Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
One thing that I want to add is that the way the author illustrated Indian Culture(Bengali Culture) is speechless. I have never thought that a foreign author can write about Indian culture this well. The way the author explains the Rath Yatra(Indian festival) is wonderful. Read the full review of Kolkata Noir at The Books […]
Continue Reading
Laura at Bookscaretc wrote a great review for The Devil’s Rod to Kathmandu. ….Author Tom Vater is described as working predominantly in Asia, and as well as fiction has been a travel writer. And it is clear from his writing that he has both a deep knowledge and a great love for the environments he […]
Continue Reading
Book Bloom, an Indian reviewer, has high praise for Kolkata Noir. …One thing that I want to add is that the way the author illustrated Indian Culture(Bengali Culture) is speechless. I have never thought that a foreign author can write about Indian culture this well. The way the author explains the Rath Yatra(Indian festival) is […]
Continue Reading
wildwritinglife reviews The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu! …Beyond the very loaded action line, which appeals to the action-thirsty reader, The Devil´s Road to Kathmandu by the author and journalist Tom Vater has very fine human observations and a well-tempered timeline. The idea of coming back and forth from a period of time to another is a frequent […]
Continue Reading
Thanks to Kitty Lisha for a fair review of The Cambodian Book of the Dead, the first Detective Maier Mystery, originally published in 2013. This book….this book. Where to begin. It has a lot of facts in it. I didn’t fact check them. Didn’t really have the desire to if we are being honest here […]
Continue ReadingI reviewed Van Halen opening for AC/DC in 1984 in Karlsruhe for my local paper. It was the Monsters of Rock festival tour and one of my first writing gigs and first mega rock shows (I had already covered Supertramp and a line-up of similarly easy on the ears performers at the same venue). I […]
Continue ReadingCategorically Well Read have posted a great review of the first Detective Maier novel, The Cambodian Book of the Dead, originally published with Exhibit A in 2013 and now with Crime Wave Press. The story is set in 2001, just as Cambodia is re-emerging from over 50 years of war, genocide, famine, and cultural collapse. […]
Continue ReadingA great review of The Monsoon Ghost Image by a retired FBI agent. What if Graham Greene had written extreme horror? Interesting thought. True, the carnage of cold war detente may have produced some hideous and bloody results, but instead of The Third Man, we could have ended up with something akin to a Tom […]
Continue ReadingThe third updated edition of Moon Angkor Wat, my English language guide to the Angkor temples in Cambodia is out now, both in print and ebook format. Reviewer Janet Brown had this to say: I’m the kind of person who reads guidebooks to remember where I’ve been as well as to plan my next destination […]
Continue ReadingCol’s Criminal Library posted a fantastic review of The Monsoon Ghost Image today. Late to the party as usual with my first taste of Tom Vater’s Detective Maier series in what may prove to be his final outing. Tense, violent, brutal, gripping, stunning and a savage indictment on how America conducts itself overseas in a […]
Continue Reading