"Vulture Peak" is the latest installment in John Burdett's ongoing saga of Thai police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Whatever impression readers might have after finishing one of his books, they are likely to agree that nothing in a Burdett novel is mundane. The stories are characterized by international intrigues that lead to macabre murders. His women (and occasionally men who can pass for women) are beautiful and often deadly; the corruption is legendary; the greed is pathological.
Thailand is good naturedly portrayed as a country where the openly corrupt heads of the police and military amass huge fortunes as they deal in drugs, prostitution and other activities. The characters in Burdett's novels alternate between flamboyantly corrupt individuals flaunting their wealth and power, and, at the other end of the spectrum, bar girls from Isan, Thailand's impoverished northeast province that borders on Laos and Cambodia. The dramatis personae also feature transsexuals, including Jitplecheep's own partner at the police station, and of course a motley crew of colorful farangs (foreigners) who have set down roots in Thailand.
Jitpleecheep, a fluent English speaker, is the offspring of a Thai bar hostess (now a successful bar owner) and an American serviceman.