I picked this author, new to me, because of the audiobook's narrator, R.C. Bray. Greatly enjoyed both the book and the narration, and will probably read more from Mr. Thomas in the near future.

Written in 1969 but not that dated, deals with crime families and extortion and murder, with a dash of used cars and thirsty FBI agents thrown in. Said that way, it sounds like Clive Cussler, but the difference is the protagonist here is no superman - he's a mostly ordinary guy (okay, he was previously a Hollywood stuntman). His job is to stagger through the various stories (and fights) provided by the other characters, eventually piecing together the real story. There are good aspects of thriller and mystery here, with a bit of cynicism and wit also.

The author served in the Philippines during WWII, and I wonder how much of his description of Nash is connected to real life. Narrator Bray had to contend with Italians and Los Angelenos, Chinese and Malay, male and female - and pulled it off well. I first heard him narrate The Martian and was hooked. It turns out he has narrated two more Ross Thomas books - [b:The Seersucker Whipsaw|1956871|The Seersucker Whipsaw|Ross Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509491480l/1956871.SY75.jpg|1959849] and [b:The Mordida Man|2584472|The Mordida Man|Ross Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391214412l/2584472.SY75.jpg|2601174]. Both have goodreads ratings over 4, and both are now on my to-read list.

Back to The Singapore Wink. The female characters are fairly strong, the story is largely set in Singapore, and the characters are interesting. There are a fair amount of monologues delivered to our main character, who soaks them up to eventually distill into the true plot. The ending felt very quick to me, and it wasn't because I was turning the pages faster - Bray's pace remained constant. Recommended.