In this slim novel set in 1973 Bangkok, a young executive uncovers fraud in the overseas shipping market, requiring him to make a haunting life-or-death decision.

Bill Thomas is an ex-pat working in Thailand for Worldmetal, Inc., a metal trading company. He’s enjoying all that Thailand offers, satisfying his carnal lust in between pursuing the company’s business ventures. When he’s tipped off that someone is substituting the company’s shipments of tin ore for a cheaper metal, his carefree life takes a turn.

Outraged that the company is being defrauded, he works at breakneck speed to trace the perpetrator. All shipping lanes point to Chai Lee, a powerful, shady magnate in the metals market. Bill confronts Chai Lee with proof of his involvement and orders him to ship the tin ore owed, or risk exposure and arrest. Lee, however, turns the tables. Instead of returning the ore as promised, he kidnaps Chum, one of Thomas’ss mistresses, and threatens to kill her. Bill must decide: Give in and sacrifice what he’s worked so hard to uncover or sign Chum’s death warrant.

Clearly the author knows the metal trading market and, to his credit, explains it simply for readers. However, times have changed since 1973, but the author nonetheless includes highly politically incorrect references to Asians, choppy dialect for the story’s Asian speakers, and rampant misogyny.

That’s a shame, as Thomas missed the opportunity to write engagingly about the time period; he might have explained, for instance, the geo-political situation at the time, which is critical in understanding the situation at the book’s core. Additionally, with the slim page count offering them so little room to breathe, the characters—and their motivations—likewise suffer.

The book is certainly readable: The plot tracks admirably from point A to point B as Thomas attempts to right the wrong. However, it requires a thorough revision to invoke 1973 without resorting to the outdated stereotypes that plague the book.

Also available in paperback.