A review by maxfetter
This Is a Bust by Ed Lin

1.0

This is a bust. It feels like alcoholics anonymous propaganda disguised as a detective story. Lin's themes are so repetitive, and the "murder plot" is ridiculously undeveloped. It's as if he didn't have any interest in writing that part when he could just lean so heavily on Chinese-American generational and cultural-clashes, cliché Vietnam-Vet anger/PTSD, and alcohol-abuse to drive the plot. This book doesn't bring a single thing new to the table except (for me) perhaps descriptions of '70s New York City Chinatown, which I'll admit is an interesting setting.