The Hot Countries

Back when Poke Rafferty first arrived in Bangkok to write a travel guide, some of the old-timers in the Expat Bar on Patpong Road helped him make sense of the city. Now these men—many of whom have been living in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War—have grown old and, in some cases, frail. When a talkative stranger named Arthur Varney turns up, they accept him without suspicion, failing to see that he's actually using them to get to Poke.

Varney wants two things: money Poke doesn't have and a person Poke is unwilling to hand over. It becomes apparent quite quickly that there's nothing Varney won't do to secure his goal. As his actions threaten the foundation of Poke's life in Thailand, the much diminshed men of the Expat Bar discover that they might still be a force to reckon with.