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The Thai Diamond
series of books by Robert Bell tells the story of a group of Thai bar boys who
hit it big with the help of some Farangs, a bit of luck and a lot of hard work.
Robert has based a lot
of events, particularly in Rough Diamonds, closely on things that actually
happened to him, or his close friends, since he moved to Thailand. A lot of the stories ring true as Robert
maintained the core of the sequence of events, but maybe changed the final result. Many of the more surprising happenings, such
as Kenmg’s death and funeral, are closely based on real life experiences. The characters are fictional. In some cases, a mash up of boys, and
Farangs, he met in Thailand. The same
with locations.
The story revolves
around Rot and his friends as they start from humble beginnings. They are helped emotionally, and financially,
by a small group of Farangs. Chance
meetings play their part as does a willingness to never say never. What gets the Farangs on board is the guys
desire to improve life for the bar boys.
The story of the Thai
Diamonds starts in ROUGH DIAMONDS. Somrot
Weangmakham, Rot, is persuaded by his brother, Rit, to go and work at Diamond Boys
when it opens. Rit has the job of
organising shows and Rot agrees on condition that he only does the shows. He told Rit no go-go dancing in his underwear
and no going with customers, unless they were young, hot and female. Rit told him that going with customers was
not compulsory, but that he really needed some help to get the shows
started. Rot wasn’t worried; he just did
not want his brother to know about his distant past. He knew the rough end of the trade, but that
was a secret. Rit could never be allowed
to know what had happened in Bangkok.
There is something about the Diamond guys, whether
it is fresh faced Run, straight from the village; Cap who had done his round of
the bars or Keng who had at nineteen already spent a lifetime in the bars. A bond would tie them. They endure all that Pattaya has to throw at them,
including death and rape. They come
through it all stronger, harder and more determined.
Cap and Run use every tool at their disposal to
save enough money to escape Pattaya and build a new future in Udon. But their friendship with the other Diamonds
continued. They have moved on, but there
is unfinished business.
Two Farangs, Michael
Barnard and Geoffrey Shotton befriend the guys and help them along their
way. Geoff supports Cap and Run in their
battle to move north, whilst Mike befriends Rit and Rot. When Rot leaves for the army, Mike and him
grow closer as Rot starts to decide on his future path, one that will surprise
many.
Keng dies and guides their futures from beyond
the grave; their guardian spirit will only rest once they have accepted their
fates and built a future, but they have to work out his riddles.
The pivotal event is Rit’s night at the Hilton, and it’s aftermath. That one night that Rit spends with a young
Farang causes him to evaluate things, and force a fight with his brother. A fight that will lead Rot to make the
decision that will set the future for all the Diamonds.
The guys are back and
on a mission in DIAMOND FELLOWSHIP. Keng
continues his task of helping his friends find their futures. As friendships are renewed, the Diamonds set
down a path that will see them change the face of Diamond Boys, and Pattaya.
They gain revenge on
some of those who crossed, exploited and abused them in their youth. To get there they have to work undercover for
the police to expose a side of Thailand that most of them were once part of,
the side the Thailand where some lost their innocence at a young age. In many ways it was all for Keng, their soul
mate, who started young and died at 20.
Not everyone is
destined to be a Diamond, some are on a route to self destruction. In sorting them out they make some unlikely
allies, who in time will become Diamonds even though Thailand is not their home
country.
Rot finally declares
his feelings, ones that he has hidden from everyone but Mike, and together with
Run, leads the Diamonds towards the bright future. Now that Mike has bought Diamonds they have a
secure future, but also a debt to repay.
Robert reveals eight
faces of the Thai Diamonds in the concluding book of the Thai Diamond trilogy,
FACETS OF THAI DIAMONDS. They put their
former lives behind them and take on the best, and worst, that Pattaya has to
offer.
We finally discover
what happened in Bangkok when Rot went to work there aged sixteen and how he
met Oot. This first facet is a story of
innocence lost.
Mike’s family arrives
for a Christmas that will lead to life changing events, particularly for Mike’s
nephew, Scott, who comes out in a spectacular way back in England, determined
that his future lies elsewhere.
But for some of their
number, the future is not with Diamonds.
Some guys just seem to self destruct.
And changes are afoot which strengthen, and expand the fellowship. Keng finally achieves his goal, and his
spirit moves on, but not without drastic effects to the fellowship.
They face new challenges,
and when Scott, his brother and cousins, spend the summer working in Pattaya on
college projects, it seems destined that the Diamonds will have even bigger
success.
Decisions are taken
and lives change for the young Diamonds, now not just Thai, but Russian and
English. With the help of their elders,
who see the potential, they take on the world.
Peter and Ivan reveal
how their innocence was taken from them in Russia, and how they came to be
living in Thailand with Tim as yet another facet of the story is revealed.
In the four and a half
years we have followed them, the Diamonds, whether Thai or Farang have matured
and grown in stature. Whether it was
chance, or fate, that brought them together, what they created as a team is an
unstoppable phenomenon. They know what
they like. They know what they want. They know when action has to be taken. There are two ‘F’ words that aren’t in their
vocabulary. ‘Fear’ and ‘Failure’. They built their businesses on a firm and
stable footing, and look forward to a future that does not involve revealing
their bodies on stage.
The trilogy is concluded,
but life continues. Thanks to Tim and
Mike’s family, and with hard work they now control their future. For some, life becomes more of a
routine. For others there are new
challenges. Not everyone who crosses
their path is destined to become a Diamond, but those who do form the ultimate
brotherhood.
New faces appear on
the scene, and with them new challenges.
Rot, Run and Scott lead the Diamonds, as they work together with one
goal, that of improving life in Pattaya and making a success of their
business. Sometimes there is a fear that
the former may have an adverse effect on the latter. But if the former means cleaning up town,
then that takes priority.
In FINAL CLOSURE, Paul
Swift retires and plans a peaceful life in Thailand. He soon finds Soi Opal and the bars become a
regular hang out. He wants no pressure,
no faces from the past, and no more snow!
Then he recognizes someone. A
face from the past that represents unfinished business; a face that brings his
time working in Germany back to the fore; but a face that makes him reconsider
retiring to Pattaya. He enlists the help
of Jeng, one of the dancers at Run Coyote that he has befriended, and they
start to investigate.
As he digs deeper, he
finds his foes from Germany are back up to their old tricks, and some new
ones. It’s time to put a spanner in
their works. It’s time to try and
finally finish what was started years ago.
He calls on old friends to help.
In the course of his self imposed mission, he makes new ones amongst the
Thai Diamonds as they help to close down the operations, but this time they
need assistance from lawyers and the police if they are to succeed. Colonel Wichai, ‘Chai’ from Bangkok is given
the job. A job considered by many to be
too hot to handle.
They face challenges
and situations that once again, for some, bring back their early life. To understand what happens in Pattaya, you
need to understand what happened in Germany almost twenty years earlier. Paul was looking for closure on events in
Germany. Could he finally get to the
truth that had eluded them? And will
closure, if obtained, be what he expects?
No one was expecting
the explosive happenings that shook things and caused them to evaluate their
involvement. And whilst the fictional
Pattaya, and characters that Robert created in his earlier books may be familiar,
Final Closure is about retribution and revenge.
It is about Paul’s journey to put demons to rest. But for the Diamonds it is another clean up
job. In the end they get closure, Thai
style. Not the closure that Paul
expected; not the type of closure Paul ever expected to experience. He’d have preferred justice for his foes to
death.
Or did they get
closure? Did they finally get the prove
they looked for so long in Germany. Paul
and Frank thought at first that with the death of Matthias, they had closure. But they realized they were missing someone,
the mastermind. In THE FIFTH MAN they
resume their search. They didn't believe
they had everyone, and no one was talking.
There were too many loose ends. Paul
and Frank look for the puppet master, the person who controlled everything, now
and twenty years ago.
Meanwhile, Chai
has his new job and sets up his new undercover team recruiting Jeng and some of
the other guys who had helped. They find
that their first cases are not only linked to each other, but linked back to
the Matthias case, and to early Thai Diamond History as Run is forced to relive
his rape yet again. It seems someone
wants operations closed, and the police to do the job for them. But Chai isn’t playing that game.
Diamond Detectives
cut their teeth on these new cases, but as it becomes clear that everything is
linked, everyone wants the Fifth Man. The
problem is, even though they become certain of who it is, how do they prove it
in a court of law? They didn’t want to go
down the Matthias route. Karen suggests
the Bratislava solution.
They play a risky
game through to its conclusion, and everything about Germany finally becomes
clear.
Life is not over
for the Diamonds and Robert is currently working on the sixth book, POLISHED
DIAMONDS. The group face new challenges
and witness arrivals and departures. The
core of the group remains and the focus of everyone is on the weddings of the
three Barnards, and Peter and Ivan. But
Pattaya is Pattaya, and the life of the Diamonds is never straight forward.
Tim and his
friends have to deal with shock news and a death at Barnies is not what it
seems. Sebastiano arrives determined
that he can renew his friendship with Paul, and show his family that he can
succeed alone.
Despite various
road bumps along the way the weddings pass off as planned, well almost. Diamond Detectives get involved in investigating
scams, on Thais and Farangs whilst others see an opportunity to invest. Peter and Ivan face their new life as married
men whilst facing the prospect of a future without Tim.
The older Farangs keep
trying to get back into retirement, but there is always something to disturb
them.
POLISHED DIAMONDS is
scheduled for publication in the fourth quarter of 2013 by Thai Diamond Books
and will be available through Amazon, Smashwords and other online retailers of
eBooks.
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