About the author: Khoo Kheng-Hor (1956- ), born in Penang, Malaysia, had lived an exciting and fulfilling life as a journalist, business executive, author, management consultant, honorary police officer, and international conference speaker.
He has since retired to Cameron Highlands, Pahang in Malaysia to live in seclusion with his wife, Judy, and his four-legged son, Bandit, a Yorkshire terrier, both of whom had sadly passed away since. There, amid the tranquility of the countryside, he turns to creative fiction writing, after having published 15 books and 9 handbooks on business and management. His other novels are Mamasan, Nanyang, Sifu and The Four-Sided Tower: Tales from Penang's Underworld, a collection of 12 short stories released recently in December 2010.
Although he now lives in the mountains, he still maintains contact with the world through his website.
First line in the book: Shortly after eleven o'clock in the morning, the funeral procession was ready to start.
Backcover blurb: A historical saga that brings back the past for those who could still remember and for the young who may wish to know how things used to be in the years between 1922 and 1982.
From the beginning in prewar British-ruled Malaya, the story revolves around the life of a boy as he grows to manhood. It traces the migration of his family from South Thailand to Penang after his father passes away, his brief childhood living with his young widowed mother who subsequently remarried, and thereafter his banishment as a youngster by his stepfather to war-torn Shanghai.
On his return, he had to find a way to earn a living and thereafter, to survive the bloody days of the Japanese Occupation. Even after the surrender of the Japanese, there was the lawless postwar period, from which he saw opportunities to eventually emerge as a taikor (big brother) in Penang's chaotic underworld. Apart from opportunities, the postwar years also saw dangers, like the Emergency period when Communist insurgents tried to destabilize the country's development.
Finally, a nation was born when Malaya became an independent sovereign State. And just as the new nation strived to build a future from its historical legacy, the taikor sought to break away from his past involvement in triad activities to build a new life for himself and his family.
Taikor has been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2006. It is a typical Malaysian saga comprising valour, honour, suspense, betrayal and love.
Rating: 3/5
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