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mdrdrsg24's review
5.0
Convoluted and complicated
A step outside the norm for inspector Chen with plenty of social commentary interspersed in the intricately woven Chen Cao story line.
A step outside the norm for inspector Chen with plenty of social commentary interspersed in the intricately woven Chen Cao story line.
s_g_dorrity's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
roshk99's review against another edition
4.0
What makes this series always interesting is the tangled web of politics that affects so much of life in China. This book especially has so much politics involved as Chen bumbles his way through the reason for his political disfavor. The end is realistic and does not tie everything up in a nice bow.
jennoctavia's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
I really enjoy reading the book, again somehow I can guess where the story goes.. it just doesnt satisfy my hunger for crime detective book.
I really enjoy reading the book, again somehow I can guess where the story goes.. it just doesnt satisfy my hunger for crime detective book.
novelbloglover's review against another edition
2.0
Book review
Title: Shanghai redemption
Author: qiu xiaolong
Genre: psychological/ horror/ crime
Rating: **
Review: Demoted to a largely ceremonial post, a master Chinese investigator struggles to understand his reduced circumstances and find his footing.
After many years as chief inspector and Deputy Party Secretary of the Shanghai police, the erudite Chen Cao is “reassigned” to the Shanghai Legal Reform Committee as director, a position without real power. On one level, this demotion is no surprise, given Chen’s history of scrapes with the Communist Party (Enigma of China, 2013, etc.). But it fills him with foreboding. A long bus trip to rural Qingming to honor his deceased father proves the perfect opportunity for a lengthy rumination. His first assignment in his new post is a dubious “pornography raid” at the Heavenly World nightclub, where, incongruously, there’s a book launch party for Chen’s translation of T.S. Eliot. He wonders whether he himself was the target of the raid.
A salty retired cop known as Old Hunter encourages Chen to explore new opportunities to work as a private investigator. As Chen returns repeatedly to his father’s grave in Qingming, where he tries to understand the motives behind his reassignment, the reader learns that he has reason to worry. In his new role, Chen probes a handful of cases, including a philandering government official whose wife fears for her future. When she’s murdered in her apartment, Chen’s duty is clear.
Chen’s 10th outing is another complex, methodical police procedural as well as a multifaceted look at a powerful society in flux.
Title: Shanghai redemption
Author: qiu xiaolong
Genre: psychological/ horror/ crime
Rating: **
Review: Demoted to a largely ceremonial post, a master Chinese investigator struggles to understand his reduced circumstances and find his footing.
After many years as chief inspector and Deputy Party Secretary of the Shanghai police, the erudite Chen Cao is “reassigned” to the Shanghai Legal Reform Committee as director, a position without real power. On one level, this demotion is no surprise, given Chen’s history of scrapes with the Communist Party (Enigma of China, 2013, etc.). But it fills him with foreboding. A long bus trip to rural Qingming to honor his deceased father proves the perfect opportunity for a lengthy rumination. His first assignment in his new post is a dubious “pornography raid” at the Heavenly World nightclub, where, incongruously, there’s a book launch party for Chen’s translation of T.S. Eliot. He wonders whether he himself was the target of the raid.
A salty retired cop known as Old Hunter encourages Chen to explore new opportunities to work as a private investigator. As Chen returns repeatedly to his father’s grave in Qingming, where he tries to understand the motives behind his reassignment, the reader learns that he has reason to worry. In his new role, Chen probes a handful of cases, including a philandering government official whose wife fears for her future. When she’s murdered in her apartment, Chen’s duty is clear.
Chen’s 10th outing is another complex, methodical police procedural as well as a multifaceted look at a powerful society in flux.
dmendels's review
4.0
9th book in the Inspector Chen series, by Qiu Xiaolong. I have read them all and love this series. It is in the form of a classic police procedural, and is is also a very insightful portrait of modern China. Inspector Chen is a mid-level cadre trying to work within "the corrupt one-party system", but (of course) also a poet and a gourmet. This one is based on a very real-world scandal, detailed here: http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/q-and-a-author-qiu-xiaolong-on-the-novel-shanghai-redemption/
Fast read, fun. If you are interested in modern China, corruption (and anti-corruption) in the Communist party, Chinese food, Chinese poetry, Shanghai and/or like police procedurals, must read.
(As an aside, if you read this and happen to live in Boston, he often mentions his appreciation of "cross bridge noodles" and randomly I noticed a new cross bridge noodle shop is opening in Boston shortly.)
Fast read, fun. If you are interested in modern China, corruption (and anti-corruption) in the Communist party, Chinese food, Chinese poetry, Shanghai and/or like police procedurals, must read.
(As an aside, if you read this and happen to live in Boston, he often mentions his appreciation of "cross bridge noodles" and randomly I noticed a new cross bridge noodle shop is opening in Boston shortly.)
lnatal's review
3.0
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
Inspector Chen finds himself "promoted" sideways from the Shanghai Police Bureau before narrowly escaping a night-club trap and exposing a web of financial and sexual corruption. Dramatised by John Harvey.
Director: David Hunter
"Shanghai Redemption" is the 9th of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels, all 9 of which have been dramatised for BBC Radio 4. They have sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 20 langauges.
"Witty and thrilling" The Daily Telegraph
"A welcome alternative to Scandi-noir" The Observer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3vtqg
Inspector Chen finds himself "promoted" sideways from the Shanghai Police Bureau before narrowly escaping a night-club trap and exposing a web of financial and sexual corruption. Dramatised by John Harvey.
Director: David Hunter
"Shanghai Redemption" is the 9th of Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels, all 9 of which have been dramatised for BBC Radio 4. They have sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 20 langauges.
"Witty and thrilling" The Daily Telegraph
"A welcome alternative to Scandi-noir" The Observer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3vtqg
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