Salty

“Graham Greene meets the Marx Brothers” in a comic thriller of “unquiet Americans on the loose in Thailand” (Tom Drury, author of Pacific).   Turk Henry is an overweight, beer-swilling rock star married to a supermodel and rich beyond his wildest dreams. Right now his pampered paunch is plopped on the beach in Phuket, the last place a recovering sex addict should go on vacation, surrounded by topless groupies and luscious bar girls. But Turk’s struggles with monogamy pale beside a greater challenge when his wife is abducted by a group of renegade Thai pirates.   The US government won’t help, and the law forbids Turk from paying the ransom. With life skills limited to playing bass and partying, Turk must now navigate the back alleys of Bangkok and the deadly jungles of Southeast Asia to save his wife—and he’s sweating bullets every step of the way.   Featuring skinflint tourists, a hypochondriac US government agent, a horny Australian commando, venal publicists, and a nest of resourceful prostitutes, this NPR “100 Best Beach Books Ever” pick “mix[es] laughs and satire like a cross between Carl Hiaasen and Ross Thomas” (Entertainment Weekly).   “Cheerfully skewer[s] Homeland Security, heavy metal, compromised Hollywood morals, American arrogance, fetishes and anything else worth taking a shot at.” —The Miami Herald   “Rare for a work of American fiction . . . An exquisitely written thriller that is as entertaining as it is intelligent.” —Walter Reichert, Entertainment World