POOR BOY

In this first novel from Australian poet Brissenden, a journalist becomes personally involved in a very hot story about Thai drugs and Australian money. When reporter Tom Caxton stops in Bangkok on his way to Australia after hard duty in the USSR and a falling-out with his girlfriend, his only plans are to relax for a couple of days, spend a little of his poker winnings, and look up his old Vietnam war chum, Robbie Robertson, for a few drinks. But before he can get away from the airport, Caxton is witness to some heavy-handed police action, and his reporter's reflexes take over. He snaps off a few shots of the action as a fat, nasty Thai cop snatches a fleeing couple from a 747 just before takeoff. Wise enough in the ways of Southeast Asia to protect himself, Caxton lets suave fellow passenger Chris Carmody slip the film through customs for him--and then hustles into town to file the story, a story that promptly takes over his life. It turns out that the fat cop is a kingpin in a flourishing wholesale drug business, that Mr. Carmody is no ordinary businessman, and that old pal Robertson, now married to a beautiful native, may be up to his neck in opium deals. Caxton stays on the story and follows it from Thailand to Australia as it leads from one old war buddy to another, getting nastier all the time. The compensation for Caxton's troubles is the chance to get better acquainted with the lovely Mrs. Robertson when she becomes the Widow Robertson. A fast-moving and absorbing thriller with some terrific scenery.