7 twisty thriller books set in Thailand

The Dive by Sara Ochs

When scuba diving instructor Cass takes her students out for their first dive off beautiful Koh Sang – Thailand’s world renowned party island – it’s supposed to be a life-changing experience, but things quickly spiral out of control…

When the boat arrives back on shore, one of her students is dead and another is badly injured.

She knows that her idyllic life is about to be smashed to pieces on the rocks.

Because there’s a killer in paradise – and Cass has a feeling she might be next…

Bangkok Eight by John Burdett

In surreal Bangkok, where Buddhist monks walk the same streets as world-class gangsters, a US marine sergeant is killed inside a locked car by a maddened python and a swarm of cobras.

Two cops – the only two in Bangkok not on the take – arrive too late. Minutes later, only one is alive.

The one left standing, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, is a devout Buddhist and swears to avenge the death of his partner and soul brother.

To do so he must immerse himself in the underbelly of Bangkok – where desire rules and where he will eventually find the killer, a predator of an even more sinister variety…

Part of the six book Sonchai Jitpleecheep series.

The Beach by Alex Garland

Richard lands in Southeast Asia in search of an earthly utopia. In Thailand, he is given a map promising an unknown island, a secluded beach – and a new way of life.

What he finds when he gets there is more breath-taking, more extraordinary and more frightening than his wildest dreams could ever have foreseen.

But how long can paradise truly survive? And what lengths will Richard go to in order to save it?

A classic story of paradise found.. and lost, the book that inspired the major Hollywood film.

The Big Mango by Jake Needham

In 1975 – when the Americans fled Saigon – $400 million went missing in a botched CIA operation to grab the Bank of Vietnam’s foreign currency reserves.

Two decades later, the word is out that the money somehow ended up in Bangkok – and Eddie Dare, a downwardly mobile lawyer from California is the only guy left alive who might have a chance of figuring out why.

Eddie knows nothing about the missing money. At least, he doesn’t think he does. But so many people claim he’s got an inside track on finding it that he and an old marine buddy decide to head for Bangkok to do a little treasure hunting. What do they have to lose?

Their lives, it turns out. When they delve into the spiky underworld of modern-day Bangkok, things get weird.

Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo

Detective Harry Hole arrives in a stifling Bangkok.

The Norwegian ambassador has been found dead in a seedy motel room and it’s clear that the Ambassador’s family have some secrets they’d rather keep hidden.

Harry needs to solve the case and avoid a scandal – but few people are willing to talk.

When he gets his hands on some incriminating CCTV footage, complications mount up and the man who gave him the tape goes missing.

Harry realises that failing to solve the case is by no means the only danger that faces him in Bangkok.

Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett

In District 8, the underbelly of Bangkok’s crime world, a dramatically mutilated body is found in a hotel bedroom. It looks bad, as the corpse – who’s been flayed – is CIA.

And it gets worse when the self-confessed murderer is the beautiful Chanya – the best ‘working girl’ at a club owned jointly by Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep’s mother and his boss, Police Colonel Vikorn.

A cover-up ensues but the truth will be harder to come by, and it will require Sonchai to mingle with Bangkok’s drug-dealers, prostitutes, bad cops, even worse military generals, and the pitfalls of his own melting heart.

With mesmerising characters in the hallucinogenic atmosphere of Bangkok, this is a thriller like no other.

Part of the six book Royal Thai Detective series.

The Glass Kingdom by Lawrence Osborne

Sarah Jennings, a young American living in New York, has fled to Bangkok to disappear.

With a suitcase full of cash in tow, she takes up residence at the Kingdom, a glittering complex slowly sinking into its own twilight.

There, amidst a backdrop of shadowy gossip and intrigue, she is drawn into the world of the Kingdom’s glamorous ex-pat women. But when political chaos and a fevered uprising afflict the streets below, Sarah witnesses something unspeakable – and her safe haven starts to feel more like a trap.

A captivating glimpse at the collision between human greed and karma.