The premise of John Burdett's fifth Bangkok-based cop tale may seem far-fetched, but why should it? Trafficking in human organs, many taken from Chinese prisoners, is a staple of sensational news stories and understood to be a widespread practice in Asia.

Just read the archives of The New York Times to see that the illegal organ trade is not limited to Asia but has been uncovered in the New Jersey suburbs. Illegal trafficking in human organs has been found or traced to the United States, Israel, Egypt, Brazil, South Africa and other countries where officials look the other way while kidneys, livers and assorted body parts are shipped around the globe.

Speedy air travel, modern refrigeration, corrupt government officials and buyers willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a kidney or a pair of eyes or even an entire face have converged today to make it credible that the glamorous, jet-setting Chinese twins in Burdett's "Vulture Peak" have arranged a remote site near Phuket, Thailand, to cut organs from unwilling donors.

Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the half-white, half-Thai Bangkok detective at the heart of this mystery, is again working for his dodgy master, Police Col. Vikorn. This time, however, Vikorn is vying in Thailand's equally dodgy political world to be elected governor. He suspects the way to undo his political rival, Gen. Zinna of the Royal Thai Army, is to pin him as the mastermind and protector of Thailand's organ trade.

Sonchai's usual associates hang around in Bangkok: his former prostitute wife, Chanya; his cross-dressing assistant, Lek; his mother, a former prostitute and bar owner. Burdett never tires of describing the sin and sensationalism of Thailand's capital. This time, the story line comes close to stomach-turning, as when Vikorn explains to Sonchai the ugly way the organ trade works:

—"'Suppose some rich little s*** on Wall Street needs a new heart. Is he going to wait in line in hope that the health system will find him a replacement before he croaks — or is he going to buy himself one on the black market? If he's worth eight hundred million, surely a mere million is not too much to ask in return for another twenty years of bleeding the world white?'"

Money and speed are key, Vikorn says:

—"'Sure, it would be a first-class racket if it wasn't for the short shelf life of the product. Did you know that lungs and hearts only last six hours? After that they're useless.'"

But eyes? They've got a longer shelf life, Vikorn says:

—"'Just pop them out and chuck them in a fridge, they're good for a week.'"

That basic law of economics, supply and demand, reigns. And human nature driven by twin instincts of greed and survival gives the organ trade the impetus it needs to endure.

Repps Hudson is a journalism instructor at Washington University.

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'Vulture Peak'

A novel by John Burdett

Published by Knopf, 285 pages, $25.95