infinite corruption - and into a realm he has never before encountered: the moneyed underbelly of the city, where desire rules and the human body is no less custom-designable than a raw hunk of jade. And where Sonchai tracks the killer - and a predator of an even more sinister variety.
Thick with the authentic - and hallucinogenic - atmosphere of Bangkok, crowded with astonishing characters, uniquely smart and skeptical, literary and wildly readable, Bangkok 8 is one of a kind.
Please note: This is the abridged edition. An unabridged version is also available.
©2003 John Burdett; 2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Layover in Dubai
- A Novel
- By: Dan Fesperman
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Corporate auditor Sam Keller, careful to a fault, has decided to live it up for a change. And what better spot for business-class hedonism than the boomtown of Dubai, where resort islands materialize from open ocean, fortunes are made overnight, and skiers crisscross the snowy slopes of a shopping mall. But when a colleague is murdered during a night on the town, Sam soon finds himself waist-deep in a bewildering, lethal mix of mobsters, prostitutes, and crooked cops.
-
-
Dubai Dubai Doo
- By itinerant on 02-14-12
By: Dan Fesperman
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Thailand - Culture Smart!
- The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
- By: Roger Jones
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 2 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For many outsiders, Thailand still conjures up images of the East at its most mysterious and enchanting - a view largely formed by Hollywood films like The King and I. Never conquered by foreigners, this proud and ancient land has been shaped by Buddhism, the monarchy, and the military. Today, it is ranked among the tiger economies of Southeast Asia. It is a manufacturing powerhouse, the world’s largest rice exporter, and a tourist paradise that welcomes 22 million visitors a year to its beach resorts and its vibrant capital, Bangkok.
-
-
A good quick introduction
- By Marcy Colton on 11-03-23
By: Roger Jones
-
A Man with One of Those Faces
- By: Caimh McDonnell
- Narrated by: Morgan C. Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first time somebody tried to kill him was an accident. The second time was deliberate. Now Paul Mulchrone finds himself on the run with nobody to turn to except a nurse who has read one-too-many crime novels and a renegade copper with a penchant for violence. Together they must solve one of the most notorious crimes in Irish history. Or else they’ll be history.
-
-
Not easily pleased
- By Anna on 08-30-18
By: Caimh McDonnell
-
The Cold, Cold Ground
- Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1
- By: Adrian McKinty
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman’s suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things—and people—aren’t always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It’s no easy job—especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force.
-
-
Listen to this book. You won't be disappointed.
- By Christopher on 01-21-12
By: Adrian McKinty
-
The Rose Code
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything - beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses - but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.
-
-
My Favorite Book!!!
- By Jan M on 03-09-21
By: Kate Quinn
-
Layover in Dubai
- A Novel
- By: Dan Fesperman
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Corporate auditor Sam Keller, careful to a fault, has decided to live it up for a change. And what better spot for business-class hedonism than the boomtown of Dubai, where resort islands materialize from open ocean, fortunes are made overnight, and skiers crisscross the snowy slopes of a shopping mall. But when a colleague is murdered during a night on the town, Sam soon finds himself waist-deep in a bewildering, lethal mix of mobsters, prostitutes, and crooked cops.
-
-
Dubai Dubai Doo
- By itinerant on 02-14-12
By: Dan Fesperman
-
The Secret Hours
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service “to investigate historical over-reaching.” Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn.
-
-
Just about perfect
- By June Lapidow on 09-28-23
By: Mick Herron
-
Thailand - Culture Smart!
- The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
- By: Roger Jones
- Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
- Length: 2 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For many outsiders, Thailand still conjures up images of the East at its most mysterious and enchanting - a view largely formed by Hollywood films like The King and I. Never conquered by foreigners, this proud and ancient land has been shaped by Buddhism, the monarchy, and the military. Today, it is ranked among the tiger economies of Southeast Asia. It is a manufacturing powerhouse, the world’s largest rice exporter, and a tourist paradise that welcomes 22 million visitors a year to its beach resorts and its vibrant capital, Bangkok.
-
-
A good quick introduction
- By Marcy Colton on 11-03-23
By: Roger Jones
-
A Man with One of Those Faces
- By: Caimh McDonnell
- Narrated by: Morgan C. Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first time somebody tried to kill him was an accident. The second time was deliberate. Now Paul Mulchrone finds himself on the run with nobody to turn to except a nurse who has read one-too-many crime novels and a renegade copper with a penchant for violence. Together they must solve one of the most notorious crimes in Irish history. Or else they’ll be history.
-
-
Not easily pleased
- By Anna on 08-30-18
By: Caimh McDonnell
-
The Cold, Cold Ground
- Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1
- By: Adrian McKinty
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman’s suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things—and people—aren’t always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It’s no easy job—especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force.
-
-
Listen to this book. You won't be disappointed.
- By Christopher on 01-21-12
By: Adrian McKinty
-
The Rose Code
- A Novel
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything - beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses - but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.
-
-
My Favorite Book!!!
- By Jan M on 03-09-21
By: Kate Quinn
-
The Black Dahlia
- By: James Ellroy
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 15, 1947, the tortured body of a beautiful young woman was found in a vacant lot in Hollywood. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, a young Hollywood hopeful, had been brutally murdered. Her murder sparked one of the greatest manhunts in California history.
-
-
Great naration
- By Grasshopper.Craig on 09-10-06
By: James Ellroy
-
The Final Game
- By: Caimh McDonnell
- Narrated by: Morgan C Jones
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothy Graham is dead, which is inconvenient, not least for her. Luckily, she has planned for this eventuality. Now, if any of the truly dreadful people she is related to want to get their hands on her money, they’re going to have to do so via a fiendish difficult and frankly bizarre competition of Dorothy’s devising. After all, just because you’re dead, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a last laugh at the expense of people who made your life miserable.
-
-
Fun and likable, but not stranger times.
- By Dr. S. Ziesmann on 10-26-23
By: Caimh McDonnell
-
The Beach
- By: Alex Garland
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Khao San Road, Bangkok—first stop for the hordes of rootless young Westerners traveling in Southeast Asia. On Richard's first night there, in a low-budget guest house, a fellow traveler slashes his wrists, bequeathing to Richard a meticulously drawn map to "the Beach." The Beach, as Richard has come to learn, is the subject of a legend among young travelers in Asia: a lagoon hidden from the sea, with white sand and coral gardens, freshwater falls surrounded by jungle, plants untouched for a thousand years.
-
-
please learn the names in Thai
- By Anonymous User on 08-23-24
By: Alex Garland
-
A Nail Through The Heart
- A Poke Rafferty Thriller
- By: Timothy Hallinan
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poke Rafferty was writing offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored when Bangkok stole his heart. Now the American expat is assembling a new family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry, and Miaow, the tiny, streetwise urchin he wants to adopt. But trouble in the guise of good intentions comes calling just when everything is beginning to work out.
-
-
Ever been to Bangkok?
- By Richard Delman on 12-11-11
By: Timothy Hallinan
-
One Good Deed
- By: David Baldacci
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1949. When war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole with a short list of dos and a much longer list of don'ts: do report regularly to his parole officer, don't go to bars, certainly don't drink alcohol, do get a job - and don't ever associate with loose women. The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail.
-
-
Superior Historical Crime novel!!
- By shelley on 07-24-19
By: David Baldacci
-
The Dispatcher
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Zachary Quinto
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zachary Quinto - best known for his role as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer, Sylar, in Heroes - brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this audio-exclusive novella from master storyteller John Scalzi. One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know.
-
-
IT'S HARD TO GET MYSTICAL ABOUT YOUR JOB
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-05-16
By: John Scalzi
-
Killed at the Whim of a Hat
- By: Colin Cotterill
- Narrated by: Jeany Park
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jimm Juree was a crime reporter for the Chiang Mai Daily Mail with a somewhat eccentric family. When she is forced to follow her family to a rural village on the coast of Southern Thailand, she’s convinced her career—maybe her life—is over. So when a van containing the skeletal remains of two hippies is inexplicably unearthed in a local farmer’s field, Jimm is thrilled. Shortly thereafter an abbot at a local Buddhist temple is viciously murdered.
-
-
delighted...
- By Bobbie on 08-23-11
By: Colin Cotterill
-
The Searcher
- A Novel
- By: Tana French
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After 25 years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.
-
-
WONDERFULLY DREARY IRISH ATMOSPHERE & STORY
- By McSusie on 10-06-20
By: Tana French
-
The Alienist
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.
-
-
Outstanding on several levels.
- By lyl on 12-30-12
By: Caleb Carr
-
Disaster Inc
- McGarry Stateside
- By: Caimh McDonnell
- Narrated by: Morgan C Jones
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All Bunny McGarry wants is a spot of breakfast and a decent cup of tea. So imagine how annoyed he gets when two masked men attempt to rob the New York diner he is in. Unfortunately, dealing with that problem just leads to a whole lot more. One of the diner’s other customers isn’t who she appears to be, and the odds aren’t great that she is going to live to see another breakfast.
-
-
All you want and more
- By Petra on 01-04-20
By: Caimh McDonnell
-
Mycroft Holmes
- By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Anna Waterhouse
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"When I say, therefore, that [my brother] has better powers of observation than I...I am speaking the exact and literal truth." (Sherlock Holmes). This story occurs when Mycroft, an athletic Cambridge graduate, assists the secretary of State. He becomes embroiled in a mystery in Trinidad based on actual history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a huge Holmesian, seven-foot-two tall, basketball's all-time leading scorer, and a US cultural ambassador. Anna Waterhouse is a professional screenwriter and script consultant.
-
-
Finally a good Mycroft story!
- By Sherlock Fan on 09-28-15
By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and others
-
The Whole Art of Detection
- Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
- By: Lyndsay Faye
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Internationally best-selling author Lyndsay Faye became enamored with tales of Sherlock Holmes and his esteemed biographer, Dr. John Watson, as a child and later began spinning these quintessential characters into her own works of fiction - from her acclaimed debut novel, Dust and Shadow, which pitted the famous detective against Jack the Ripper, to a series of short stories for the Strand Magazine, whose predecessor published the very first Sherlock Holmes short story in 1891.
-
-
Marvelous!
- By Gentleman Gamer on 05-16-17
By: Lyndsay Faye
Critic reviews
"A stunning thriller! Bangkok 8 is suspense at its best: a masterfully written tale set in a world that's perfectly evoked and populated with compelling, flesh-and-blood characters." (Jeffery Deaver, author of The Vanished Man and The Stone Monkey)
"Bangkok 8 is one of the most startling and provocative mysteries that I've read in years. The characters are marvelously unique, the setting is intoxicating and the plot unwinds in dark illusory strands, reminiscent of Gorky Park. Once I started, I didn't want to put it down." (Carl Hiaasen)
“The wildest ride in modern crime novel exoticum. A novel so steeped in milieu that it feels as if you’ve blasted to mars in the grip of a demon who won’t let you go. Read this book, savor the language - it’s the last and the most compelling word in thrillers.” (James Ellroy)
Up Country meets Raymond Chandler
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Bangkok 8 worth the listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unfortunately abridged
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
OK story, interesting setting
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good narrator, good story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
But Burdett does it so *well*. Unlike Burdett's later Bangkok novels, Bangkok 8 is a perfect mix of noir, politics, and gallows humor. For all his Western sensibilities, Burdett describes Thailand with a lover's empathy. It is impossible for an American reader to distinguish his fiction from the Thai reality. He writes with seeming authority about clubs, bar-girls, poisonous snakes, machine guns, Khmer guerillas, cosmetic surgery and the jade trade. Given the black market nature of modern Bangkok, learning these things is no small task, and it's no wonder that Burdett lived a previous life (no pun intended) as an attorney in Hong Kong. The man knows how to research, and he knows how to build a credible world.
What's more, Burdett is a master of dialect, and this is where narrator B.D. Wong excels. He imitates Texan, African-American and Southeast Asian accents, but they are sophisticated vocalizations. His characters are rich and unselfconscious. East Asian and African-American dialects are sensitive topics; they have been parroted and parodied so nastily over the years, both in propaganda and minstrel shows, that it takes a certain level of courage to master and record them. B.D. Wong excels. Meanwhile, he plays Jitpleecheep with a even frankness. His dialogue *sounds* hardboiled and Buddhist at the same time, a balance so delicate that I wonder whether Wong would consider playing Jitpleecheep in a movie.
Finally, Bangkok 8 is a brilliant story, a dark exploration of Bangkok's underbelly, yet a dry celebration of its survivors. Burdett offers plot-twists like narrative booby-traps, and he reveals them with aplomb. Compared with Burdett's later novels, Bangkok 8 is dark and pure; the characters are less overrun by magic or satire. Every snatch of dialogue makes sense and fits together, and when the denouement arrives, it's bittersweet and beautiful. If Burdett ever becomes a household name -- as he deserves -- I won't be surprised when he's compared to Stieg Larsson. The man walks a fine line between sociopathy and heart. Larsson was extremely critical of his native Sweden. Burdett is critical of the West, but he uses the lens of the East. This lens catches light, and, slowly, it burns.
One Mind-Blowing Roman Noir
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazingly this crazy combination of personalities, and international political mysteries works extremely well. I have read every book in the series and found each one to be wonderfully written. I have learned a lot about the underbelly of society and people who are amazingly good from these books. I also have learned a lot about Thai culture and I am planning a visit in the near future.
If you are looking for something new, something this 50 ish man has never read before, take a chance. If you don't like it AUDIBLE will give you your credit back. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE and a lot to learn.
This material is best for mature readers.
Enjoy.
So Outside of My Comfort Zone, I LOVE IT
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A dark mystery in an authentic Thai voice.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Teriffic mystery in the City of Angels
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.