Today on Thailand blog attention to the book “Private Dancer” from 2005, an oldie, but now a classic. It is a thrilling novel written by top British author Stephen Leather. Set in Bangkok's bustling nightlife scene, the book offers a disturbing look at Thai bar culture and the relationship between Western men and Thai women.
The story revolves around Pete, a young freelance journalist from London who moves to Bangkok to work on his career. He becomes fascinated by the seductive world of bars, nightclubs and exotic women. During a night out, Pete meets the beautiful Joy, a Thai bargirl, and quickly falls in love with her. Despite warnings from his expat friends and the many red flags, he gets carried away by his passion and ends up in a destructive relationship with Joy.
“Private Dancer” offers an immersive and realistic look at the dangers and pitfalls Western men can encounter in the world of Thai bar culture. The book also highlights the exploitation and injustice faced by Thai women in this industry. By telling the story from different perspectives, Leather provides insight into Pete's thoughts and emotions as well as those of Joy and other characters.
The novel is smoothly written and contains elements of suspense, love and tragedy. It offers an interesting perspective on the complex dynamics between foreigners and locals in Thailand, showing how cultural misunderstandings and unrealistic expectations can result in heartbreak and loss.
“Private Dancer” is a compelling story that is both entertaining and enlightening, offering a true representation of life in Bangkok for expats and tourists. It is recommended for readers interested in Thai culture and Western visitors' experiences in the country.
Biography Stephen Leather
Born on October 25, 1956 in Manchester, England, Stephen Leather is a successful British author primarily known for his crime and thriller novels. His writing career spans a wide variety of genres, including cop novels, espionage stories, and paranormal thrillers.
Leather grew up in Sale, a town near Manchester, and attended the University of Bath, where he earned a degree in biochemistry. After graduating, he worked in the biochemistry industry for a while before deciding to study journalism at Cardiff University. After completing his studies in journalism, Leather worked for various newspapers and magazines in the UK, such as the Daily Mirror, The Times and the Daily Mail. He also worked as a producer for the television channel ITN.
Leather began his writing career in 1987 with the publication of his first novel, Pay Off. This book laid the foundation for his career as a thriller writer and was followed by a series of successful novels. His breakthrough came with the publication of the “Dan 'Spider' Shepherd” series, an action thriller series starring former SAS soldier Dan Shepherd, now working as an undercover agent. The series is very popular and has many fans worldwide.
In addition to the “Dan 'Spider' Shepherd” series, Leather has written several other successful books and series, including the “Jack Nightingale” series, which focuses on a former police officer who becomes a private investigator who deals with supernatural affairs. Leather has also written a number of stand-alone novels, such as “Private Dancer” (2005), which is set in the world of Thai bar culture and offers a deep insight into the complex relationships between Western men and Thai women.
Stephen Leather is known for his meticulous and detailed research for his books, leading to realistic and compelling stories. His work has been translated into many languages and is popular worldwide. In addition to his success as a writer, Leather has also built a presence in the world of e-books and self-publishing, pioneering new ways to get his work to readers.
Throughout his career, Stephen Leather has consistently written engaging and suspenseful stories that explore a wide variety of subjects and genres. His dedication to research and his ability to create complex characters and plot twists have made him a celebrated and widely read author.
The book is for sale in the Netherlands at Libris: https://libris.nl/boek?authortitle=leather-stephen/private-dancer–9789810539160
for the English version you can check on Amazon.
The book can also be downloaded for free as a PDF.
I would almost think that almost all Western authors who write a novel with Thailand as a setting all use the same plot: middle-aged or older man visits a bar in Bangkok, sees a young lady (oh no, “girl” they call it) from somewhere in the 20, the most beautiful “girl” of them all. She smiles so sweetly, only has eyes for him, this is more, this is real, she is different. And then of course the necessary drama: he gives money so that she no longer has to sell herself, she still has other customers and of course sponsors and a Thai partner. That comes true, noise in the tent and so on and so forth. The Thai would be different, the women in a positive way, Thailand as a country so strange and incomprehensible, strange people. ZZzzz
I have now read a quarter of the book and like many other titles, the above is the storyline. The main characters are a 37-year-old man and a 20-year-old young lady. With statements like “I can guarantee you with 100 percent certainty that if a Thai girl says she loves you, she is lying. Love is not the same with the Thai as it is with us” and an experienced white nose tells how to deal with taxi drivers and the like: “There is no point in confronting him with this, that does not work with the Thai, they act as if they do not understand it or walk away”. And from a book by a professor specializing in tourism and mountain peoples: “Women are generally submissive to men in Thai culture. From their youth they are under strict control over where they go and what they can do” (and then the men actually do nothing and more of that).
Not a pleasure to read so far. Then I liked “The Prostitute” much better. In it, a country lady lets herself be told a lie by a nice talker, but she ends up in prostitution and experiences many bad things. Written by K. Surangkhanang who (together with her husband) had many conversations with prostitutes in order to write a convincing novel. And there are many more novels in Thailand that tell so much more about the country (often without prostitutes or white-nosers in them): Letters from Thailand, Four Reigns, Khun Chang Khun Phaen and so on.
I sometimes wonder, is the world of European and American (male) writers really so small, is it lacking inspiration or creativity? Or fear that a story other than novel number one hundred and ten about bar life will not be popular with the reading public in Europe?
I must say, when the author works with the most elaborate setting, fortunately the perspective of various Thai characters is also presented, or at least an attempt is made... So for the readership who thinks that Thailand is synonymous with bars where white-nosers go on the hunt, and who would like to maintain that assumption, then this is probably one of the less bad novels to read.
I'm half way through the book now. So far the main characters are walking clichés: White Nose immediately falls in love, the lady doesn't believe anything. He chases his dick, she plucks it. The foreign culture is so incomprehensible and more of that. *yawn* The various white-nosed people believe that almost all Thais are stupid, the Thais think that almost all farang are stupid. Of course, they themselves are not stupid and in the meantime everyone does one stupid or stupid action after another. One repetition and repeated cliché after another. Haven't read a paragraph yet in which the scene itself was original or a character made a surprising comment. Exciting? No. Soporific or laughable I would say.
I don't think I can finish reading the book, the chance that the storyline will suddenly take a surprising turn or a character will say something that makes me look or think differently, I don't think there is any chance of that. But I'd like to hear if I'm wrong and the book still has an exciting, surprising, fascinating or insightful ending.
Suddenly an inspiration: great to write a novel with all kinds of stereotypical characters, and the cliché events could be largely true because there are these kinds of people. But instead of repeating cliché after cliché, why not quickly take a different path? Why not take a different approach to the storyline after the first unpleasant experiences of the English and Thai main characters? Let him meet another nice lady in a bar, restaurant or while he's thinking on a bench somewhere? Don't let that Thai person be the cliché of a sly wolf. And/or let the barmaid meet someone with whom she genuinely knows how to find security and all that more? Or perhaps that the two main characters both take a good look in the mirror, realize that the other is not a stupid goose or buffalo and that there is something in it that is not a series of clichés?
If the author is/was such a passionate fact-finder, he could certainly have tapped into stories of white-noses and Thais in mixed relationships that are not the cliché of stupid older white-noses with a sly young Thai wolf.