Starred review from November 21, 2016
Retired detective Kwon Chun-dok, the Sherlock Holmes–like hero of this ambitious episodic crime novel set in Hong Kong from Chan (The Man Who Sold the World), is on his deathbed in 2013, working on a murder case with the aid of his mentee, Insp. Sunny Lok. Subsequent sections, introduced in reverse chronological order, focus on the infamous triads of Hong Kong organized crime (in 2003), the transfer of sovereignty from the U.K. to China (in 1997), the Tiananmen Square riots (in 1989), and more. Trained in England, the brilliant Chun-dok has been a great success, “silently filling a glorious page of the history of Hong Kong policing.” The mysteries he solves, as clever as they may be, can feel a bit old-fashioned. The author’s real goal is to tell a history of modern Hong Kong, as Chan explains in his afterword. As a “social narrative” of the city, to use his phrase, the story is fascinating. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Hoffmann & Associates.
November 1, 2016
Like Columbo but not funny.This is Soji Shimada Mystery Award winner Chan's first novel to be translated into English; it's a lengthy, ambitious tale about a legendary detective named Kwan Chun-dok, examining his career from the mid-1960s to the present day--and examining Kwan's beat, Hong Kong, during those fraught, turbulent years. Arranged in free-standing but interconnected novellas, proceeding in reverse chronological order, the book charts Kwan's evolution from savvy field investigator to head of the force's intelligence division against the backdrop of such historical events as the 1967 leftist riot, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the epochal handover of 1997. Through these juxtapositions, Chan attempts to embroider both cultural history and psychological character study, but he fails to profitably exploit his setting or word count in this aim; the historical details provide sporadically engaging window dressing, but Chan's characters seldom address them directly, and Kwan himself remains something of a cipher, a genius at deduction with a generic, Tintin-like good-guy effect. Chan's strong suit is procedural plotting: the meat of the book is Kwan's crime-solving, and the author displays a formidable mastery of wrangling complex exposition in scenarios involving such calumny as an escaped nemesis bent on revenge, a kidnapping, and a series of terrorist bombings. Institutional corruption and the public's growing mistrust of the police emerge as the narrative's glum, overarching themes, lending the backward storytelling scheme a melancholy poignancy--but, despite Chan's aspirations to historical, cultural, and psychological insight, the real satisfaction here is found in the meat-and-potatoes cops-and-robbers material. Sprawling and dense, this novel will satisfy your procedural jones, but don't look for more than a cursory reckoning with the troubled history of Hong Kong.
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December 1, 2016
In six related novellas, Chan Ho-Kei tracks backward through iconic detective Kwan Chun-dok's police career, his relationship with protege Sonny Lok, and six decades of Hong Kong's history. Ho-kei creates powerful social commentary by framing classic mystery stories within pivotal events, such as the anxiety-ridden chaos surrounding Hong Kong's 1997 changeover from UK to Chinese governance, and the 1960s terrorist attacks against the British government. In The Prisoner's Dilemma, Kwan coaches Lok in his philosophy of serving the greater good by embracing the gray areas outside of police protocol when they take on the triads to solve the murder of a teenage pop star. In The Balance of Themis, a tense mashup of police procedural and investigative logic will force readers to the edge of their seats as Kwan eschews protocol in a deadly hostage situation. Award-winning Hong Kong author Ho-kei's English-language debut is a strong collection of classic mysteries driven by flawless deductive reasoning and thoughtful character development.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)