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Summary
Summary
Travel writer Poke Rafferty is ready to let go of his Looking for Trouble series of travel books and the dangerous lifestyle that goes with it, and settle down in Bangkok with his fiancée, Rose, and his newly adopted daughter, Miaow. But trouble isn't ready to let go of Poke. Enter the one person Poke least wants to see in the entire world--a person whose emotional hold on Poke is absolute. With him come a box of rubies, a wad of fraudulent identity papers, and--in pursuit of those things--one of the most dangerous gangsters in China.
Add to that Rose's innocent involvement in a North Korean counterfeiting operation and an off-the-tracks agent of the American Secret Service who's dying to put Poke behind bars, and Poke and his family find themselves in a complicated and potentially deadly situation. Getting them all out alive will take every skill Poke has.
Once again, Hallinan has created a complex, emotionally satisfying thriller with edge-of-your-seat suspense and a cast of characters so real you'll feel you know them. Sharp as a razor and full of heart-pounding surprises, The Fourth Watcher firmly establishes Hallinan as a brilliant new voice in the world of suspense.
Author Notes
Timothy Hallinan was born in 1942. He was a consultant for some of America's top corporations, advising on issues of television sponsorship and audience-building. He created Hallinan Consulting that created educators' websites on behalf of a number of public television programs. He now writes full-time. His works include the Simeon Grist Mystery series, the Poke Rafferty series, and the Junior Bender Mystery series.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly 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) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Hallinan (A Nail Through the Heart, 2007, etc.) returns with another thriller featuring the Bangkok-based ex-pat with a penchant for landing himself on the business end of a gun. Poke Rafferty lives in Bangkok--a haven for retired spies and others with questionable pasts. He makes his home with the statuesque Rose and Miaow, a street urchin turned adopted daughter. As Rafferty, a writer, gathers material for his latest book, he comes face-to-face with a strikingly beautiful, oddly familiar woman. That fateful meeting will soon turn Rafferty's life into a nightmare. He has just successfully proposed marriage to Rose when the happy occasion is violently interrupted. Soon an acquaintance dies and a mysterious, unwelcome man enters Rafferty's world, bringing with him an emotional conundrum and a bevy of killers. Rafferty wants to ignore the intruder but needs help to save Rose and Miaow, as well as the wife of close friend Arthit, a police official. With Arthit's help, Rafferty concocts a risky scheme, but the pair's efforts are complicated by an odd mix of former bar girls turned maids, Chinese criminals, ex-spies and crooked cops. Hallinan offers a taut story line enhanced by an insider's look at Thai culture. Although not quite as compelling as the first Rafferty outing, this book features an unlikely but likable hero and provides readers with an informed glimpse into a world they are not likely to otherwise experience. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Travel writer Poke Rafferty has found what his own upbringing lacked--a real sense of family. His father left Poke and his mother and went off to Asia. Poke has also gone to Asia, to Bangkok, but he is blissfully in love with his fiancé, Rose, and Miaow, a homeless girl they have adopted. He's determined to be the husband and father his own father wasn't. So he's amazed and outraged when he's abducted and taken to his father, who needs a favor. Frank Rafferty is on the run from ruthless Chinese criminals, and soon Poke's family, and the wife of his best friend, Arthit, a Bangkok police colonel, are hostages. Poke, Arthit, Frank, and a half sister Poke didn't know he had must rescue the hostages and keep Frank alive. Although it lacks the visceral delights and Buddhist worldview of John Burdett's Bangkok novels, The Fourth Watcher has its own charms, notably a teeming city awash with retired spies, North Korean counterfeiters, and a brisk pace.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2008 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When his estranged father resurfaces bearing priceless rubies with a merciless criminal on his heels, travel writer Poke Rafferty has his new Bangkok life and loves on the line in this follow-up to A Nail Through the Heart. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.