The Fox Wife

This novel by Yangsze Choo defies genre definition. Booklist offers this summary and recommendation: "In early 1900s Manchuria, aging detective Bao is enlisted to uncover the identity of a courtesan found frozen in a doorway. Superstitious locals claim she was lured to her death by a fox in human form. The case has special significance for Bao, who has unofficially investigated rumors about foxes since a childhood visit to a shrine that may have resulted in the gift of telling truth from lies. Elsewhere, a mysterious woman named Snow joins the household of a family whose eldest sons seem fated to die before age 24. Unbeknownst to the family, Snow has come to town with ulterior motives--she's seeking revenge for the death of her daughter. These two seemingly disparate stories soon converge as Snow and Bao seek the same man, and people from their pasts reemerge in surprising ways. Equal parts detective story, folktale, and family saga, the highly anticipated latest novel by Choo ...will appeal to fans of diverse, imaginative literary fiction, historical mysteries ..., and fantasy ..."

Publishers Weekly closes their review by saying "Choo's writing is lush and the slow revelation of complicated relationships and reunions hum with tension. This is a treat." I agree with their assessment that the writing is lovely and that this is a very slow burn. I initially found the switching of narrators in alternating chapters to be distracting. This is a common storyline structure but in this case the timelines of the the two narrators do not synch up until later in the book. 

Kirkus offers this summary and review: " The rich Asian tradition of fox folklore provides the backdrop for Choo’s complex and atmospheric tale of identity and discovery set in early 1900s Manchuria. Snow (later also referred to as Ah San) narrates the story of her search for a shadowy figure—the photographer Bektu Nikan—during the waning days of the Qing dynasty. She crosses Manchuria and travels to Japan in her efforts to locate the man she believes is responsible for the death of her very young daughter. Snow’s slow reveal of her trek and travails is often whimsical or wry and is particularly informative about the habits and practices of the shape-shifting foxes who are believed to appear in human form. Quite reasonably, this knowledge is derived from Snow’s own experiences…as a fox. Running on an eventual collision course is the slowly evolving story of a private investigator, the aging Bao, whose initial assignment is to determine the identity of a woman whose body was found frozen and dead outside a restaurant. As he follows the scant clues in that case, he becomes more and more enmeshed in circumstances that lead him into the orbit of Snow and her growing posse of humans and foxes. (Events in Bao’s early childhood have encouraged his belief in the presence of human-seeming foxes and have also left him with the personally and professionally helpful ability to discern when a lie is being told.) As the circuitous and alternating stories unfold and begin to converge, coincidence and historical events play out. Snow’s difficulties as both a fox and a young woman in a man’s world are clearly drawn, as is the pathos of Bao’s situation as a gentle soul who’s always been in search of something or someone.An intriguing vulpine mystery worth the suspension of disbelief."

 

2034: A Novel of the Next World War

This speculative fiction novel is written by noteworthy co-authors. "Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.) spent more than thirty years in the US Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded US Southern Command, overseeing military operations through[out] Latin America." Elliot Ackerman's "books have been nominated for the National Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart."They clearly have a formidable background in military strategy and operations at the highest levels, making this a "chillingly authentic" and "disturbingly plausible" story of arrogance and miscalculation that leads to irreparable outcomes. 

Publishers Weekly offers this summary review. "American war ships in the disputed waters of the South China Sea come upon an incapacitated trawler carrying advanced Chinese technology. The plane of a Marine pilot testing new stealth capability is remotely hijacked and delivered into Iranian hands. A Chinese defense attaché on assignment in the U.S. executes a plan to decimate the American Navy and cripple the nation’s cyber infrastructure. A U.S. deputy national security adviser at odds with his superiors must use his ethnic connections to negotiate a peace, even as an ever-escalating series of attacks engulfs American and Chinese cities in nuclear fire. The authors do a fine job depicting the human cost of geopolitical conflict, though they avoid the hardware emphasis of most military thrillers..."

Kirkus suggests that "This compelling thriller should be required reading for our national leaders and translated into Mandarin." And, to top it all off, the authors have written a sequel, 2054.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess

This debut novel by Sue Lynn Tan draws from Chinese myths of dragons, gods and immortals.  This fantasy YA book received starred reviews from Library Journal ("an exquisitely detailed fantasy") and Publishers Weekly. ("a riveting page-turner"). Kirkus call's Tan's prose "lovely and fluid, [with] lush descriptions of magic and immortal life buoying the narrative."

BookPage also gave it a starred review and provides this succinct summary: "Xingyin has never met her father, a mortal archer who saved the human world from destruction. She is also the daughter of Chang’e, the infamous moon goddess who became immortal after drinking a potion that was given to her husband in recognition of his heroic deeds. Xingyin has lived a lonely life, hidden away in her mother’s sky-bound prison. That changes when she accidentally accesses her own magical powers and is forced to flee to avoid detection by the Celestial Emperor and his court. While on the run, Xingyin is thrust into the uncomfortable role of learning companion to the Celestial Prince, the son of the very man who imprisoned her mother. As she trains and learns alongside the prince, Xingyin is torn between loyalty to her new friend and the desperate desire to free her mother from her eternal prison."  Xingyin goes from a frightened adolescent to a formidable warrior through her training with Crown Prince Liwei and then as a soldier in the Celestial army. It is an elaborate world building book with the immortals portrayed as capricious--no surprise there--and the dragons as wise and benevolent beings. There are lots of hints about where the sequel of this story will go.

Shadow Catcher

Author James R. Hannibal (pseudomym) is a former Stealth pilot and a graduate of the Air Force Academy where he majored in Middle Eastern studies. So his bona fides for writing military thrillers are solid. What is surprising is that, in addition to writing this "Nick Baron series," he also writes a middle school series called "Section 13" (a list of his books is at Amazon).
The Triple Seven Chase team, led by Air Force major Nick Baron, is initially tasked with destroying a B-2 stealth bomber lying at the bottom of the Persian Gulf before enemies can get their hands on the technology. But then a message  intercepted by the CIA suggests that a solder thought to be dead years ago, may still be alive in China. The team, with a new member on board, must rely on the latest flight technology to rescue him. But this may all be a trap. Solid writing and good plot line. Engrossing read.

The Interior

This is the 2nd of the "Red Princess" mystery series by author Lisa See, who will be coming to Bend as part of the Deschutes Public Library "Author! Author!" program. See also my blog on the first book in the series, Flower Net. Hulan is pregnant with David's child but keeping it secret from everyone in China, or so she thinks, and she is finding continual excuses not to join David in LA. She is continuing her work at the Ministry of Public Security but the cases have become routine and boring. She receives a letter from a woman who worked with her on the Red Soil Farm in the interior when Hulan was a teen and full of revolutionary fervor. Ling Suchee's daughter, Miaoshan, has died, apparently having hung herself. Suchee is sure this is murder and asks Hulan to investigate; after taking a leave from work and going to the poor farm of Suchee, Hulan is inclined to agree. She cannot get the authorities to investigate further, so she decides to go undercover at the nearby factory of American toy manufacturer, Knight International, where Miaoshan had worked.
She calls David as she is leaving Beijing and asks if he can find out anything about Knight International and David taps a former colleague at Phillips, MacKenzie & Stout. Keith seems nervous about David's questions; apparently he has been handling the purchase of Knight International for one of the law firm's major corporate clients, Tartan Industries. As they are walking out of the restaurant after dinner, shots are fired at David and Keith is run down by a car and killed. David assumes he was the target of another Triad attempt to kill him, and that Keith was an innocent victim, but the reverse turns out to be the case. David's old law firm asks him to come back and handle their Chinese clients, including finishing the purchase process for Knight/ Tartan. This would allow David to be with Hulan and he jumps at the chance.
Hulan uncovers horrendous working conditions in the factory, well hidden from the owner and any visitors. Children are working assembly jobs, dangerous machinery regularly causes injuries (Hulan herself is injured her first day on the line), and--if gossip is to be believed--those who are seriously injured disappear permanently. Still the women (all the factory assembly and packing jobs are held by females) put up with it because it is the only way to earn money and, therefore, any independence in this poor rural area of the country.
As David and Hulan eventually join forces, a 2nd murder near Suchee's farm occurs and now Hulan believes the two young people's deaths are not connected to the factory after all. But David is sure murder, bribery and other crimes have happened there, and he is determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. It very nearly costs them both their lives, as a fire, set by the killers, consumes the factory. This book raises disturbing questions about our own country's hypocrisy around labor abuses in China, politically at home, and on the ground in China. As before, a fascinating picture of modern China struggling to free itself from years of bloody and repressive history and take its place in the modern world.

Flower Net

Author Lisa See will be coming to Bend to do a talk as part of the Deschutes Public Libraries' "Author! Author!" series this coming year, so I decided to read some of her books. I picked this particular book because it was a mystery and had been a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery and a NYT Notable Book.
Two former lovers, David Stark, now an Assistant U.S. Attorney in LA, and Liu Hulan, now with the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing, are brought together, ostensibly to solve two murders. One victim is the son of the U.S. Ambassador to China; his body has been found in a lake by ice skaters. Hulan is put on the case and then abruptly taken off. She is shocked by the Ambassador's insistence that it was an accident and his refusal to let the case be pursued. The other murder victim is the son of a powerful Chinese business tycoon, who is found in the water tanks of a freighter bringing illegal Chinese immigrants to the U.S. David is first invited to Beijing to help Hulan and then they return to LA as the money trail leads there. But all around them potential witnesses and colleagues are dying in horrific fashion--clearly sending a warning. When they return once again to Beijing, this time without an official invitation, it quickly becomes apparent that someone or some ones are also trying to kill them.
David and Hulan had gone to law school together and lived together and worked at the same law firm, and then she suddenly returned to China and cut off all contact with David. Hulan is the daughter of the now Assistant Ministter of Public Security. Moreover, she is descended from a line of royal entertainers. She and her family endured the Cultural Revolution. At one point she was sent away to the United States to attend school. Her father was imprisoned and her mother disappeared, only to return years later as a physically and mentally broken person. Hulan's boss at the Ministry is Zai, an old family friend. Or is he? Through most of the book, we know Hulan has a secret that she cannot share with David, for fear it will change his view of her forever and for the worse.
A well written mystery enriched by details of the settings in China and the obvious knowledge of history and customs. I would be happy to read subsequent installments in this series, the "Red Princess" mysteries (The Interior and Dragon Bones).

Wild Swans

This lengthy memoir by Jung Chang tells the story of 3 generations of women in China covering the period from the early 1900's to the late 1970's. It is long and, to my mind, would have benefitted from some judicious editing. That petty grip aside, it is a heartbreaking and compelling story of a nation struggling to emerge from feudality only to be plunged into wars, subjected to the mold of Communism, and then taken over by a despot who thought the only path to progress was through conflict.  Jung Chang's grandmother was born just a few years too soon and so was still subjected to having her feet bound--a lifetime of physical torture in the service of a very bizarre notion of beauty. She was married off to a warlord and then, when he died, escaped and married a very kind older man who was a doctor. Her mother grew up with much more freedom and embraced Communism as a teenager and fell in love with a guerrilla fighter who rose to a position of considerable authority in the Party, as did she. Her mother, and Jung Chang herself, were to be repeatedly victimized by this man's rigid adherence to principle, and even though the government betrayed him brutally, he never gave up his ideals. The amount of self-sacrifice, both voluntary and enforced, are beyond what most of us can ever conceive of. The cult of Mao who made himself a god in the sense of absolute control over peoples lives and their very minds is starkly revealed through Chang's tales about the persecution of her parents and acquaintances. Mao was a master of manipulation and loosed a massive "Lord of the Flies" reign of terror that affected hundreds of millions of people. Mao's ideas about expertise in a subject or practice as a bad thing, worthy of imprisonment, is so foreign as to strain understanding. The ground constantly shifts and no one knows where they stand. It is a culture that praises ignorance and illiteracy and persecution based on petty grievances. And yet there are also accounts of outstanding loyalty and love. It is an eye-opening look into one of the largest nations in the world, that should give us all pause. Other reviews are here: Kirkus,

Cinder

It would be bad enough losing your shoe at the ball, but to lose your whole foot!--Now that would be seriously problematic. Marissa Meyer has written a futuristic version of Cinderella with a cyborg (human being augmented by mechanical/electrical parts) as her heroine, Linh Cinder of New Beijing. Set in a future after World War IV, the world has reassembled into 6 political units, with the Eastern Commonwealth being one of them. Cinder lives here with a nasty step-mother, two step-sisters, Pearl and Peony. Only Peony and the family droid, Iko, seem to have any affection for Cinder. Step-mother Adri blames Cinder for the death of her husband, who insisted they adopt Cinder after her life-saving surgery. But cyborgs are treated as 2nd class citizens on Earth, and in spite of Cinder's uncanny skills repairing anything mechanical or electrical--skills that provide the family's only income--Adri and Pearl are embarrassed about being associated with Cinder. Plans are underway to attend the annual palace ball when Peony contracts the plague that has been devastating the earth's population in recent years.  Cinder gets the blame for that as well, and Adri "volunteers" Cinder to be a subject for unfailingly fatal research on antidotes for the plague. But Cinder does NOT die, and a whole new set of problems now present themselves. Of course the parallel storyline is that the somewhat unorthodox Prince Kai has personally brought his royal droid to Cinder for repairs, claiming it is a matter of national security. The emperor has contracted the plague and if he dies, Kai will become Emperor. The Queen of Luna would very much like to get a foothold on earth through a marriage to Kai, but nobody on earth really wants that to happen. Then she offers a cure for the plague--the day after the Emperor dies. There is clearly a sequel(s) in the works, as Cinder warns Prince Kai of an imminent threat to his life, but forfeits her own freedom, and possibly her life, in the process.

The Stone Monkey

This is the 4th installment in Jeffery Deaver's "Lincoln Rhyme" series --he has 3 other series, none of which I've dipped into. The first book in the series, The Bone Collector, as you may remember, was made into a movie with Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme, and Angelina Jolie as the cop he recruits to become his mobile forensic evidence collector, since he is now confined to a motorized wheelchair. This tale centers around a particularly vicious smuggler of illegal immigrants who just killed the last group of illegals he brought in. Known as "The Ghost" because there are no photos or fingerprints of him on file, he is being tracked by Rhyme in an attempt to stop him before any more people die. The Ghost scuttles the ship with his most recent "shipment" but a lone man and two families escape. Amelia rescues the man from drowning, apparently; he is wearing a stone pendant of the Monkey King. He claims to be a doctor who wants to help Amelia with her physical and emotional pain, or is he just using her for something more sinister?  It is up to Lincoln and Amelia to find the two missing families where they have hidden away in New York City before the Ghost does.  This one had a twist that surprised me, some soul searching on the part of the main characters, as well as Deaver's usual taut storyline.

Vulture Peak

Jon Burdett's novels about Thailand and southeast Asia in general are always fascinating, often gruesome, and yet thought provoking. This fifth in a series that features Buddhist detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep focuses on the exploding trade in human organs and all the vices that you can imagine--and some you probably would not--in connection with the attaining and selling of same. His common law marriage to former prostitute Chanya is somewhat on the rocks; there are rumors she has a lover and Sonchai himself finds his attentions wandering. He is sorely tempted by one particular woman who seems to be at the heart of two overlapping cases, one involving a serial rapist and the other the organ trafficking empire of some very beautiful and very powerful Chinese twins. I devoured the first three in this series (Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tatoo, and Bangkok Haunts) and when I started this, realized I had missed the fourth (The Godfather of Kathmandu) which I will certainly go back and fill in. I also really like The Last Six Million Seconds--another book outside the series about the handover of Hong Kong. These books are gritting and compelling perspectives of the sex trade and corruption of the police in Thailand, but certainly don't entice me to want to visit. This is definitely armchair travel that will stay in the armchair. Kirkus offers more details of the plot.

Murder and Mayhem in Hong Kong

I recently wrote about the forces aligning that led me to John Burdett's Bangkok 8. I investigated what else he had written and discovered that the movie rights to his series of three books set in Bangkok (also Bangkok Haunts and BangkokTattoo) had been bought and are slated to start filming soon. But I also ran across this title, The Last Six Million Seconds, and after messing around with how much time that really was (about 2 months), was curious to find out its significance. The book is set in Hong Kong prior to the handover from Great Britain to mainland China and clocks everywhere are counting out the days, hours, minutes and seconds to June 30, 1997. Our protagonist, Chief Inspector Chan Siu-kai ("Charlie"), is another character defined by others and struggling with himself due to being only half of his chosen national identity, i.e., Chinese. The other half is Irish, but all of him is vehemently anti-communist since he attributes the murder of his mother Mai-Mai, to one of their many purges. Like the detective in the Bangkok series, he is incorruptible and therefore problematic for those who consider political expediencies a higher priority than solving crimes. The grisly murders that anchor this story are dubbed by the press as the "Mincer Murders" since 3 bodies were run through commercial meat grinders while still alive. A tip leads Chan to retrieve 3 heads, sealed in a plastic bag, floating in the sea on the jurisdictional border between Hong Kong and mainland China--raising hopes that the hamburger leftovers might be identified and help solve the murders. The plot is truly labyrinthine and involves the highest levels of government interfering in Chan's investigation. Absolutely no character is all good or all bad, although you would never want to cross paths with most of them. They are driven by history and greed and hopeless passions. Like Bangkok 8, this is not for the faint of heart but an absolutely engrossing thriller, with complex characters and atmospheric settings.