Former Far Eastern Economic Review Correspondent Paul Handley, the author of "The King Never Smiles," by far the most authoritative book ever written on the Thai monarch, wrote this assessment of his reign exclusively for Asia Sentinel Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died on Oct. 13 at 88, was Asia's most venerable head of state and the world's longest-serving monarch, whose reign survived and then thrived through seven decades of post-war turmoil, the Cold War, and the Asian economic boom.