Girl Moves to Bangkok, Provokes Envy Despite Dastardly Past

How seductively Lawrence Osborne writes! His settings take on a dreamy, watercolor aspect, his characters flit mysteriously from scene to scene, taking up space in a world of metaphors under the surface, acting on half-revealed motivations while hurtling to some unforeseeable end. In this story, the Kingdom of the title is merely a high-end (although now-fading) apartment complex in Bangkok; here arrives our heroine Sarah by way of the US.

"Heroine" is a bit strong for this vague drifter, though. Sarah has landed like a leaf here in this teeming metropolis because she needs to lie low with her ill-gotten booty for a while. She figures that glamorous, busy Bangkok is a place where a young singleton white woman like herself will not be particularly noticed. Good thing that, because she's got a nice chunk of dollars in an actual suitcase which she's naively stashed under her bed. Suffice it to say that when she falls in a with a group of young neighbors, one of whom is the mysterious Mali, is when her cover begins to crack.

In keeping with local custom Sarah engages a maid, Goi. And with this begins the intrigue. You see, the Kingdom has its own hidden central nervous system: a channel of information, exchanged and used with ruthless efficiency as the only currency that matters. Who is spying on whom? There's the old maintenance man, Pop, too, who with uncanny accuracy keeps an eye on the strange farang woman. She's rather conspicuous: no job, no income, yet lives in an extravagantly large place AND is all on her own.

In the background is brewing an unrest. Something to do with protests, governmental shenanigans, police action, the threat of mob violence. Then something awful happens, not to do with any of that but within the Kingdom itself. Sarah is now hopelessly enmeshed for reasons of her own. Not surprisingly, someone begins to blackmail her. Then the actual big event happens in the city, the Kingdom loses electricity, and the residents each in their own way begin to trickle out.

All except Sarah, that is. She's rewarded for her vagueness with a shocking ending. There are several mysterious threads left unresolved even at the end: who is the child Sarah imagines is watching her? What was the episode with the meat left behind in Ryo's apartment? And so on.

However, what I enjoyed immensely was the setting. Living in an apartment somewhere in Bangkok for three months would be a dream come true for me, and so I sat back and reveled as our Sarah went about its canals, temples, markets, streets, cafes. Dreamy! (I'd devoured Osbourne's memoir of living in Bangkok.) I didn't even care about her wooly-headedness or the fact that she'd cheated a former employer. I was intrigued by the whisper network operating up and down the 24 floors and various towers of the Kingdom, wanting to know a bit more about Sarah's other acquaintances Ximena and Natalie, puzzling through the mystery of Ryo.

Slow, atmospheric, steamy, intriguing and a little chilling and desolating at the end, read for heavy doses of travel-longing. Not heavy on plot but on thematic development, be warned of that, but if you can manage to arrange some warm weather, a cold drink, and a comfy sofa with the fan going just so, pick up The Glass Kingdom. And enjoy. ( )

The Glass Kingdom, by Lawrence Osborne, is a vivid, atmospheric story about the darkest sides of expat life. Most of the story takes place in the upscale apartment towers in Thailand.

Sarah has run a successful scam, and escaped with a bag of tainted cash. I loved how the scam fell into place. But after cleverly preying on greed and being seen as the help in order to get all this cash, she seemed to have no further plans. So I spent this whole book mentally screaming at her to chill, to tell quieter lies, to live a bit more modestly with a simpler cover story. Look, it’s not that I’d embezzle loads of money, just that if I did, I’d sit quietly for like 6 months without spending anything, then publicly waffle about whether I should take this great job offer in Cleveland, ask everyone to visit me in my new place in Cleveland, and then take off for a country with no extradition treaty, never to be seen again. LIVING IN AN UPSCALE NEIGHBORHOOD WITH A SHAKY BACKSTORY AND NO VISIBLE INCOME IS A BIT OBVIOUS, SARAH.

Sarah soon meets the other young women living in the Kingdom apartment complex, including other ex-pats with their own reasons for running. There is a bit of insta-bonding over intense drinking, which felt pretty realistic to me. There are a lot of secrets in the Kingdom towers, and I was completely caught up in uncovering the darker side, even if it was tinged with a lot of SARAH NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? DON’T DO THAT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

Full review on my book blog ( )

I enjoy well written description, but not to the extent of having to read nearly two thirds of this book before the plot actually starts moving. It is difficult to believe many actions and thoughts of the protagonist, or to become interested in any of the other characters. So I didn't finish it.

At first, I was enjoying this book mainly due to the fact that it takes place in Bangkok - a place where I lived for four years. Bangkok is the star, the best part of this novel. However, the main character is improbably naive for me - who keeps $200,000 in a suitcase under their bed? Especially when there are nosy maids running around the complex who have skeleton keys and when people you don't really know also know about the money.

SPOILER ALERT: And why pay ransom on a blackmail effort if you already have your bags packed and could easily just move on without having to worry about anything? All highly improbable - and it's supposed to be realistic...

Osborne does successfully capture the feeling of Bangkok well enough, but overall I was very disappointed. ( )

What could be a good place to hide for some time? Bangkok it is Sarah resolves after she has stolen $200.000 from her former employer in New York. In the anonymous building “The Kingdom” she hopes to spend some weeks alone to have the situation cool down. Soon, she gets to know some other tenants, Mali, a half-Thai girl whom Sarah can never fully grasp. And there is the Chilean Ximena, a chef who dreams of her own restaurant whereas Natalie lives the life of a rich wife and sees Bangkok only as a short stop before moving to a better place. Even though most of the people keep to themselves, secrets move fast within the walls of the glass skyscraper and it does not take too long for Sarah to rouse her neighbours’ suspicions and interest.

I have been a huge fan of Lawrence Osborne’s novels for some years. Not only do his settings vary enormously – Morocco, Greece, Mexico, now Thailand – but he also creates highly interesting characters whom he confronts with challenging situations they, on the one hand, provoked themselves but which, on the other, unexpectedly get highly complicated without an actual good way out. Thus, he brings out the worst of human nature.

At first, Sarah seems a bit lost and you feel sympathy for her, but just until you learn which reckless behaviour brought her to the strange house. Yet, only for a short time do those negative feelings towards the protagonist linger since you soon realise that she is too naive and trusting for the world she entered. All other characters behave highly suspiciously and it is obvious that the young American will easily fall prey to them even though they are all quite diverse and aim at different things, whom their victim will be is more than obvious.

Just as the outer world is shaken by a political turmoil, also the inner world of The Kingdom seems to crumble. Decision have to be made and options have to be weighed quickly. Cleverly, Osborne builds increasing suspense and shows those sides of human character you never wanted to see. Threats appear from all corners, even the most unexpected, all heading to a highly tragic end. ( )