The Fourth Watcher: A Novel of Bangkok

Timothy Hallinan

William Morrow,  June 2008

Timothy Hallinan, author of A Nail Through the Heart ("Haunting . . . fast, bold, disturbing and beautifully written" -- New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker), is back with a new thriller once again set in the Bangkok that tourists never see.

Travel writer Poke Rafferty is ready to let go of his Looking for Trouble series of travel books and the dangerous lifestyle that goes with it, and settle down in Bangkok with his girlfriend, Rose, and his newly adopted daughter Miaow. But trouble isn't ready to let go of Poke. Enter the one person Poke least wants to see in the entire world -- a person whose emotional hold on Poke is absolute. With him come  box of rubies, a wad of fraudulent identity papers, and -- in pursuit of those things -- one of the most dangerous gangsters in China.

Add to that Rose's innocent involvement in a North Korean counterfeiting operation and an off-the-tracks agent of the American Secret Service who's dying to put Poke behind bars, and Poke and his family find themselves in a complicated and potentially deadly situation. Getting them all out alive will take every skill Poke has.

Once again, Hallinan has created a complex, emotionally satisfying thriller with edge-of-your-seat suspense and a cast of characters so real you'll feel you know them. Sharp as a razor and full of heart-pounding surprises, The Fourth Water firmly establishes Hallinan as a brilliant new voice in the world of suspense.

hardcover | ISBN: 9780061257254 | Publication Date: June 2008

Reviews:
"Timothy Hallinan deals in a profoundly serious way with important themes . . . yet his touch is so sure, his humor so mordantly pugnent, his dialogue so pitch-perfect, and his humanity and intelligence so self-evident that every page shimmers with life and light."
-- New York Times bestelling author John Lescroart

"A haunting novel . . . Fast, bold, disturbing and beautifully written."
--T. Jefferson Parker

"Excellent . . . Recall[s] John Burdett's visceral mysteries."
--Publishers Weekly