The Cockroaches

The Norwegian ambassador in Thailand is found murdered in a Bangkok brothel. He had close ties to the Prime Minister, and in Oslo – to avoid a scandal – hasty plans are drawn up at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A drunken Harry Hole, reeking of alcohol and stuffed full with B12 vitamins, is put on a plane to Bangkok with clear instructions: Help to hush up the case, otherwise do as little as possible. However, on arriving in Bangkok, Harry discovers that the case is about more than one random murder. There is something else, something more pervasive, scrabbling around behind the scenes. Or, put another way, for every cockroach you see in your hotel room, there are hundreds behind the walls, as he finds out.

Working with Liz Crumley, a detective inspector sporting a bald head and a pair of Nike trainers, Harry meets a selection of colourful characters among the Norwegian ex-pats in Thailand: a one-armed female diver, a nomadic soldier, a lovesick chargé d’affaires, a Jimi Hendrix clone and a prostitute in a figure skating costume. Surrounded by round-the-clock traffic noise, Harry wanders the Bangkok streets of go-go bars, temples, opium dens, tourist publicity and child prostitution on a search no-one asked for and no-one wants. Not even Harry. Once again he is a victim of his own instincts.