I’ve just finished reading a super crime fiction book, Waking The Tiger, written by Mark Wightman. It is set in prewar Singapore. Some of you may remember Mark from the late 70’s and 80’s when he rode at the Bukit Timah Saddle Club and raced in Amateur Races in Singapore, KL, Ipoh, Penang and Alor Star.
I really enjoyed the book. Set just before the outbreak of World War II in British Singapore. Mark’s protagonist, Max Betancourt, is a ‘Serani‘ – a Eurasian. He has put himself into Asian shoes. True to the Singapore he knows, Mark includes a climactic race at the Bukit Timah Racecourse!
It’s a really exciting book. Mark is a very good writer, and I was transfixed from the start. Couldn’t put it down. If you know Singapore, there are many recognisable places and names in this book. There is already a Waking Tiger book trail.
I am not at all surprised that it has been shortlisted for an award for the Scottish Crime Debut Novel of the Year 2021. I recommend Waking The Tiger warmly to everyone. Those of you who know Mark or have ridden in races yourselves will find it particularly interesting.
Here is how you can order Waking The Tiger online:
https://www.hobeck.net/
Mark Wightman was born in Edinburgh before growing up in the Far East, in Hong Kong and Singapore. The idea of writing a novel set in Singapore had lain, sown but ungerminated, for a long time. He particularly wanted to explore the elements of history that lay at the margins, where the recorded facts have either faded or been hidden. After a successful career in media technology, Mark completed master’s degrees in Creative Writing, first at the University of Edinburgh, and then at the University of East Anglia, where he received a distinction for his debut novel Waking the Tiger. Mark was the winner of the Pitch Perfect event at the Bloody Scotland Crime Festival in 2017, also for Waking the Tiger, and was selected to be one of the seventeen UNESCO City of Literature Story Shop emerging writers at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival.
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