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If you liked that Dan Brown book (you all know the one I'm talking about), and you like Asia, especially Thailand, then you will like this book.

I guarantee it.

If you like multiple sex scenes and well staged action scenes then, well, you will like it even more…

...Sure...

...What we have here is a historical based adventure; the book becomes a page-turner. The action builds up and advances at an alarming pace. Towards the end, I found myself rushing forth to the finale. I read the book in a couple of sittings. I was hooked until the end....

...Mystery, murder, hidden treasure, what’s not to like?

Well, a couple of things kinda bothered me…

The author could have concerned himself less with word count.. The guidebook feel in the early chapters pulled me away from the story a little. A review of every hotel and restaurant, each place discribed in fine detail, including the menus?

Maybe this is intentional, or maybe not.

An author has to decide if he is writing a novel or a restaurant or hotel guide. This kind of reporting is great for newbie travelers to the Kingdom. I enjoyed all the information but felt at times was it all necessary to the plot.

And make no mistake about it. The plot is excellent.

I loved the protagonist - Sam Collins is a womanizer and an expert in South East Asian history.

Every woman he meets in the epic adventure he beds.

Every. Single. One!

I kid ye not.

In fact the best scene is when he makes it with some hooker in the back of a limousine travelling from Pattaya to Bangkok. The limo driver gets shot down and they crash. Collins dives out of the car, naked, and takes out the assailant using the hooker’s bra wrapped around his hand and garnished with glass (from the broken limo window) he floors the assailant.
Pulp fiction doesn’t get much better than that!

Then there’s the snake trick. That was simply inspired.

Won't spoil it.

Locke handles the aforementioned numerous love scenes well although the reader has to believe that the one woman that he has repeatedly cheated on is the one he really loves and therefore we have to understand the stakes revolve around her safety in the end. He really loves her, although he has shagged around at every given chance. Hell, it worked for James Bond!
It works for Sam Collins too!

A good read, recommended.

I liked it and you will too, probably.

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The Ming Inheritance is an interesting novel: part history lesson, part archaeological dig, part treasure hunt, and part private eye detective lit all rolled into one big adventure: a cross between Indiana Jones and Chinatown. The story opens on a still night in Thailand about 550 years ago. It gives an historical account of a missing Chinese treasure and delves through several hundred years of both Thai and Chinese history. The characters read like those from a Philip Marlowe novel, and there are other noir elements within the story: ex cops with a past they want to forget; adventurers who get in too deep with fatal consequences, bar girls who have bigger plans than becoming the usual victims, drug addicts and alcoholics, and nasty criminals who'll stop at nothing to get what they want.

There is a real market for authentic stories like these that link travelers wishing to know more about faraway places through the lens of a novel. The Ming Inheritance is just such a novel as it shows a Thailand rich in history and cultural depth. The reader gets a lot of bang for their buck: he or she also gets a lot of cultural and geographical information. For example, the reader finds out about Chiang Mai's famous Baan Ta Wai furniture market. The book also has suggestions for local authentic eateries: "If you want a true grade "A" hamburger in Chiang Mai, you go to Mike's Original Hamburger. If you want a classic homemade pizza, you go to Mad Dog Pizza located on the moat road directly opposite DK Books." There are also references to eateries that serve steaks in Bangkok and also other entertainment venues. Handy if you're in town and fancy checking them out while you're reading the book.

If there is a flaw in the novel, it's that it's too long and possibly 20-30% of it has narrative threads that have little to do with the advancement of the story. For example, in one scene, after Jon and Sam have been attacked by the blonde man and his cronies in Chiang Mai, we are treated to a history lesson on the Boston Red Sox. This would be fine if it advanced the story or showed in some way an aspect of a character's personality which again gave a reason for why he or she acted in a way that they did; but this does not happen.

As Chekov said, "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter, it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." Also, when he's about to visit Pai, Sam meets a history professor and we learn again about the history of the place and places of interest to visit. Again, while this may be interesting information, I couldn't help thinking that I was either reading a novel that wanted to be a guide book, or a guide book that wanted to be a novel. As I said, some people really like this in a novel as it's authentic, but I like my stories to be tighter than an oilman's derrick with absolutely no extraneous elements, so I was less interested in these kinds of scenes. That's not to say that other people wouldn't like this - I'm quite sure there are a lot of people who would.

Overall though, I quite liked the story for all the other elements that are to be found. There is an easy pacing of the story that, at no time, ever seems rushed. The dialogue doesn't seem contrived, awkward or clunky either. The references to parts of Thailand that can be visited, while at times seemingly otiose, were interesting, the cultural references to being Thai, and the descriptions of local temples and cultural landmarks were all interesting in their own way, too.

Thomas Locke clearly knows his Thai history and is cleverly able to spin a good story and make it mingle with facets of Thai life as they are today. I would heartily recommend this to anyone visiting Thailand. With a quick download onto your Kindle, it would make a great read on the plane over or while relaxing on a Thai beach with a cocktail near to hand.

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Great Read

Posted June 09, 2012 by Declan Powell , Boston

The Ming Inheritance scores high on my list for the following reasons. 1. The story takes you on quite a ride from the very north of Thailand (I very much want to visit Chiang Mai & Pai now) down to Bangkok & Pattaya. Along the way it sprinkles in places to see (restaurants, pubs, temples, go-go bars) that any traveler may wish to visit. I've already decided to book Secret's resort in Pattaya. He does all this with out weighing down the story. 2. The historical elements are extremely interesting (especially the Free Thai movement) & again he incorporates as part of the plot w/out feeling like you're reading a textbook. 3. Girls, Girls, Girls!! Man, the sexy ladies jump off the page. And they're not from the bars either. Well, not all. Most importantly, they come across as real (I'd love to meet Gemma from Norway).
4. Bottom line: It made me want to visit Thailand again, I learned a great deal about Thai history, I found out interesting details for my next trip to LOS & the plot was exciting and, oh yeah, Girls, Girls, Girls!!