Bøker av Jim Newport

A year after he became embroiled in a seductive web of blood-letting, sexual excess, and mind-altering time shifting with a 175 year-old Vampire, Martin Larue returns to his adopted home of Bangkok a changed man.With his shaved head and orange robe, he is barely recognized by the doorman to his luxury apartment.For twelve months he had studied the Dharma of the great teacher Bhuddah. Learned the noble truths. Practiced the three fundamental principles - Not to do any evil. To cultivate good. To purify the mind.His transcendent nirvana is shattered by the appearance at his apartment of Police Lieutenant Samarat who seeks his help in tracking down a killer - a killer who drains the blood of his victims.In a cave on the shore of Cambodia, Ramonne, the vampire, has also been reborn. A local Shaman had procured just enough of his ashes from his fiery demise, to concoct a mystical potion that when injected into an infant bat, metamorphosed into an adult male vampire.When his transformation was complete he was taken from the cave by Kanchana, a wealthy young woman who is terrified of a ravenous disease that has progressed through all female members of her family. The evolving vampire offers her the only chance for salvation - the gift of eternal life.Ramonne complies and for awhile there are a pair of vampires stalking the shadows of Bangkok.¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Martin is reunited with Areeyah, the sultry daughter of his and Ramonne's former nemesis Boonsong, and through their common suffering a romance is born. They join the new Police Lieutenant to help find what Martin prays is not a vampire. However Martin soon learns the truth.

Live dangerously. Make friends with a Vampire.Martin Larue, wealthy beyond measure, is a wandering expat, who has made Bangkok his sometime home. His days are spent dabbling in cinema journalism and enjoying the finer things in life. But he is jaded and bored and his editor at the Bangkok Times (one of many worldwide owned by his father) thinks he needs some excitement. He sends him out with the police to dig amongst the dirt beneath Bangkok's façade. His guide is the enigmatic Lt.-Colonel Boonsong. The world-weary Martin finds his senses jolted when he unwittingly accompanies police to a murder scene at the centuries-old Hernando Cemetery. Before he is led away he glimpses the body of a girl with dyed-hair sprawled naked across the cold stone bier in the center of the tomb.Reluctantly Martin uncovers a serial killer in the City of Angels. His article is front-page news and leads to a visit from the murderer himself - a 175-year-old French vampire. Ramonne Delacroix is sophisticated, worldly, charming and dangerous. At first determined to kill him, Ramonne finds in Martin a kindred spirit. An unlikely bond is formed as Martin becomes intoxicated by the vampire's power to reveal the past glories of Siam and Angkor Wat that he has witnessed. He divulges to Martin that he has been paying off Boonsong to carry on his bloodsucking activities without interruption. Martin agrees to transfer his wealth to the vampire for the privilege of following him on his sex and death binges in Bangkok.An exotic tale of lust, greed and the supernatural, "The Vampire Of Siam" follows the strange path that a powerful friendship takes as it unravels, and Martin Larue learns a lesson in the preciousness of life's every moment - from a vampire.

A Dark Christmas is set nine years after the events in The Siamese Connection. Martin's daughter Nina is now nine and his eighteen-year-old adopted Cambodian son Hon is a musical prodigy. The boy's amazing talent was instantly recognizable the first time he sat down on a piano bench. He is rehearsing for his first album to be followed by a world tour.As Christmas rapidly approaches, things become tense in the LaRue household and in the studio as Hon's mysterious French girlfriend Juliette arrives - commanding more and more of Hon's precious time.Tragedy strikes on Christmas Eve, bringing Martin and Ramonne together once again to face, perhaps, their greatest and most powerful modern enemy.The tale shifts back and forth between 1947 and present day. Ramonne and Jim Thompson end up doing battle with The Black Dragons when Ramonne reveals he has the Oracle.Back in the present - Ramonne knows the Japanese have contacted Martin. He reveals what he knows about the Black Dragons and The Oracle.Areeya is admitted to the hospital for the baby's birth. But she is kidnapped from the hospital and Ramonne and Martin trace her to the Hernando Cemetery where Muraki is prepared to make her a human sacrifice in his mad quest for immortality.

Blood on the Keyboard - The rise of the Anti-Hero.The Siamese Connection begins in Bangkok 1947, shortly after the end of WWII and the Axis occupation. The vampire, Ramonne, becomes involved in a quest for a mysterious artifact, "The Oracle," stolen and hidden during the war by the Japanese. He joins forces with famous American expat - Jim Thompson (before he was the 'silk king,' Thompson was an OSS agent.) Together they do battle with a secret Japanese paramilitary organization called the Black Dragons. It is revealed that the Japanese believe the Oracle possesses the power of immortality and that power could have meant invulnerability for the Japanese in the war.The story shifts to present-day Bangkok, where we find Martin and his pregnant wife Areeya and their adopted Cambodian son, Hon (9). Martin has a visitor - Toshiro Muraki. Muraki claims to be looking for Ramonne, whom Martin admits to knowing, but says he drowned eight years earlier. Muraki thought a terrorist bomb blew him up more recently. Martin debunks that. Muraki mentions Ramonne recently being involved in an incident in Cambodia, which also included Martin. The incident occurred near an orphanage Martin endows. He shows Martin a grainy picture of the Orphanage at a night. A man's face is seen reflected in the moonlight.Next Muraki shows Martin a photo of Ramonne and Jim Thompson from the Bamboo Bar's grand opening back in 1947. Ramonne appears to be the man in the photo of the Orphanage. Martin claims the photo must be a fake, but Muraki insists Ramonne hasn't changed since then, convinced Ramonne possesses something of great importance to them. Something powerful enough to grant Ramonne apparent immortality. Martin considers the claims absurd.The tale shifts back and forth between 1947 and present day. Ramonne and Jim Thompson end up doing battle with The Black Dragons when Ramonne reveals he has the Oracle.Back in the present - Ramonne knows the Japanese have contacted Martin. He reveals what he knows about the Black Dragons and The Oracle.Areeya is admitted to the hospital for the baby's birth. But she is kidnapped from the hospital and Ramonne and Martin trace her to the Hernando Cemetery where Muraki is prepared to make her a human sacrifice in his mad quest for immortality.

Ramonne Delacroix - the enigma. 175 year old French vampire. Resident of the kingdom of Siam and modern-day Bangkok. Murderer with countless victims. Witness to history in three centuries... Hitman.He has acquired the journals of the historic journey that he made in 1858 with Henri Mohout to Southeast Asia. Seeking the source of his powers he plans a journey back to the ancient temples of Cambodia and a fateful encounter with Zhoupeng - the mighty devil who "turned him" so many years before. Ramonne vows to put an end to his reign of evil over the poor land.Martin Larue, rich expat whose life was changed forever by his encounters with the vampire, has taken his soul-searching a step further, and with his girlfriend Areeyah, has founded an orphanage and school in Cambodia. He rescued 12 orphans from a life of scraping through a giant rubbish heap outside Phnom Penh and took them to the hamlet of Siam Reap, outside the gates of the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. His 'brood' as Martin calls them, have become everything to him.However, Martin learns there is a serial killer in the area - preying on the native's superstitions and beheading its victims. Martin is horrified by the news as the killer's recent activities are cantered right where his school/orphanage is located.Ramonne arrives in Cambodia. Martin is relieved he's there - he needs a saviour.The battle between two powerful demons is a battle with dire consequences for the world. Zhoupeng, now not only drinks the blood of his victims but he has learned through studies of the ancient Khmer sorcerers texts, to consume their souls - allowing him to grow incredibly strong. His evil reign will soon know no bounds. If he is to defeat him, Ramonne must eventually rely on the sacrifice of 'one with ultimate innocence' -One of Martin's children must die...