BOOK Reviews
Fills a niche
- By: BERNARD TRINK
- Published: 5/12/2008 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Realtime
Killer Karma Whether Father Ananda is a policeman-turned-monk or a monk-turned-cop begs the question. Yes, he was a lawman for 20 years before putting on saffron robes. And yes, he's been a monk for 10 years investigating monastery-related crimes.
by Nick Wilgus
224 pp, 2008 Silkworm
paperback
Available at Asia Books and
leading book stores, 395 baht
Author Nick Wilgus, chief sub-editor of the Bangkok Post's Outlook Section, pens novels either under his own name (e.g. the Father Ananda series) or the pseudonym of Sulayman X. A resident for over 10 years, he is knowledgeable about the Realm.
Father Ananda, 50ish, lost his wife and child decades ago. Jak, his 14-year-old novice, has a polio-deformed leg, annoyingly calls him pho (daddy). The nature of their work puts them in harm's way and they've saved each other's life more than once.
One of the differences between the man and boy is that Father Ananda isn't superstitious while Jak is. Of which much is made in Killer Karma under review. At the outset, the monk is sent (Jak in tow) from Wat Mahanat in Bangkok to investigate a mystery upcountry.
While the plot is an admixture of fact and fantasy, the mystery is real enough. Are the flares observed on the Mekhong River on nights of the full moon Naga fireballs or a hoax? Father Ananda goes to Wat Phloi in Chanthaburi to check it out.
Whereupon the subplot is introduced. The local fishermen are losing their livelihood to trawlers. In the process, the big boats are destroying the ecological balance by killing coral and mangrove forests. Environmental activists are up in arms.
By not taking sides, the local constabulary are tacitly aiding the trawlers. Rallies by the protesters are unsuccessful, the only plus that they receive media coverage. A monk and a woman activist are murdered, both supporting the fishermen. Father Ananda's arm is broken. Police Lieutenant Mak could care less.
Characters make strong charges against the monkhood, not as strongly refuted. That temple boys are abused; monks take donations and in disguise spend it on women; or the money is used for stock market speculation. Not Father Ananda, of course, but he can't vouch for all his fellows.
The explanation for the fireballs is plausible, but not convincing. After more deaths, the environmental issue is resolved with a kind of Hollywood ending. Father Ananda is likeable, his patience with Jak admirable. Yet, I can't see him giving Buddhist lectures.
A good quote. "As police officers, we had to purchase our own uniforms and guns; salaries were abysmal; training all but non-existent. It was no surprise to any thinking person that police were so corrupt.
"The world of law enforcement could not even provide us... with the advanced crime-solving technologies used by so many of our counterparts in the West."
Wilgus fills a niche in local crime thrillers.
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