absolutelyBangkok archive · Books & Movies
Originally published Dec. 2, 2009
Every city has a dark side. Hardly anyone paints the dark underbelly of Bangkok more vividly than Christopher G. Moore, whose latest Bangkok novel The Corruptionist just hit the shelves. 466 pages of dark Bangkok.
I had a word with Chris about his new book, his work and Bangkok. Most expats here are familiar with his Vincent Calvino series. Some say no foreign author knows Bangkok better. A Hemingway of Bangkok, one critic said.
The book’s cover art is a painting by Chris Coles*, an inner circle mentor of the Bangkok Noir movement who is no stranger to the fascination of the city’s never tiring multiple levels of betrayal and deceit. So I started by asking Chris Moore: Why you chose Chris Coles for the cover?
I recommended his covers to my publisher for several reasons, says author Chris. First they are by far the best images I’ve seen of the noir aspect of Bangkok. Dark, moody, intelligent, mysterious and playful.
The covers that were chosen mirror the two Calvino books so that cover art and text act as a seamless whole.
Second Chris and I are part of the Bangkok Noir movement. And using the covers shows the strength of a mutual vision of the time and place.
Why dedicate a novel to corruption, I go on.
I have loved the experience of living in Bangkok for more than twenty years, says Chris. It is home turf. The place where I choose to live but that doesn’t mean everything that happens is sweetness and light.
Yet every city has a dark side. A place of shadows. A void where activities we’re vaguely aware of happen in private. Bangkok is no exception. My latest Vincent Calvino novel uses corruption in the back story.
… the corrupt mindset as an essence of Bangkok…
See, if you slip money to one official for a benefit — that is corruption. And if you slip money into the pockets of a community development? Somewhere there is a line that is crossed between the two extremes. In The Corruptionist I tackle both the small scale and larger scaled-up version where money changes hands for favors granted.
Corruption is pure noir. Nothing gets darker than turning the lights out in the halls of justice and using a ladder to climb out the window.
I ask if Calvino has some biographical elements.
Authors are often asked if their book is biographical, says Chris. We live in an age where everyone asks if the book, movie, song is about them. In this age of the solipsistic world view everything about everyone else’s experience is denied. Research of a book shouldn’t be confused with the writer’s personal story.
This is like confusing a fireman with a man with a flame thrower. Both are around a fire. Both hold objects pointed at the fire. The outcome, though, is quite different.
The same goes for biographical novels and novels that draw upon the background radiation where the author works and lives.
After all those years, I ask, is his love for Bangkok waning?
Like any relationship, Chris says, the connections deepened over time. My early romance with Bangkok was replaced by something more enduring: a broader understanding of how the good things and flaws are bound up together, often reinforce each other and mirror a more complex, rich and mysterious place than I have ever imagined more than twenty years ago.
Sure things have changed, says Chris. That is the heart of Buddhism. Things are in a constant state of change. It is the very nature of life.
Thanks for this Chris.
Finally some words about The Corruptionist:
Set during the recent turbulent times in Thailand, this 11th novel in the Calvino series centers around the street demonstrations and occupation of Government House n Bangkok.
Hired by an American businessman, private investigator Vincent Calvino finds himself caught in the middle of a family conflict over a Chinese corporate takeover.
This is no ordinary deal. Calvino and his client are up against powerful forces set to seize much more than a family business. As the bodies accumulate while he navigates Thailand’s business-political land mines, Calvino becomes increasingly entangled in a secret deal made by men who will stop at nothing — and no one — standing in their way. But again, how can Calvino refuse to step aside.
Along with the novel Chris Moore publishes the little Vincent Calvino Reader’s Guide. The booklet contains a conversation with the author and introduces you into Calvino’s world — the chapters are a handy how-to guide for every foreigner trying to make sense of Thailand.
You learn about the Laws of Gumshoe Investigation, Laws of Agression & Violence, Laws of Bargirls & Nightlife, Laws of Women & Men, Laws of the World of Expats, Laws of Conmen, Criminals & Demons and Laws of Asian Culture & Language finally.
Calvino’s Laws explore the Thai psyche streched along the East-West divide within the Bangkok Noir setting.
Reading Calvino you may learn a thing or two about the Thai/Asian society you live in.
If you’re in Thailand you can find The Corruptionist at your local book store. Life outside of Thailand? Order the Calvino books directly from publisher Heaven Lake Press.
* Don’t miss Chris Coles’ Navigating the Bangkok Noir art show opening on Dec. 11 at Liam’s Gallery, Buddha Hill, Pattaya/Jomtien.
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