Kicking Dogs

Kicking Dogs, A comic thriller set in boom-time Bangkok.

Front cover by Colin Cotterill

Greed and corruption grip the city, and - although he thinks he's adjusting nicely to the Thai way - Jack Shackaway, freelance journalist and author of such literary masterpieces as "A Dick for Dorothy", is succumbing to a bad case of culture shock. Jack has no idea who's trying to kill him, but given his talent for annoying the wrong people, it could be just about anybody. Every time he turns around he gets into hassles with the locals. Not only that, if he isn't careful he's going to wind up married to Mu, which might be better than being dead, but not necessarily a lot better.

Shortly after somebody takes potshots at Jack in a taxi, Mu's sister Bia is kidnapped. Then Jack gets snatched, and is introduced to local godfather Mr. Hung Fat, often referred to as "Fat Fat," but not to his face. Fat Fat's men have mistaken Bia for Mu, and their boss will do unpleasant things to her unless Jack provides compensatory services for Fat Fat's public loss of face at the hands of intrepid investigative journalist "Izzy Scoop." But this is a double case of mistaken identity - Fat Fat believes that Jack is the man behind Izzy. If Fat Fat finds out that he isn't, then Jack's a dead man for sure.