Snakes - A Thai novel

Monks, murder, money, miracles and mystifications.  Snakes galore and sleazy slitherings  intertwined with scandal, suicide and rape  in the central Thai village of Khoak Phranang  -the first of a celebrated quartet of novels [seeThe Medium, Khoak PhranangandLord of the Land under the ThaiFiction imprint]. Central to the story are Yeesun,  murderer, boxer, snake catcher and a good man  -and Abbot Nian (Father Smoothy),  who beheads Buddha statues, kills a monk  and beds another for the greater glory of his temple. A tale told at breakneck speed  with bite and sardonic humour.  A daring novel written in 1984 denouncing the betrayal  of Buddhism in the age of rampant consumerism