Sleepless in Bangkok by Ian Quartermaine

THE BOOK THEY TRIED TO BANIn its initial release in Thailand, ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ engendered a tremendous amount of controversy. It was unofficially banned for review in the press on the basis that it was ‘uncensored’. Sex in Thailand - as the world knows - is available in any and every conceivable format, but apparently such goings on cannot be spoken about or acknowledged. Despite this unofficial ban on press coverage and no reviews in the Thai press, a handful of English language freelance reviewers gave the book a set of to-kill-for reviews. Over the years, the Internet added many more. By Thai standards, its fifth pressing has made ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ a best seller - and all without one paid advert. The controversy even made the distributor reluctant to put the novel on bookshop shelves, making the book’s sales figures even more astounding - as for half of the time ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ just could not be purchased.Another unexpected factor, was that a character in the book - a British ex-public school type whose sexual tastes ran to dressing up in French maid’s clothing, spanking and paedophilia - gained a lot of flack from ex-pat Brits educated in private boarding schools. These ‘private’ schools are called ‘public’ in Britain to fool foreigners and the working classes into thinking they are available to all, whereas they are only really open to children of the rich and influential.One of this social group - an over-the-hill, small time journalist passing himself off as a ‘foreign correspondent’ (in reality a freelance ‘stringer’ in Bangkok) - went as far as to get his virulent objections in print. Not on purpose, he just didn’t realise his bitter and twisted behind the scenes comments would be fair game to publish by the journalist he was speaking to. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard, as this former News of the Screws reporter had predominately made his living from digging the dirt on others. The nationally published article confirmed that this frustrated author minus the talent to actually write a book himself, was obsessed with ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ and the character which he apparently considered resembled him. Little did he realise, but his obsession with ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ and a character in it, confirmed the power of Ian Quartermaine’s prose, plot and characterisation - and the author’s ability to involve and affect people. In this case, making our ‘stringer’ lose touch with reality whilst making him confront his own character flaws.Aptly, the cover of the book carries a warning advising people of a sensitive disposition and those who emanate from a sheltered personal background, ‘not’ to buy it. We guess that a private boarding school in times past would pass as a sheltered personal background regarding almost everything except spanking - the ‘Vice Anglaise’ - and paedophilia. Andrew D, your conduct needed exposing.Appropriately, this Walter Mitty, fake Times of London Foreign Correspondent was later found guilty of libel in Thailand and received a suspended prison sentence and a large fine - which he did not have the means to pay!It’s about time someone finally brought the secrets of the British ruling classes previously private perversions out into the open, and Ian Quartermaine has done it. No wonder ‘Sleepless in Bangkok’ gained so much flack.