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myvanwy's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
remymura's review
3.0
The promise of crime noir and Chinese folk magic drew me in. The core premise was interesting enough (a hard-boiled SF detective wakes up in someone else's body and sets out to solve his own murder), but I sometimes felt that some of the interesting SF/fantastic premises throughout the story were sometimes forced and the various threads were not tied together at the end as neatly as the reader might expect. That said, the core detective thriller was solid and the gritty Chinatown setting well described. It was an enjoyable read.
bhalpin's review
2.0
Cool idea, but kind of a mess in the execution. Dead cop must solve his own murder. It's kind of noir-ish, which I enjoy, but the plot is convoluted even by noir detective standards, and, in the end, I didn't feel like it all made much sense. Annoyance: our main character is supposed to be kind of a jerk, but he's always having sex and then making sure to tell us that he "smells her on his fingers." Not sure what the author was aiming at here, but it comes across as frat boyish. Major distraction: though the characters are American, the British author doesn't have them speak American English. So people are always saying "meant to" when an American would say "supposed to," people take "lifts," and when asked if he had any trouble, our hero answers, "should I have done?" Maybe the author just didn't expect a US sale, but this is something the US publisher should have fixed. It took me out of the story every time it came up, which was every couple of pages.
wyvernfriend's review
3.0
I wanted to like this but actually I didn't care by the end about any of the characters.
The premise is interesting, a cop investigating his own death with some supernatural overtones but what it delivered was a rambling text with largely forgettable characters.
Your mileage may vary.
The premise is interesting, a cop investigating his own death with some supernatural overtones but what it delivered was a rambling text with largely forgettable characters.
Your mileage may vary.
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