Timothy Hallinan Boeken

Eight years ago, Poke Rafferty, an American travel writer, and his Thai wife, Rose, adopted a Bangkok street child named Miaow, forming an unconventional intercultural family. That family has weathered extreme challenges—each of its three members carried the scars of a painful and dangerous history—but has stuck together with tenacity and love (and a little help from some friends). Now that family is in jeopardy: the birth of Poke and Rose’s newborn son has littered their small apartment with emotional land mines, forcing Poke to question his identity as a dad and Miaow to question her identity as a daughter. At the same time, the most cantankerous member of the small gang of Old Bangkok Hands who hang out at the Expat Bar suddenly goes missing under suspicious circumstances. Engaged in the search for the missing American, Poke is caught completely off-guard when someone he thought was gone forever resurfaces—and she has the power to tear the Raffertys apart.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Bangkok, Poke Rafferty's settling down is disrupted by the unexpected return of his estranged father, Frank, who brings chaos with him. Accompanied by a box of rubies and pursued by a dangerous gangster, Frank's arrival triggers a series of threats, including a rogue Secret Service agent targeting Poke's fiancée, Rose. As danger looms from all sides, Poke must rely on his resourcefulness to protect his newfound family and confront the shadows of his past.

"Four of Dressler's old gangster colleagues have put together a national tour of once-popular rock bands they own a piece of: three nights of concerts by guys (and a few gals) who were big shots back in the 1960s and 1970s, and who are now hoping for one more gasp of glory with this nostalgia exhibition. The Rock of Ages tour has proved itself to be anything but a love fest: plenty of the bandmates have been feuding for forty years, and-perhaps unsurprisingly-drugs and bad behavior have created health, wellness, and legal problems for the musicians and managers. Plus there have been two near-fatal accidents that might have been attempted murders. But they're not what Irwin Dressler is concerned about. It's that someone-one of his own colleagues-is using the tour as a front to steal Dressler's money. And that simply cannot be allowed. Now the tour has pulled into LA, and Junior has one weekend to figure out who's to blame-a weekend that begins with his tires being slashed, threatening notes left on his car, and a theatrical backdrop falling on a drummer during the truly terrible first set of the first concert. To make things worse, Junior is saddled for the weekend with his teenage daughter, Rina, who lately has been much, much too interested in how her father earns his living. Can Junior recover Dressler's money, prevent a murder, talk his daughter out of pursuing a life of crime, and somehow survive all that bad music?"-- Provided by publisher

Bangkok, třpytivé město duchů. Autor cestopisů Poke Rafferty se tam umí dostat do malérů. Umí to tak dobře, že se živí psaním průvodců pro mladé a nevyléčitelně znuděné cestovatele, kteří jsou posedlí vyhledáváním neobvyklých zážitků: Jenomže potom se zamiluje do Rose, tanečnice v jednom z místních vyhlášených barů, a zatouží žít jinak. Ujme se osmileté dívenky z ulice a rád by se probil džunglí thajských předpisů, aby ji do své nově budované rodiny mohl adoptovat. Dobré úmysly ale na sebe začnou nabalovat nebezpečné problémy a stahovat ho na temnou, neznámou půdu. Rafferty zjišťuje, že někteří lidé přechovávají děsivá tajemství, která jim na obličeji nejsou vždy vidět - a že on po celou dobu v Bangkoku jen klouzal po povrchu kultury, jíž vlastně vůbec nerozumí.

Poke Rafferty, americký autor cestopisů usazený v Bangkoku, už nechce vyhledávat další maléry v exotickém prostředí, aby měl o čem psát. Teď, kdy má poprvé v životě šanci vybudovat něco, co sám pořádně nepoznal - vlastní rodinu -, je dokonce ochoten vzdát se plánů na novou knihu s názvem Žít, jak se nemá a začít existovat jinak, méně nebezpečně. Jenže tak jako se špatně vystupuje z rozjetého rychlíku, je obtížné uniknout přízrakům minulosti. Ve stejnou dobu, kdy se ve městě objeví někdo, koho by tam Rafferty čekal ze všech nejmíň, obtěžkán bedýnkou s krvavými kambodžskými rubíny, najdou se v kanceláři jeho přítelkyně Rose igelitky plné falešných bankovek. Jenže smůla nechodí o samotě, a tak se rozjíždí spirála událostí, na jejímž konci bude Rafferty muset pečlivě volit, jak moc hrát vabank, aby neohrozil své blízké. Nebo spíš - aby je ještě někdy viděl živé.