Snakes

Monks, murder, money, miracles and mystifications.
Snakes galore and sleazy slitherings
intertwined with scandal, suicide and rape
in the central Thai village of Khoak Phranang
– the first of a celebrated quartet of novels
[see The Medium, Khoak Phranang and Lord of the Land
under the ThaiFiction imprint].
Central to the story are Yeesun,
murderer, boxer, snake catcher and a good man
– and Abbot Nian (Father Smoothy),
who beheads Buddha statues, kills a monk
and beds another for the greater glory of his temple.

A tale told at breakneck speed
with bite and sardonic humour.
A daring novel written in 1984 denouncing the betrayal
of Buddhism in the age of rampant consumerism