Reviews

I picked this book up on impulse, interested in reading something set in contemporary China, and only realised after starting to read it that I've read too few crime thrillers about high-concept serial killers to judge whether this is a good one, never mind which aspects of it might be specific to the cultural setting.

To be honest, the first half dragged a bit for me, since most of the characters start off as stereotypical, unsympathetic or both. The introduction of the sole woman on the present-day task force to catch Eumenides, Mu Jianyun, is such an over-the-top example of #MenWritingWomen that it was hard even to be cross about it (but I managed, because I am a trooper). In she waltzes, late to the first meeting so that she can give each of the men present a potted psychoanalysis and make sure they all know that, though she knows she is a beautiful woman and they are all reacting to this, she won't sleep with any of them! Totally appropriate behaviour in a professional setting, A+++ would not immediately fire her. (She also talks a lot about how the IT specialist on the team must be so lonely and detached from humanity, living in his world of ones and zeroes; my dear, he's the leader of a whole, very efficient team, and I can promise you social interaction is needed for that.)

I enjoyed the second half of the book considerably more. In the present day, Eumenides' actions get wilder and more daring, and the significance of various events of the past becomes clear in surprising ways.

When we find out exactly what Meng, one of the two police academy students who died in the 1984 explosion, did in her final moments, it was a satisfying resolution for a character who could easily have been a cipher of a martyred lover.

Mu doesn't exactly get better but she does blend in somewhat with the exaggerated characters of the rest of her team, and they treat her with a fair amount more patience than I would in their positions. Besides, my second-favourite character, Brother Hua, appears. I do love a villain's hypercompetent right-hand-man, loyal enough to die for him if necessary even though this is patently not proportionate behaviour! As for the final moral dilemma:

good grief, please talk to one another or at the very least debrief police investigators who've just had a one-on-one interview with the mystery serial killer? That feels like it should be standard operating procedure. I predict a 34% reduction in morbidity due to artificial trolley-problem scenarios year on year.

Was this a good thriller? No idea. Did it give a sense of contemporary (ish: 2002) China? I would say so. I've not yet been to Chengdu and can't compare directly, but the city in the book felt distinct and locally specific. At the same time, I've got used to the experience of reading translated Chinese webnovels, where there's a thinner veil between the English translation and the original text, as well as, usually, plenty of footnotes for extra context. It threw me a little not to know the hanzi or tones for people's names! ~~Where were all the literally-translated chengyu with explanatory text and links to the classical poetry that inspired them?~~ There were also a few scenes that I felt I'd read before in supernatural danmei webnovels, only done better, with more eldritch tentacles, and requiring somewhat less suspension of disbelief.

I'll read the next book in this series if I stumble upon it, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to find it.

Content Warnings