A Nail through the Heart (Poke Rafferty Series #1)

by Timothy Hallinan

Overview of A Nail through the Heart (Poke Rafferty Series #1)

Travel writer Poke Rafferty was good at looking for trouble—so good that he made a little money writing a few offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored. But that was before Bangkok stole his heart. Now the expat American is happily playing family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry, and with Miaow, the wary street child he wants to adopt. Yet just when everything is beginning to work out, trouble comes looking for Poke in the guise of good intentions. First he takes in Miaow's friend, a troubled and terrifying street urchin named Superman. Then he agrees to find a distraught Aussie woman's missing uncle—and accept an old woman's generous payment to find a blackmailing theif. Soon, these three seemingly disparate events begin to overlap, pulling Poke deeper into dark, unfamiliar terrain. Gradually he realizes that he's been gliding across the surface of a culture he really doesn't understand—and that what he doesn't know is about to hurt him and everyone he loves.

Beautifully crafted, relentlessly paced, A Nail Through the Heart is an exciting and enticing read that will leave readers hungry for more from the gifted Timothy Hallinan.

Synopsis of A Nail through the Heart (Poke Rafferty Series #1)

Poke Rafferty was writing offbeat travel guides for the young and terminally bored when Bangkok stole his heart. Now the American expat is assembling a new family with Rose, the former go-go dancer he wants to marry, and Miaow, the tiny, streetwise urchin he wants to adopt. But trouble in the guise of good intentions comes calling just when everything is beginning to work out. Poke agrees to take in Superman, Miaow's troubled and terrifying friend from the gutter. Then he agrees to help locate a distraught Aussie woman's missing uncle and accepts a generous payment to find a blackmailing thief. No longer gliding carelessly across the surface of a culture he doesn't really understand, suddenly Poke is plodding through dark and unfamiliar terrain—and everything and everyone he loves is in terrible danger.

The Washington Post - Richard Lipez

When Hallinan's personable protagonist, Bangkok travel writer Poke Rafferty, rescues a street urchin named Miaow from a life of degradation, complications pile up fast. They include a missing Australian whose computer files depict grotesque crimes against children, as well as a rich Cambodian matron whose own guilty secrets are on an even more monstrous scale. Hallinan's portrayals of Miaow and a pill-popping wreck of a boy known on the Bangkok streets as Superman are drenched with sorrow, but he also manages to keep his tale of blackmail, extortion and revenge spinning along at a speedy clip, despite the heat and humidity.

About the Author, Timothy Hallinan

Timothy Hallinan is the author of nine widely praised books: eight novels—including the Bangkok thrillers featuring Poke Rafferty, A Nail Through the Heart, The Fourth Watcher, and Breathing Water—and a work of nonfiction. Along with his wife, Munyin Choy, he divides his time equally between Los Angeles, California, and Southeast Asia.

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