Panic in Patpong
Programmer Cody Hudson works for an information technology business called Track IT. The company’s employees are in Bangkok to celebrate the sale of a custom software package to one of Bangkok’s most prestigious gem and jewelry stores, KC Gems. Cody and his two coworkers, Charlie and Evan, are directly responsible for developing the advanced point-of-sale software. Cody is hesitant about going to Thailand. Perhaps it is because he is still a young, shy, and quiet man, naïve about the world, and totally devoted to his wife Kelsie at home. But Charlie and Evan take it upon themselves to widen his horizons by introducing him to Bangkok’s entertainments.
Before departing Thailand, the three men go shopping at KC Gems with their awarded discount. While there, the computer system freezes. Cody is there to fix it, but worries about what caused it. Was the problem caused by Track ITs new software? Could the strange code he finds mean some kind of industrial sabotage, or is something else at play? Before he knows it, Cody is fleeing in panic through Patpong, Bangkok’s famous red-light district. He finds himself kidnapped, accused of blackmail and theft, and thrown into the dark underworld of the blood gem business. Along the way, help comes from a young boy named Chati, a bargirl named Frangi, a kathoey named Cherry Ju-Bilee, and a man who is not who he claims to be.
Available in Paperback and Kindle formats:
Published 2025 by Templar Media | 270 pages | ISBN-13: 979-8986984865
EXCERPT:
“I don’t know who those men are, but I think they have guns. You must take your friend out the back door and go away for a while.”
Frangi and Cody starred at her with surprise, especially when they heard about the guns. The mamasan glared at them to move. “Now! Go!”
Frangi grabbed another dancer’s wrap-around dress and quickly put it on before grabbing Cody’s wrist and running out the back door.
Prayut had watched the mamasan go into the back room. He mentioned it to Chayaphon and they quickly followed her. No sooner had Frangi and Cody run out than the two men came through the curtain and saw the back door closing. They pushed the mamasan against the wall, rushed past her, and headed out in pursuit.
Frangi pulled Cody to the left, running down Patpong Soi 2. At that time of the evening the street was full of passersby looking for places to eat and deciding where they would go for an evening’s entertainment. Frangi wove through the throng, while a sense of panic creeped up from Cody’s stomach to his throat. The thought of two men with guns trying to track him down was way out of his comfort zone.
Reviews:
“The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free…”
Review by Lilah Shahkhor
It is said that “One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster,” but for one American on a seemingly ordinary night in Thailand’s capital, it turns into a nightmare. Cody is a software developer and his company is in Bangkok to celebrate its proprietary point-of-sale software’s purchase by an independent Thai jewelry corporation. Little does Cody realize that his innocent yet curious foray into Patpong’s infamous red-light district, will plunge him headlong into the underworld of the black market gem trade, and a maze of interconnecting sex club tunnels, resulting in his kidnapping, all for reasons unknown.
Even though he remains faithful to his wife Kelsie, Cody’s predicament finds him at the mercy of a kindhearted bar girl, whose quick thinking and selflessness belies the stereotype of the typical Thai sex worker. She helps him skillfully navigate a heart-pounding chase through Patpong’s streets and its underground, with burly, bad ass looking criminals in hot pursuit…but why? What could this sweet, geeky, law-abiding American have done to elicit the ire of Thai gangsters?
Once it becomes obvious that Cody has missed his return flight home, Kelsie feels something is very wrong. While not entirely incongruous, since she works for a New York private investigator, she heads to Bangkok to find him. Not knowing the language and entirely out of her depth, Kelsie unexpectedly gets help from a ladyboy, who assists through the customs, corners, and complexities of Patpong.
I found this book to be a fun and addictive adventure from start to finish. With its exhilarating and suspenseful pace, I was pushed right into the deep end along with Cody, experiencing the panic and confusion with him. I enjoyed racing along the bustling streets and weaving through the bars, clubs, and landmarks, all places that I’ve never been to myself, but which the author describes in-depth with the accuracy of someone who has. Chappell has a talent for bringing her books’ settings to life, and does so especially well in the exotic locations traversed in Panic in Patpong. I also learned a lot more than I had anticipated about the jewelry industry, along with its dark side of the ongoing existence of the blood gem trade. For me, I couldn’t put it down, needing to know what was going to happen next, right up until its satisfying ending, when finally, like the song says, “the tough guys tumble.”
The official website of Lita-Luise Chappell, writer on sex, magic, food, distant lands, and everyday life with articles, poetry, novels, travelogues, rituals, cookbooks, and short-stories.
