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Timothy Hallinan

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The Fourth Watcher: A Bangkok Thriller (Poke Rafferty Thriller Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Timothy Hallinan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 303 ratings

Book 2 of 9: Poke Rafferty Thriller

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The author of the Looking for Trouble travel book series, Poke Rafferty is ready to settle down in Bangkok with his fiancée, Rose, and his newly adopted daughter, Miaow. But trouble isn't ready to let him go; it's back in Poke's life with a vengeance, in the guise of his long-estranged father, Frank, the last person he ever wanted to see again. And Frank hasn't come empty-handed, arriving with a box of rubies, a wad of fraudulent identity papers, and one of the most dangerous gangsters in China in hot pursuit. With a rogue American Secret Service agent targeting Rose for her unwitting part in a North Korean counterfeiting operation, Poke can see trouble descending from everywhere to attack those he loves—and it will take every skill he possesses to keep them, and himself, alive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In Hallinan's stellar sequel to A Nail Through the Heart, travel writer and sometime detective Poke Rafferty is researching the dangerous side of Bangkok for a book when he, his ex-prostitute girlfriend, Rose, and their adopted daughter, Miaow, run afoul of a U.S. Secret Service agent who accuses Rose of passing counterfeit money. The Secret Service is concerned, Poke learns, that the North Koreans have been flooding the world with billions of dollars of fake currency. Poke is then abducted by the beautiful Ming Li, who takes him to his despised father, Frank, who abandoned Poke and his mother many years before. When Frank's mortal enemy, Colonel Chu, turns up, it's clear that things are going to hell very quickly, and Poke and his beloved family are not going to escape unscathed. Smooth prose, appealing characters and a twisting action-filled plot make this thriller a standout. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“This new breed of character for a series is a welcome addition to the thriller fiction set in Asia.”

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001AZRJGC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins e-books; Reprint edition (October 6, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 6, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5131 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 338 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #532,879 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,567 in Suspense Action Fiction
- #1,897 in Heist Thrillers
- #2,791 in Women's Adventure Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 303 ratings

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Timothy Hallinan

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Edgar, Shamus, Macavity and Lefty nominee Timothy Hallinan has written twenty-one published novels, all thrillers and mysteries, all critically praised. He currently writes two series, one set in Los Angeles and the other in Bangkok, and in 2017 he also revived his earlier series, written in the 1990s about the overeducated slacker private eye Simeon Grist. The new book, the first since 1995, is "Pulped."

His 2014 Junior Bender novel, "Herbie's Game," won the Lefty Award for Best Comic Crime Novel of the year. His 2010 Poke Rafferty Bangkok novel, "The Queen of Patpong," was nominated for the Edgar as Best Mystery of the Year.

The Junior Bender mysteries chronicle the adventures of a burglar who moonlights as a private eye for crooks. Six titles have been published to date, and "Herbie's Game" (2015) won the Lefty Award for Best Comic Crime Novel. The other titles in the series are "Crashed," "Little Elvises," "The Fame Thief," "King Maybe," and "Fields Where They Lay," which was on many "Best Books of 2016" lists. Coming in 2018 is "Nighttown."

The Junior Bender books are presently in development as a primetime television series.

In 2007, the first of his Edgar-nominated Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers, "A Nail Through the Heart", was published. "Hallinan scores big-time," said Kirkus Reviews, which went on to call the book "dark, often funny, and ultimately enthralling." "Nail" was named one of the top mysteries of the year by The Japan Times.

Rafferty's Bangkok adventures have continued with "The Fourth Watcher," "Breathing Water," "The Queen of Patpong," "The Fear Artist," "For the Dead," and "The Hot Countries." Coming in 2017 is "Fools' River."

In the 1990s he wrote six mysteries featuring the erudite private eye Simeon Grist, beginning with "The Four Last Things," which made several Ten Best lists, including that of The Drood Review. The other books in the series were well reviewed, and several of them were optioned for motion pictures. The series is now regarded as a cult favorite and is being revived, in one sense of the word, with "Pulped."

He has also edited two books. "Shaken: Stories for Japan" contained original stories by top mystery writers and raised more then $100,000 for tsunami relief efforts, with every penny going straight to Japan. "Making Story: 21 Writers and How They Plot" contained practical ideas on plotting by well-known mystery and thriller writers.

Hallinan divides his time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, the setting for his Poke Rafferty novels.

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4.3 out of 5

303 global ratings

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Scot Bedford

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN BANGKOK STYLE-- PART DEUX; 0r, The Return of the Prodigal Father X

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2010

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FOURTH WATCHER picks up the soap opera where a A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART left off (see my review on Amazon). The intro. is a bit choppy and there is a lot of domestic goings on like cake baking and coffee making. As stated in my previous review TH lacks the panache of Christopher G. Moore who in his Vincent Calvino series is best of breed in this space. Yet, Moore can be cartoonish although immensely entertaining. TH is not as polished a professional writer; but, he is important and worthy in this space for realistically portraying sex tourism and the collateral damage to the bodies and souls of the sex workers exploited. He also portrays an intimate and nuanced knowledge of daily life in Bangkok. At page 40 here's hoping this pot boiler gets cooking. Around page 80 the plot heats up and sets this pot boiler aboilin'. Rose is the former bar girl; a long, tall, brown, and voluptuous drink of water who is Poke's live-in fiance. Her business is a maid service which saves bar girls from the inevitable slide into the lowest form of sex worker which are the b.j. bars where women hide anonymously under a curtain at the bar and service the patron while they enjoy a drink. The b.j. bars are the place for sex workers who are aging and can no longer use their looks as a lure. Well, Rose unwittingly made payroll with counterfeit bills. This is cool. A North Korean counterfeiting conspiracy run by eraserhead himself from office #39. This is very timely and credible as the N.K.s are busy dropping bombs right now on the S.K.s because THE KOREAN WAR NEVER ENDED BECAUSE THERE IS NO TREATY. So around page 108 this book gets really good. Poke's long lost prodigal father with a "yellow heart" shows up for a family re-union. Poke's father, Frank, is being pursued by angry Triads as retribution for a bordello rip-off committed long ago. So around pg. 140 TH is nailing it-- heart thumping, pulse-pounding suspense. The sojourn of Poke's Dad in Red China in th 1980s is gripping, riveting and well written. It keeps getting better. This sucker keeps on rollin'. I am fanning pages in readers ecstasy through the 200s like an old timey moviola. The locale, suspense, characters and plot are equisitely drawn. If this keeps up TH can quit his day job as silocon valley software tycoon and throw that canuck CGM off his throne as reigning king of Bangkok fiction. Scott Bedford doffs his chapeau to TH. Turning in to a must read. Something to pass around to members of your man friend book club. Worth it. The climax track down shoot-em-up snap some bones is a bit serpentine and best read in one read. TH and the POKE RAFFERTY series is in full stride and shows promise for story and character expansion. The end concludes with an unusual polemic on the evils of the NKs and eraserhead himself. This is a strange tactic in a pot boiler. However, here it works. You are preaching to the chorus. Get a grip on those NKs before they spark a world conflagration.

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Patto

Somewhat confusing but exciting plot -- and very timely

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2017

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This book first appeared in 2008, yet it resonates today in its depiction of the criminal behavior of North Korea's government. The protagonist, Poke Rafferty, finds himself right in the middle of a major investigation into counterfeiting on an international scale. At the same time, he has to save his family from a vicious gang of kidnappers.

Family to Poke means the little family he put together himself: his fiancée Rose, ex-go-go dancer and prostitute, and his adopted daughter Miaow, ex-street kid. He loves them devotedly. Family also means the father who left him and his mother twenty years back and disappeared to China. He has nothing but negative feelings about his father. Both these families play a big part in The Fourth Watcher.

Poke's run-ins with the American Secret Service, Chinese thugs and bent Thai cops yield plenty of action and dashes of humor. For a journalist, Poke is amazingly good at handling firearm, fighting and out-strategizing the bad guys. I found the narrative style confusing at times, but it's also witty, and I have to admit the denouement was both thrilling and emotional.

So I'm finding this series quite entertaining. The exotic setting is a draw too. Sweltering hot Bangkok comes alive in these pages.

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Ted Lehmann

Poke Rafferty #2 Continues this highly enjoyable series

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2015

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In The Fourth Watcher: Poke Rafferty Thriller #2 (Harper Collins, 2009, 324 pages, $7.99) author Timothy Hallinan takes the Bangkok based travel writer, problem solver, family man, and seeker of adrenaline rushes another step deeper into life in his chosen home of Bangkok, while opening wider and wider cracks into the story of what makes him tick. Again, Hallinan creates the steamy environment of this tropical city, always on the verge of a tropical downpour and super-saturated with an atmosphere just about ready to let loose. The weather stands as a metaphor for the overheated political, social, sexual environment of what can arguably be called the sex-tourism capital of the world. It's an appropriate place for Poke to have settled, as his metier is tourism from the seamy side. Poke is practicing evasion tactics, trying to recognize and escape being followed by a team, which his friend Arnold Prettyman, a retired spy, has assembled to help train him. Thinking he has identified and shaken the followers, Poke comes up against a beautiful Chinese woman who shoots him in the face, with a dissolving pellet and disappears.

Poke has been carrying a ring around in his pocket, struggling to work up enough courage to ask, once again, for his lover and companion Rose to marry him. Rose, an unspeakably and believably beautiful woman, has been with Poke since he liberated, rescued, freed, you-name-it her from her previous job as a nude dancer and prostitute in the sex district of Bangkok. She now runs a domestic cleaning service with her friend Pansy. Together they have adopted a Thai street child named Miaow, at once fragile, resourceful, damaged, and brilliant. Rose has just accepted Poke's proposal, when the police arrive at the door to arrest her for distributing counterfeit Thai and U.S. currency, and the story is on. Hallinan is one of the best in the business at creating cliff hanger chapter endings, making it nearly impossible to unwrap oneself from one of his books before reaching the end. The ability to create and direct dramatic tension to just below the unbearable point is a great skill, which Hallinan possesses in gobs.

Writing a series of novels gives a writer an enlarged window in which to fill in the details and nuances of the heroes back-story. In his Travis McGee novels, John D. McDonald never really did this. Although there were continuing characters and occasional references to incidents in past books, McDonald made no real effort to disclose formative events in McGee's life. I would say this was true with the Spenser novels of Robert B. Parker, too. On the other hand, in James Lee Burke's Dave Roubichaux stories, the character develops, ages, and changes through the years. In The Fourth Watcher, we meet Poke's father and his Chinese half sister, which reveals more of the motivation for his disdain for his own background as well as his need to gather, cherish, and grow a family composed of damaged birds. This opportunity to look into the genesis of a character works very well for me, as Poke becomes more complex and interesting. You can read the rest of this review on my blog. Please consider buying it through the Amazon portal there.

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Top reviews from other countries

jennyliz

Brilliant Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2015

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My friend is in the middle of reading this book and has difficulty putting it down - he is finding it very exciting. He loves all Timothy Hallinans books on Bangkok- as he also knows Bangkok well.

Peter Simon Jones

A definite step down

Reviewed in Japan on March 15, 2011

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Having read having the most excellent 'A nail through the heart', I was compelled, even driven to read the next instalment in Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series.

Whilst ' A nail through the heart' was not perfect, it was certainly an excellent opening statement. Although it contained several serious faults (see my previous review) its pluses certainly outweighed its minuses and thus perhaps somewhat generously I gave it a five-star rating.

With the second instalment I had expected 'The fourth watcher' to be free from the aforementioned teething troubles and for Hallinan to have been fully in control of both his characters and his plot. That was however, sadly not the case. What 'The fourth watcher' represents therefore, is not a step up, a development or clarity, but rather a step down and a step backwards. Which is ultimately a great shame.

'The fourth watcher' essentially fails for three main reasons:
i) The mistakes from 'A nail through the heart' seemed not to have been heeded, not to have been corrected.
ii) The annoyances that were present in the first instalment have become magnified.
iii) Hallinan clearly has his sights set on Hollywood and thus the fourth watcher reads more like a script than a novel.

To elucidate.
Someone described Hallinan as "a writer's writer". Whilst was not sure if that is supposed to be a compliment or indeed what that even means. What that means to me, however, is that he is rather formulaic in his approach to writing. Maybe a writers writer uses certain tactics, ploys, constructs or techniques - the kinds of things they teach people at those dreadful 'writer's workshops', the things which are the strings holding the characters to the puppeteer; and maybe an ordinary reader is not privy to the presence of these strings. Maybe a fellow writer is able to stand back from the prose and with a certain knowledgeable twinkle in their eye are able to anticipate the forthcoming events. Whilst I am not a writer, I was able to see Hallinan's strings with utter clarity and was left feeling rather like a bird picking up Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs. The unlikely appearance and shoe-horn mentioning of Poke's father, Meow's sudden need to own a cell phone, Peachey's bank teller (where did she disappear to?) etc. These and other obvious plot-points that were the hooks on which to hang a flimsy story; the signposts along the road, were glaringly transparent and almost laughably so.

To skip ahead to point three, one could almost see Hallinan weaving these points into the plot simply for their cinematic effect and currency. Further support of this conjecture is the endless dialogue contained in this book, and something it suffers dreadfully for. Scenes apparently intended not for eyes of a reader but rather for the ears of a script developer. Very often the dialogues were far too drawn out, far too contrived, and far too difficult to follow. On several occasions I had to reread passages in order to make sense of the conversations.

Finally, a chain-smoking ex-whore Buddhist who exudes wisdom with apparently the same ease as she exudes cigarette smoke is something I passed over in Aa nail through the hear't, giving Hallinan the benefit of the doubt. In 'The fourth watcher', however, Rose's character becomes all the more annoying and all the more condescending. It's just so tiring (and so untrue) to keep being fed the line that all Asians are somehow Bodhisattvas and all Westerners are idiots. Rose and Meow's in-jokes, constant pity and constant contempt for Poke soon becomes the equivalent of nails down the blackboard. Despite all his obvious experience in south-east Asia I fear that Hallinan still views the world through saffron-tinted spectacles, and subsequently he comes across, in 'The fourth watcher', somewhere between an Asianophile, a sycophant or someone who is not comfortable in south-east Asia. Someone who invariably feels more like a tourist or a stranger - an spectator rather than an active participant. Which is all the more strange considering both the time he spent in south-east Asia and also the fact that I assume he calls it home.

In summation, whilst this book is not bad it's certainly not good and it certainly did not live up to the expectations and the promises set out in A nail through the heart', the plot is confusing, rather formulaic, not particularly interesting and not particularly well developed. The characters introduced in the first book are also not particularly well developed and Hallinan has an annoying tendency to repeat certain information, for example, Meow's previous existence as a street child, which is the responsibility of the reader to find out by reading the books in sequential order, and not the job of an author to keep repeating. As previously mentioned I also feel this book suffers from its state as an orphan lost somewhere between a screenplay and the novel. Let's hope the third instalment is much better.

(Dictated directly into Dragon Dictate 2.0)

Mr. C. Robinson

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2016

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A very good read

steve.d

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2014

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buy it, read it