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If you've washed up in Thailand and are wondering where the hell your life is going, you'll probably wish that you knew someone like Fast Eddie, proprietor of the Lucky 7 A-Go-Go and affable svengali to a rag-tag band of Chiang Mai English teachers who struggle to be decadent on 30,000 baht a month.

In the wake of a near-fatal heart attack, however, Fast Eddie's priorities change and his fun-loving friends are horrified to discover that he now questions the wisdom of his lurid sex-pat lifestyle. His surprise decision to sell the bar precipitates a complex web of intrigue.

The underlying theme is redemption but the big idea develops quietly behind an engaging parade of farang misfits and Thai hookers who play out their relationship difficulties for our voyeuristic reading pleasure. The author covers ground which, in less skilful hands, could have descended into cliche but which, instead, takes Thailand fiction to a new level.

In fact, I hesitate to label Fast Eddie's as "Thailand fiction" because the term has slightly negative connotations - like "local newspaper." In my opinion, the book has broader appeal than most in the genre and could easily find an audience without flaunting its Thailand credentials. It's a thumping good read and the characters are so believable that they must be based on real people.

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Take Tommy the Frankenstein, for example. His face was horribly disfigured by a car accident. He's thoughtful and articulate but also wears a heavy trench-coat at all times. His friends carefully sidestep the issue of why he does so in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees centigrade.

Another major character is middle-aged loser, Ray Malone. He thinks that his luck will change if he buys Eddie's go-go bar but it's perfectly obvious to everyone else that the guy needs to build up his self-esteem in more conventional ways.

Here's a quote from Lonny, a minor character whose role is to sum up Fast Eddie's colourful contribution to the farang community in Chiang Mai.

Fast Eddie has done more for me in the past year and a half of my life than any doctor could. All those people back home, all their theories and ideas. Lonny, you're UNFULFILLED. Lonny, you need to find GOD. Lonny, you need to find a HOBBY. Not one of them ever saw the real me. The real Lonny! Not until your father set a beer down before me and said in plain and simple English: Lonny, you need to get laid!

I can't think of another book in the "Thailand fiction" genre that is in any way similar to Fast Eddie's. It actually reminds me of Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, the timeless classic about second chances set during the turbulent times of the French Revolution but, before anyone accuses me of being a pompous literary twat, I would say in my defence that I didn't read the book - my Thai girlfriend bought the movie on DVD and we both enjoyed it.

Both stories feature a cop who can't tell a lie but the main similarity is between Fast Eddie and the principled Gallic ex-con, Jean Valjean, played in the movie by Liam Neeson. Both are given a second chance at life and both radically change their outlook as a result. Both lead by example and both rescue the odd hooker as well. Come to think of it, if you aged him a bit, Liam Neeson would make the perfect Fast Eddie.

Anyway, I digress. As I mentioned at the beginning, life-changing events force our debauched bar-owning hero to ponder how we displaced farangs might achieve fulfilment in our enjoyable but rather dead-end lives in Thailand. His soul-searching does reach a conclusion - and a rather satisfactory one too - but I'm not going to spoil it for you by revealing all.

I read Fast Eddie's Lucky 7 A-Go-Go on a visa-run to Malaysia. I wanted to research a piece about KL nightlife but, unfortunately, the book was so good that I couldn't put it down and I spent the whole trip in my hotel room. Hopefully, though, the bars of Bangsar Baru will still be there when I return in a few months time.

In the interests of balance, I should also include a few negative comments about Fast Eddie's but the truth is that I can't think of any. Unlike any other Thailand author who has gone before him, David Young has scored the perfect home run on Mango Sauce and I'm now looking forward to reading his earlier books which include The Scribe and Thailand Joy.

More information

If you don't live in Thailand (or even if you do but, like me, are too lazy to drag your fat arse down to Bookazine on Sukhumvit) you can order a copy here:

http://www.dcothai.com/books/fast-eddies-lucky-7-a-go-go.htm

Fast Eddie's Lucky 7 A-Go-Go
Author: David Young
Publisher: Hostage Press International
Price: 395 baht
ISBN: 974-91664-0-X

[Posted to Books by David]

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