The Fourth Watcher

Poke Rafferty is a writer, who lives in Bangkok with his fiancée Rose and his daughter Miaow. He is looking to write more than just travel novels. Poke's novel titled "Living Wrong" is about living outside of the law. Poke wants some real life experience for his book so he has his friend Arnold Prettyman, a former CIA agent teach him how to follow people without getting caught. The only thing is Poke never realized that he would end up smack dab in the middle of a high stakes international thrill ride that would have him not only running for his life but would have him digging up some dirt and secrets that some very powerful people want left alone. Also, Poke is in for the surprise of his life when a long lost someone walks back into his life. Unfortunately there will be no happy reunion as this person has come calling on Poke for his help. Plus you won't believe how it all ends! I enjoy reading international, suspense thrillers. From the summary I had read about The Fourth Watcher I knew this book was going to be right up my alley and would be good but I didn't realize it would be better than good it was great. The characters had some wonderful depth to them in addition to the fact that I thought they were all some in their own ways. I like when I read a book where the characters all have an equal part and can relate to each other in some way or other. From the first page to the last The Fourth Watcher picked up steam and keep on moving full-blast on a tank of high octane adrenaline rush that left you wanting more. I could tell Mr. Hallinan was passionate about his writing and his books as it showed. Mr. Hallinan could take you anywhere he wanted as well as make you feel like you were really there with Poke or anyone of the other characters in The Fourth Watcher. So if you are a must-read book than you have to check out The Fourth Watcher.

Timothy Hallinan has written a great follow up to A Nail Through the Heart. It's tense, it's nail-biting, it's unpredictable, but most importantly, it's heart-warming. Beneath all the crime and the violence and the unseen darkness of Bangkok lies the touching bond between a travel writer, an ex go-go dancer, and an adopted child. This is where the real story takes place, among these likable characters who seem to be tied together by fate. It's only two novels into this excellent series, and Mr. Hallinan has managed to make me really care about Poke, Rose and Miaow (especially Miaow, who picks out shirts for Poke, likes pink milkshakes and hates being kissed on the top of her head - perfectly appropriate for this little girl!) and I simply can't wait for the third Bangkok book.

In the second book of Timothy Hallinan's beautifully written Bangkok series, we continue to follow Poke Rafferty, an American expatriate who is about to give up writing his "Looking for Trouble" travel series in order to settle down with his new family. In A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART we met Poke's girlfriend Rose, a former bar girl, Miaow, Poke's newly adopted daughter and Arthit, his police officer friend. Creating multi-faceted characters using deceptively simple prose is one of Hallinan's many gifts. On Peachy, Rose's business partner: "The bank teller's eyes follow her all the way across the lobby: a woman in her late forties, wearing clothes that could provoke buyer's remorse in a seventeen-year-old." Poke's observation about his father: "Except for a slight stoop, a lot of missing hair, and that shuffling walk, he looks surprisingly like the man Rafferty remembers from all those years ago. He has to be in his seventies, but time has barely laid a glove on him. It strikes Rafferty for the hundredth time that serenity and selfishness aren't that dissimilar. They both keep people young." Hallinan gives us a view into the experience of being the westerner looking in from the outside, attempting to assimilate, but recognizing and accepting that he will never really "get it". One of the great benefits that come with reading these novels of Bangkok is a glimpse into eastern culture and philosophy and the often humorous view of westerners from an Asian perspective. The city of Bangkok is a prominent character in THE FOURTH WATCHER and in A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART. Hallinan masterfully reveals a city made up of a unique blend of spirituality, carnality, ghosts, superstitions, the rich, the poor and unseen circles of power and influence. In THE FOURTH WATCHER, the author deftly weaves together several subplots and skillfully brings them to a satisfying conclusion. One of the things I most admire about this writer is that when he explores dark and violent themes, the worst of both occurs "off screen" and within our own imaginations. Hallinan implies the worst, but does not hit his readers over the head with it. A wonderful, fast paced read with deeply drawn characters I cared about, a richly textured setting and a gripping story.

"The Fourth Watcher" written by Timothy Hallinan is my favorite book of the summer. It's riveting reading for people who like thrillers written with great wit, hair-raising twists, ever deepening layers of story, a likable hero, a vivid cast of characters so real you'll feel you know them, a story rooted in reality, edge-of-your-seat suspense, heart-pounding surprise, and an exotic foreign location. It's a sensational book. I couldn't put it down. Hallinan takes you into underbelly of Southeast Asia and through the beauty of a culture rich with spiritual ideals and smiling faces. He paints pictures of glorious landscapes and urban madness, with characters that are alive and engaging. The villains and gangsters are terrifying, the suspense is unnerving, yet his writing style skillfully blends drama and excitement with incredible wit and a good deal of humor. This should be made into a movie. It's riveting. A review by Dana King, New Mystery Reader said this: "The Fourth Watcher is true suspense in the Hitchcock mold. Just as one story line reaches a lull, the other picks up. The considerable machinery of The Fourth Watcher is held together by understated, yet virtuoso writing. A man recovering from serious injury has a "throat as loose and rippled as a theater curtain." A minor player caught in the act has, "Half a dozen emotions chase each other across [his] face, but the one that stakes it out and claims it is despair." While not a funny book, the humor works, and always grows from the situation." [...] All in all, I think Hallinan is an extraordinary writer. I've enjoyed all his books but "The Fourth Watcher" is the best yet. It gets my highest recommendation. Three exclamation points!!!

Timothy Hallinan's "A Nail Through the Heart" (2007), introduced us to Poke Rafferty, the ex-pat travel writer living in Bangkok with his girl-friend Rose and the rescued street kid, Miaow (two of the toughest, smartest females south of the Gobi desert). In "The Fourth Watcher," Hallinan convincingly earns a place in the top tier of thriller authors--among the Parkers, the Cobens, the Pattersons, the Burkes, the Hillermans. As do all great novelists, Hallinan educates while he entertains us, and, I confess, left this hardened 78 year-old reader not only thrilled, but also a bit misty-eyed as well. Read the book--a guaranteed pleasure.