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jyaremchuk's review
5.0
Even better than the debut mystery with Inspector Lu Fei - lots of unique action, good characters, interesting new setting....
marilynw's review
4.0
Wild Prey (Inspector Lu Fei Mysteries #2)
by Brian Klingborg, P.J. Ochlan (Narrator)
This is the second book in the Inspector Lu Fei series. Taking place in China and surrounding areas, Lu is still pining for the beautiful bar owner, who is still mourning for her long dead husband. Lu is supposed to be laying low and not stirring up anymore trouble like he'd done in the past but he just doesn't seem to do a very good job of keeping his nose out of places that get him into more hot water.
A small, frail girl who looks to be twelve but is actually fifteen comes to Lu and asks him to find her nineteen year old sister. This girl is determined and she will not allow Lu to forget her sister. She sits in the lobby of his police station, she follows him, she is her sister's greatest champion. So Lu begins an unofficial investigation after he's told by his boss, in no uncertain terms, that he is not to look for the missing sister.
Lu keeps digging deeper until he is suspended which works out great for him to go undercover and find himself into the heart of an illegal animal trafficking network. This is a brutal story, humans and animals suffer, gore flies, and it's impossible to imagine Lu surviving the danger he finds himself in at a remote compound in Myanmar. It's a good story, too violent for me, but the character of Lu has me coming back.
Pub May 17th 2022
by Brian Klingborg, P.J. Ochlan (Narrator)
This is the second book in the Inspector Lu Fei series. Taking place in China and surrounding areas, Lu is still pining for the beautiful bar owner, who is still mourning for her long dead husband. Lu is supposed to be laying low and not stirring up anymore trouble like he'd done in the past but he just doesn't seem to do a very good job of keeping his nose out of places that get him into more hot water.
A small, frail girl who looks to be twelve but is actually fifteen comes to Lu and asks him to find her nineteen year old sister. This girl is determined and she will not allow Lu to forget her sister. She sits in the lobby of his police station, she follows him, she is her sister's greatest champion. So Lu begins an unofficial investigation after he's told by his boss, in no uncertain terms, that he is not to look for the missing sister.
Lu keeps digging deeper until he is suspended which works out great for him to go undercover and find himself into the heart of an illegal animal trafficking network. This is a brutal story, humans and animals suffer, gore flies, and it's impossible to imagine Lu surviving the danger he finds himself in at a remote compound in Myanmar. It's a good story, too violent for me, but the character of Lu has me coming back.
Pub May 17th 2022
constantreader471's review against another edition
4.0
An easy 4 stars for an engaging mystery set in northern rural China, near Harbin. This is book 2 in the Lu Fei series and I read book 1. I recommend that you read them in order. Inspector Lu Fei of the PSB(Public Security Bureau) agrees to look for a missing teenager, Meixiang, after her sister, Meirong, begs him to do so. When he investigates, he ruffles some important people. They lean on his boss, who orders him to stop investigating. But he persists, and is suspended as a result. Then he gets a mysterious phone call. He agrees to meet this mystery man. The meeting is actually a video meeting and the mystery man says that he works for the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. He tells Lu to call him Jia and says that they have a mutual interest, Wilson Fang. Lu believes Fang may have killed Meixiang or knows who did. Jia says that Fang is involved in the illegal trade of endangered species and he wants to arrest him and his superiors.
He persuades Lu to go undercover on his behalf. There many twists and turns in this mystery, but I liked the ending. I read this book in 2 days. It is a fast,easy read.
One quote: Dinner at an illegal wildlife farm: "Dinner consists of the ubiquitous tea leaf salad, rice balls with fish and turmeric; various curries; noodles in fish broth; a range of tropical fruits. Also: crocodile carpaccio; bat boiled in a ginger and coconut soup; bamboo rat stuffed with vegetables and roasted; and a hot pot consisting of pangolin, snake, and caterpillar simmered in a base of chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger, Shaoxing wined, and spring onion."
Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
He persuades Lu to go undercover on his behalf. There many twists and turns in this mystery, but I liked the ending. I read this book in 2 days. It is a fast,easy read.
One quote: Dinner at an illegal wildlife farm: "Dinner consists of the ubiquitous tea leaf salad, rice balls with fish and turmeric; various curries; noodles in fish broth; a range of tropical fruits. Also: crocodile carpaccio; bat boiled in a ginger and coconut soup; bamboo rat stuffed with vegetables and roasted; and a hot pot consisting of pangolin, snake, and caterpillar simmered in a base of chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger, Shaoxing wined, and spring onion."
Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
annieb123's review
5.0
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
Wild Prey is the second Inspector Lu Fei mystery/thriller by Brian Klingborg. Released 17th May 2022 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a very well written, tautly plotted mystery set in Asia post-covid. The protagonist is wonderfully rendered. He's a morally uncomplicated police inspector, sent to a less desirable posting in a rural area, despite being intelligent, driven, and exceedingly honest. In fact, his utter incorruptibility is a large part of *why* he finds himself policing in a backwater town in China.
This time, a missing persons case gets him drawn into a huge undercover assignment, trying to break up an international smuggling ring dealing in the trade of wild endangered animal products on the black market. I loved the pacing and action driven plot. The writing is superb and the author manages to make the culture and customs accessible at the same time accentuating the challenges of modern conservation in a system with literally thousands of years of support and acceptance of traditional herbal medicine.
The dialogue is peppered with transliterated Chinese phrases which the author does a good job of translating in context. It added verisimilitude without being overly intrusive. There is a pleasantly surprising amount of warm humor in the writing as well, and the dialogue surprised a few chuckles out of me (in a good way).
Four and a half stars. This is top shelf fiction. Although the plot, resolution, and denouement are self contained in this volume, I recommend the first book in the series as well. They would make a great weekend mini-binge read. I heartily wish and hope for further books in the series.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Wild Prey is the second Inspector Lu Fei mystery/thriller by Brian Klingborg. Released 17th May 2022 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a very well written, tautly plotted mystery set in Asia post-covid. The protagonist is wonderfully rendered. He's a morally uncomplicated police inspector, sent to a less desirable posting in a rural area, despite being intelligent, driven, and exceedingly honest. In fact, his utter incorruptibility is a large part of *why* he finds himself policing in a backwater town in China.
This time, a missing persons case gets him drawn into a huge undercover assignment, trying to break up an international smuggling ring dealing in the trade of wild endangered animal products on the black market. I loved the pacing and action driven plot. The writing is superb and the author manages to make the culture and customs accessible at the same time accentuating the challenges of modern conservation in a system with literally thousands of years of support and acceptance of traditional herbal medicine.
The dialogue is peppered with transliterated Chinese phrases which the author does a good job of translating in context. It added verisimilitude without being overly intrusive. There is a pleasantly surprising amount of warm humor in the writing as well, and the dialogue surprised a few chuckles out of me (in a good way).
Four and a half stars. This is top shelf fiction. Although the plot, resolution, and denouement are self contained in this volume, I recommend the first book in the series as well. They would make a great weekend mini-binge read. I heartily wish and hope for further books in the series.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
vemoo6's review
4.0
I don’t inherently think about it, but it’s rare that I read a book about or set in China. That changed with Wild Prey. It was set in both China and Myanmar and it was a wild ride. The beginning was a bit slow and it was a bit of a struggle to get through the first quarter because of that. But once I was in the thick of the plot it flowed fast.
Lu Fei is a cop that goes undercover to find a missing girl. He ends up at a wildlife park that caters to people that eat the illegal animals for “medicinal purposes.”
There is so much going on here with the wildlife, the corrupt officials, the park owner, etc. And because it’s set in present day, they mention coronavirus many times. I appreciated that it was part of the storyline but didn’t take away from the story.
I enjoyed this book and liked the twist at the end. I look forward to reading other Lu Fei stories.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Lu Fei is a cop that goes undercover to find a missing girl. He ends up at a wildlife park that caters to people that eat the illegal animals for “medicinal purposes.”
There is so much going on here with the wildlife, the corrupt officials, the park owner, etc. And because it’s set in present day, they mention coronavirus many times. I appreciated that it was part of the storyline but didn’t take away from the story.
I enjoyed this book and liked the twist at the end. I look forward to reading other Lu Fei stories.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
hedyd's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Thoroughly enjoyed this Inspector Lu Fei mystery about a young waitress who goes missing and may be linked to the illegal animal trade. The dialogue is snappy, the characters well fleshed out and the mystery taut.
jdiedrichs628's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Violence
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