Tom Vater

Writer & Editor

Tom Vater is a writer and editor working mostly in Asia.

Tom has published six crime novels. In 2022, he sold the film rights to his debut novel, The Devil's Road to Kathmandu, to 108 Media.

Tom has written some twenty non-fiction books, including the bestsellers Sacred Skin with Aroon Thaewchatturat, and Cambodia: A Journey through the Land of the Khmer with Kraig Lieb.

Tom's work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Times, The Guardian, Nikkei Asia, CNN, Marie Claire, Geographical, Eco-Business, The Mekong Review and many others. He is the Thailand Daily Telegraph destination expert and has authored guidebooks on Thailand and Cambodia.

He is the co-author of several documentaries, including the highly praised The Most Secret Place On Earth, a feature on the CIA’s secret war in Laos.

From 2012 to 2021, Tom was co-owner of Crime Wave Press, a Hong Kong based crime fiction imprint which published 36 novels .

Tom writes and edits reports for UNDP, IFC, the EU, Fauna & Flora and others.

Tom is represented by London-based literary agency Marjacq.

Tom's latest book, SHARKMAN, is a true crime non fiction about a kidnapping in West Africa and tiger sharks in Thailand.

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Portfolio

Feature Stories

Remotelands
12/05/2024
Picking up the Trail

Kathmandu's legendary "Freak Street", an erstwhile hippy haven with a heady, sometimes horrific, history is making something of a comeback as a laid-back strip.

Nikkei Asia
11/30/2024
Nepal's monarchists nostalgic for the past

KATHMANDU -- A year since Nepalis first took to the streets to call for the reestablishment of the monarchy, the debate is still alive in the republic

Travelogues from Remote Lands
11/07/2024
Shooting from the Hip

Lensman Thapphawut "Sun" Prainyapariwat is collaborating with The Siam Hotel in Bangkok to offer guests a unique analogue photography experience.

Next Chapter
03/28/2024
Sharkman: A True Story

In 1992, mechanic Peter Hauser and two friends bought three old cars and set off from southern Germany to cross the Sahara and drive to Togo, where they planned to sell their vehicles. They never reached their destination. The young, free-wheeling adventurers were ambushed by Tuareg bandits on th...

The Economist
07/28/2022
A Thai pop star uses her music to critique her homeland

T he video is captioned "UGLY TRUTH ABOUT THAILAND". Peeralada Sukawat-better known by her stage name, Pyra-looks into the camera and rolls her eyes. "Bangkok babies in Mercedes," she raps over looping drums and a synth beat. "Rich gets richer, poor gets poorer,/Inequality's a bitch, this place is gettin' shittier."

The Telegraph
01/25/2021
My chilling encounter with serial killer Charles Sobhraj

As The Serpent draws to a close, one writer recalls interviewing the serial killer in prison - and his shocking lack of remorse In December 2003, Central Jail in the Nepali capital Kathmandu was everything one might expect from a prison in a developing country.

(Crime) Fiction

Next Chapter
09/11/2022
The Green Panthers

Meet Clara Green, Emerald, Chartreuse, Olive, Hunter, Juniper and Forest. They are The Green Panthers: a privately sponsored, multi-national underground army, on a mission to hold corporate polluters to account. During the attempted rescue of a snow leopard hunted by British tycoons in Siberia, t...

Next Chapter
05/23/2021
The Devil's Road To Kathmandu

In 1976, four friends - Dan, Fred, Tim and Thierry - are on a bus along the hippie trail from London to Kathmandu. But everything is not going according to plan. After a drug deal goes wrong, the boys barely escape with their lives. Thousands of kilometers, numerous acid trips, accidents, nightclubs and a pair of beautiful Siamese twins later, they finally reach the counter-culture capital of the world, Kathmandu, and Fred disappears with the drug money. A quarter-century later, mysterious...

Next Chapter
07/01/2021
Kolkata Noir

Becker is a British traveler in trouble. Madhurima is a rising star police officer. In these three explosive tales, the two join forces to investigate the city’s crooked high society. On the way, they take on deluded would-be messiahs in search of Mother Teresa’s stolen millions, encounter fanatics, circus freaks and cannibals, fall in and out of love and pay homage to one of the world’s most beautiful and toughest cities. Amidst passion, murder and mayhem, is there room for two lovers...

Travel

Reise-know-how
10/10/2024
CityTrip Angkor und Siem Reap

Mit seiner im Dschungel versteckten Tempelruinenlandschaft Angkor, die zum Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO gehört, hat das alte Khmer-Königreich grandiose Spuren hinterlassen. Der gewaltige Haupttempel Angkor Wat, das größte sakrale Bauwerk der Welt, strahlt auch heute noch eine unglaubliche Erhabenheit und Macht aus.

The Telegraph
03/12/2024
How to spend the ultimate holiday in Bangkok

Read our Telegraph Travel expert guide to Bangkok, including the best places to stay, eat, drink as well as the top attractions to visit, and all of the information that you need to know before you go.

Visionary World Publishing
07/01/2011
Sacred Skin | Thailand's Spirit Tattoos

A beautifully illustrated book introducing the mysterious world of sak yant, spirit tattoos said to bestow protective powers upon their bearers.