New Book Alert: The Monsoon Ghost Image (Detective Maier Mysteries Book 3) by Tom Vater; Detective Maier Returns In Vater's Best Mystery Thriller Yet

 

New Book Alert: The Monsoon Ghost Image (Detective Maier Mysteries Book 3) by Tom Vater; Detective Maier Returns In Vater's Best Mystery Thriller Yet

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Once again Tom Vater is available to give his Readers a guided tour of the world's most dangerous and least scenic spots. After India and Cambodia, this time the author sets his sights on Thailand, mostly Bangkok a city known for its active nightlife and sex trade. 

In what is probably his best work yet, Vater provides an effective merge of setting and character to quite possibly end his Detective Maier Mystery series with The Monsoon Ghost Image.

This book is much better than the previous book, Cambodian Book of The Dead which was very descriptive in setting but lost something in the plot. Dare I say it, I even liked it better than last year's Kalkota Noir which combined Kalkota's setting with tributes to drawing room mysteries, noir literature, and science fiction. The Monsoon Ghost Image has a mesmerizing setting and believable characters inside a plot that is not only well executed with suspense and tension but pushes those characters beyond their endurance.

In this third go round in the adventures of Detective Maier, things have changed considerably. Maier seems to have recovered from the events in The Cambodian Book of The Dead (which I read) only to be left traumatized by the events in The Man with The Golden Mind (which I have not.) In his last mystery set mostly in Laos, Maier slept with his stepsister, was nearly killed by his father, and lost a couple of fingers in a Vietnamese prison camp ambush. On the plus side, he befriended Mikhail, a large Russian man who serves as Maier's bodyguard and sidekick. Well he no sooner is getting some much deserved rest in which he should consider never leaving the house let alone accepting any job that takes him out of the country, then what does his boss want him to do? Accept another job that takes him out of the country.

Emilie Ritter, a former girlfriend of Maier's, reported that her photographer husband, Martin, is missing and presumed dead. Even though his funeral is in Hamburg, Emilie is convinced that Martin is still alive and that he is on the run. She sees sinister unknown figures that seem to scream government ops. Not only that but she receives a letter from someone dubbed "The Wicked WItch of the East." The letter informs her that Martin is alive and well in Bangkok and is "involved in the crime of the century." All of this implies that Martin got involved or uncovered something dangerous and with far reaching implications. It seems to involve a photograph of various prominent individuals. So off Maier and Mikhail go to Bangkok with two sinister agents following close behind.

Vater's gift for setting is definitely at play and is even heightened more in this book than any of his previous works. With Kalkota Noir and The Cambodian Book of the Dead, Vater combined real setting with a sense of unreality. The Cambodian Book of the Dead mixed the reality of a country still living with the scars of the Khmer Rouge dictatorship and the supernatural of traditional ghost stories to create a comparison of disruptions in the physical and spiritual worlds of Cambodia. Kolkata Noir borrowed heavily from various genres like film noir and science fiction to create a three part mystery that reads like a Hollywood film, set in India.

What is particularly sinister about The Monsoon Ghost Image is aside from tropes that could be found in murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, and political suspense novels, there is no sense of fantasy. The setting is very real and somehow made even more dangerous. Some of the more horror elements are a bit over the top, such as the appearance of a surgeon who specializes in torturing people for financial rewards, political gain, and for his self pleasure. However, in this context and as we know in our history books and the news, there were and still are people who are that sadistic and brutal. 

We see the sex trade industry but not as some enticing glittery thing where people can go abroad to fill their deepest desires. Instead, it is seen as something dark and depraved, showing the people who get involved in it were drawn by needing money, feeling devoid of any self worth or validation, or believing the empty promises that sinister adults gave them. They have since grown into hardened individuals who survive this harsh uncaring existence the only way that they can. They do anything for money and inflict the same pain that was given to them, continuing an endless cycle of abuse and human trafficking.

Maier goes through a lot of development and mental stress in this book, surprisingly even more so than in the previous books where his struggles were more personal. Without spoiling too much there are several points where Maier is left alone without contacts, allies, and with multiple enemies after him. Just like many of the victims that he encounters and tries to protect and find justice for, he realizes that he is likely to die because of others' schemes and manipulations. 

In fact it becomes clear that Maier, The Ritters, Mikhail and many other characters are manipulated by outside higher forces. These forces don't care who they are or who has to be hurt or killed. Maier is just simply another person for these forces to step on and remove, no more important to them than a small insect.

There are various chapters in which Maier is held captive. It's very rare in a mystery novel when the detective is left in such a vulnerable position where they are imprisoned during their investigation and subjected to physical and psychological torture for a long time, for a period of months it seems. Considering the physical and mental abuse inflicted on him in the last couple of books, Maier's experience in Thailand during his imprisonment and the realization of him being manipulated could be the final push to send him completely over from the justice seeking law abiding citizen to the tortured empty lawless. The protective light that Maier shines over the innocent could dim forever and never return. 

This may be the final book in The Detective Maier Mystery Series. If it is, Vater definitely saved the best for last.

New Book Alert: The Cambodian Book of The Dead by Tom Vater; Strong Attention To Setting Is Highlight of Strange and Confusing Mystery

 

New Book Alert: The Cambodian Book of The Dead by Tom Vater; Strong Attention To Setting Is Highlight of Strange and Confusing Mystery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Tom Vater certainly has a strong feel for setting. The setting is often the highlight of his mystery novels. His previous work, Kolkata Noir, involved two detectives solving murders over a period of 40 years from 1999-2039. During that time, Vater looks into the income inequalities, racism, religious divides, colonialist history, and environmentalist concerns that affect Kolkata's past, present, and future.

In his latest novel, Vater turns his attention to Cambodia. He writes of a country of great beauty and mystery, but is still suffering from the visible scars of its violent past under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. The dictatorship led to genocide, imprisonment, and exile of many immigrants away from their country never to return.

Vater's book, Cambodian Book of The Dead begins in 1997 when the war between the Khmer Rouge and Cambodian army has been going on for over 20 years. Everyone drinks quietly and says little, afraid to let their guards down and give the Khmers any reason to attack or arrest them.

One of the people who lives there during this tumultuous time is Maier, a German emigre. Maier was a journalist who arrived in Cambodia on assignment but became deeply involved in the local situation, particularly befriending a local man named Horst and beginning a relationship with Horst's sister, Carissa. Unfortunately, Maier's time in Cambodia ends in explosions aiming for the journalist. Khmer Rouge doesn't like foreigners or journalists and since Maier fits both criteria, he knows that he's on their hit list. Time to go.

Years later, Maier settled in Hamburg as a private detective. He has achieved a modicum of success and some semblance of peace as long as he doesn't think about those days in Cambodia. Unfortunately, those days are coming back when a wealthy woman, Mrs. Muller-Overbeck hires Maier to look for her wayward son, Rolf. Guess what country he was last seen in? Of course, where else?

So off Maier goes to revisit Cambodia, a country who has not recovered from the tyranny of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and is prone to violence, paranoid suspicion, and human trafficking.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the book is how Cambodia is portrayed. It is a beautiful country with lush greenery and ancient temples but it is clearly forever marked by its recent past of the last 45 years. Though Pol Pot is long gone, the influence of him and the Khmer Rouge still remains. Khmers still stalk the streets of Phnom Penh still beholden to a long gone cause and ready to commit violence to prove that their cause was just. Many still carry the old prejudices and mistrust that they once held as Maier realizes when he tries to talk to Khmers and find them no more receptive than they were years ago when they were the top army.

Even though the dictator is long gone, Cambodia's position has not improved. It is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. The book reveals that corruption is rampant, and the drug trade and human trafficking are ever present.

There are two passages that explore the current situation depicted in Vater's writing and it is dour. One is at a club where Maier tried to ascertain information in the typical hard-boiled detective manner. The club is filled with frequent drug addiction and a general hopelessness probably from years of fighting that has now become exhaustion and despair. The only ones who seem to be having a good time are the crime lords, those who are profiting off of other's misery and take a sadistic delight out of it.

One of the most haunting passages occurs when Maier visits the remains of a factory. Ancient superstitious fear is revealed as Maier catches images of what could be a ghost. In a nighttime setting where abuse and violence occurred, supernatural hauntings are not out of the realm of possibility. Then Maier discovered what goes on inside the factory is a horror of the human variety.

The setting of The Cambodian Book of The Dead is so intricate describing its history and current struggles that plot concerns can be almost forgiven. Almost.

The resolution is hard to follow and it's sometimes difficult what role they play in the overall mystery. Some characters who are likely suspects serve as obvious red herrings and some plot points are irritatingly left dangling. It seems that Vater was more interested in capturing Cambodia rather than a mystery set in it. He might have done just as well as leaving the mystery out of it and wrote a historical fiction about life in Cambodia told from an expatriate before and after the Khmer Rouge.

The Cambodian Book of The Dead's setting is memorable. It's too bad the mystery doesn't live up to it and is forgettable.

New Book Alert: Kalkota Noir by Tom Vater; Mystery Noir Peers Into Kalkota's Past, Present, and Future

 

New Book Alert: Kalkota Noir by Tom Vater; Mystery Noir Peers Into Kalkota's Past, Present, and Future

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Tom Vater's Kolkata Noir is a tribute to the city of Kolkata told in the style of a murder mystery noir novel. It's a three part structure in which two detectives, Madhurima Mitra and Becker, solve mysteries in the West Bengal capital over the course of forty years. Each mystery shows how Kolkata changes over the course of four decades. 

The first part "1999-Calcutta" is a murder mystery that could take place in an episode of an English cozy mystery. Richard Dunlop, an English expatriate, turns up missing and a Calcutta businessman, Abir Roychowdhury is reported murdered. Mitra and Becker interview potential suspects including Abir's widow, Paulami and brother, Kishore, and chase various leads that take them right into the homes of Kalkota's elite to get to the bottom of this case. 

The resolution of the mystery is pretty obvious but the characterization and milieu stand out in this section. Mitra in particular is an admirable lead protagonist. She is a bright ambitious young woman wanting to get ahead in a male dominated field in a country still set in a patriarchal society. She also has a family legacy to live up to: She is the niece of Feluda, the Bengali detective star of the novels by director/author, Satiyajat Ray. His reputation is legendary and Mitra wants to make her mark for her own benefit as well as fill his very large shoes. (Feluda's character is so prominent in Indian literature that it would be the equivalent of a young British detective trying to carry on the legacy of their Uncle Sherlock Holmes or Aunt Jane Marple.)

This section also reveals an India that even though it has been an independent nation since 1947, still holds onto the English class system and caste system from the Hindu religion. This part is an intended pastiche to the English drawing room mystery as a reminder of those days. Mitra and Becker visit the homes and interrogate Kalkota's wealthiest citizens who live in a separate isolated world from the people below them. There are still barely concealed hostilities between the English and Indian populations but mostly it's depicted with racist remarks and an entitled nature that claims dominance over others. The poorer areas are hidden away in the margins as though they live in a place far away and remote from the palatial mansions and marital troubles of the Roychowdhuries and the people around them.

The second part, "Kolkata-2019" takes place in those margins that were left behind by the elite of Part One. Becker is called back to India because an Englishman wants him to go to Kalkota to retrieve his wayward sons, Aubrey and Magnus Bilham-Rolls and bring them home. Aubrey and Magnus are not exactly receptive to the idea. The brothers have a sweet scam going on in which Aubrey assumes the role of Farangi Baba, a guru who claims to have a direct pipeline to Nirvana. Magnus handles the promotion and money while Aubrey wins over the crowd and reveals his version of the secrets of the universe, particularly where Mother Theresa hid her money. This particular story catches the attention of an impoverished public, several nationalistic groups, and violent people who would like to do away with the brothers and take the money for themselves.

Instead of the wealth experienced by the characters in Part One, Part Two shows the crippling poverty experienced in the poorer sections of Kalkota. The community is riddled with unemployment, homelessness, addiction, and various people who are without any sort of hope. It's no wonder that Aubrey and Magnus can so easily sway a crowd that is desperate for a miracle and need something to relieve their hard troubled existence. We also get a sense of people driven to violence and hatred directed at the various immigrants. They have been pushed around by the people on top and now they are pushing back violently if need be.

We also see how the years have changed Mitra and Becker. The two were briefly partnered but shared a mutual affection for each other. Now twenty years later, both have found professional success, Becker as a detective settled in England but acting as a liasion to India and Mitra has successfully climbed the ranks and became known as well as her uncle. Their personal lives are also marked by their previous case. Becker never married (except to his job) because he never forgot his beautiful and strong willed partner. Mitra however is married with an adult daughter but still carries a torch for her once partner. Their resumed romance adds on to the crime caper aspects experienced by the Billham-Rills Brothers in Part Two.

"Part Three: Killkata-2039" is the most influenced by the noir genre. It has a plot similar to a 1940's film but has a near futuristic science fiction setting  surrounding it. Becker receives a call from Davi, Mitra's daughter that her mother needs to leave Kolkata which is now largely underwater thanks to climate change caused flooding. Not only that but her father, Mitra's husband is missing. As a Muslim, he has been the target of several hate crimes and may have been kidnapped by an Anti-Muslim religious sect.

The Killkata setting shown in Part Three is one that has fallen into ruin. The city is ruined by environmental catastrophe. Besides the flooding, decades of chemical poisoning and radiation from war have taken their toll on the people. Those that haven't died from the poison have ended up with physical and psychological abnormalities such as a family of orphaned siblings that includes one sister with a large amount of testosterone that gives her a full beard and a hermaphrodite sibling. Racism has taken over as Anti-Muslim laws have prevented Muslims from finding employment and many ethnic groups are murdered in the streets. The wealthy have already abandoned the city leaving behind those who are too poor, too sick, or too protective of those that remain to leave.

While the setting is dystopian future, Mitra and Becker's romance and their plot is old Hollywood at its finest. There are dark shadowy figures who could be informants or assassins. There is a world weariness and cynicism as the detectives journey through the mean streets looking for any leads or suspects. This cynicism is played into their romance as the duo are no longer the young idealists that they once were. They have been hardened by the dark times and their profession. Justice is a faint memory and they no longer see the world as us vs. them black vs. white morality. Instead it's a gray world of mere survival. 

However, the duo still retain their selflessness and dedication to others as they prove in an ending clearly reminiscent of Casablanca. One of the pair leaves Kalkota forever while the other remains and continues to fight for the new surrogate family that they have formed.

With its engaging couple and detailed setting, Kalkota Noir is a brilliant mystery that exposes India's past, present, and future.