pauldaly's review against another edition
3.0
Much as I like Hallinan’s other characters, burglar Junior Bender in one series and private eye Simeon Grist in the other, I just can’t seem to warm to his main man, writer Poke Rafferty. Or maybe it’s the awfulness of the Bangkok setting, an unreleaved urban jungle with its constant supply of poor women and abandoned feral kids to feed the male adult predators. An honest depiction I’m sure and probably no fiction can match the awfulness of the real city, a place I don’t want to spent much time, whether in the real world or this one.
sceadugenga's review against another edition
4.0
Yes, a good read.
One thing bothered me, Boo and Poke are friends again, Did I miss something in The Fourth Watcher?
The split in Book one was pretty serious and their reunion seems to be a bit casual.
One thing bothered me, Boo and Poke are friends again, Did I miss something in The Fourth Watcher?
The split in Book one was pretty serious and their reunion seems to be a bit casual.
eakre's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
vkemp's review
5.0
Poke Rafferty is back. Poke and his friend, Arthit, an honest Bangkok cop, are involved in a poker game, trying to catch some criminals. Poke wins the opportunity to write the biography of Pan, a local hero who wants to run for political office, but has some skeletons in his closet that need cleaning. Poke is beset on two sides: one wants to keep him from writing the biography for fear of what it will expose about crime in Bangkok and another who demands he write the book to demonstrate that Pan is not all his mythology says he is. Poke, his wife, Rose and adopted daughter, Miaow, are the targets of several kidnapping and assassination attempts. Meanwhile, Boo, a street urchin from a previous book is back with Da and her baby, Peep, who are trying to escape the clutches of a baby-selling scheme run by another gangster in Bangkok. The excitement is non-stop.
I really enjoy the adventures of Poke Rafferty, knight in rusty armor. He always tries to do the right thing for everyone, especially his friends and family. I waited a while to read this because the next book in the series is due out shortly. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to make sense of the current political uproar in Thailand. It will give you a good understanding of what is happening and why.
I really enjoy the adventures of Poke Rafferty, knight in rusty armor. He always tries to do the right thing for everyone, especially his friends and family. I waited a while to read this because the next book in the series is due out shortly. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to make sense of the current political uproar in Thailand. It will give you a good understanding of what is happening and why.
catmum's review
5.0
Poke is given the opportunity to write the biography of a Thai Robin Hood, a poor man made very wealthy who gives back to the people of his province. But Poke and his family are threatened with death if he does write it, and threatened with death if he doesn't.
I don't know what I am most impressed with in Hallinan's books: the overall quality of the writing that brings Bangkok with all it's sights and smells so vividly to life, or the fact that he can write children better than anyone I have ever read. There is nothing cloying or cutesy, or for that matter, superhuman, about Miaow and Boo and Da. They have been to hell and back but they are still real kids. I cannot say enough about these books.
I don't know what I am most impressed with in Hallinan's books: the overall quality of the writing that brings Bangkok with all it's sights and smells so vividly to life, or the fact that he can write children better than anyone I have ever read. There is nothing cloying or cutesy, or for that matter, superhuman, about Miaow and Boo and Da. They have been to hell and back but they are still real kids. I cannot say enough about these books.
samhouston's review
3.0
Breathing Water (otherwise known as Poke Rafferty #3) is actually the sixth of the Poke Rafferty novels I have read. I normally do not like to read a series in a different order than the one in which it was published, but author Timothy Hallinan makes that easier to do than most series authors, so if you find yourself caught up in that predicament, do not worry too much about it.
That said, of the six Rafferty books I have read, Breathing Water is my least favorite of the lot. Perhaps that is because I have also read all of Hallinan’s Junior Bender series, a series that is equally popular with fans of Timothy Hallinan books – and Rafferty’s predicament in Breathing Water is too reminiscent of the kind of thing that happens so regularly to Junior here in the U.S. (a wealthy bad guy blackmails Junior into doing something that he really does not want to get involved with). Too, there is a side plot, one involving the theft and sale of Thai and Cambodian babies to wealthy Westerners, that I found myself wishing had been the book’s main storyline.
Poke Rafferty is a travel guide writer who does his own research. Unfortunately for Poke, that research is sometimes dangerous and it often brings him into contact with some of Thailand’s shadiest politicians, pimps, policemen, and businessmen.
So…this time around Poke’s writing skills have gotten him into deep water, water so deep that even his wife and daughter might sink to the bottom with him. One of Thailand’s most popular folk heroes, who is in truth nothing more than a bottom feeding parasite, has decided that Poke is just the guy to write his flattering biography, one that the man hopes will propel him into high political office. When the “other side” gets wind of what Poke is up to, he gets equal pressure from them not to write the book. As Poke sees it (even though he would much prefer not writing the book), this is a lose-lose situation for him and those closest to him.
He expresses his problem this way: “If he goes in one direction, Rose and Miaow are in danger. If he goes in the other direction, Rose and Miaow are in danger. And ‘in danger’ is a euphemism.”
Poke calls on his old friend Arthit, that relatively rare thing known as the “honest Bangkok policeman,” for help, but Arthit has personal problems of his own to deal with. His wife is suffering from a debilitating disease and is finding it more and more difficult to deal with the painfully steady destruction of her body. Despite his problems, however, Arthit pulls himself together long enough to watch Poke’s back while Poke simultaneously worries greatly about his friend’s emotional wellbeing.
The central plot of Breathing Water is a complicated one and it demands that the reader pay full attention all the way through. The side plot is considerably less complicated but, as I said earlier, it is often the more compelling of the two. As always, however, I am happy with the long-term development of the recurring characters Poke, Rose, Miaow, and Arthit. Their evolving relationships are enthralling – and habit forming for the reader.
That said, of the six Rafferty books I have read, Breathing Water is my least favorite of the lot. Perhaps that is because I have also read all of Hallinan’s Junior Bender series, a series that is equally popular with fans of Timothy Hallinan books – and Rafferty’s predicament in Breathing Water is too reminiscent of the kind of thing that happens so regularly to Junior here in the U.S. (a wealthy bad guy blackmails Junior into doing something that he really does not want to get involved with). Too, there is a side plot, one involving the theft and sale of Thai and Cambodian babies to wealthy Westerners, that I found myself wishing had been the book’s main storyline.
Poke Rafferty is a travel guide writer who does his own research. Unfortunately for Poke, that research is sometimes dangerous and it often brings him into contact with some of Thailand’s shadiest politicians, pimps, policemen, and businessmen.
So…this time around Poke’s writing skills have gotten him into deep water, water so deep that even his wife and daughter might sink to the bottom with him. One of Thailand’s most popular folk heroes, who is in truth nothing more than a bottom feeding parasite, has decided that Poke is just the guy to write his flattering biography, one that the man hopes will propel him into high political office. When the “other side” gets wind of what Poke is up to, he gets equal pressure from them not to write the book. As Poke sees it (even though he would much prefer not writing the book), this is a lose-lose situation for him and those closest to him.
He expresses his problem this way: “If he goes in one direction, Rose and Miaow are in danger. If he goes in the other direction, Rose and Miaow are in danger. And ‘in danger’ is a euphemism.”
Poke calls on his old friend Arthit, that relatively rare thing known as the “honest Bangkok policeman,” for help, but Arthit has personal problems of his own to deal with. His wife is suffering from a debilitating disease and is finding it more and more difficult to deal with the painfully steady destruction of her body. Despite his problems, however, Arthit pulls himself together long enough to watch Poke’s back while Poke simultaneously worries greatly about his friend’s emotional wellbeing.
The central plot of Breathing Water is a complicated one and it demands that the reader pay full attention all the way through. The side plot is considerably less complicated but, as I said earlier, it is often the more compelling of the two. As always, however, I am happy with the long-term development of the recurring characters Poke, Rose, Miaow, and Arthit. Their evolving relationships are enthralling – and habit forming for the reader.
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