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A review by meli_thebookworm16
In the Dark: Volume 1 by Jin Shisi Chai
5.0
"Never underestimate humans," Xie Lanshan said. "We're paradoxical and strange creatures. We can turn on each other in a blink of an eye for our own benefit, but also repent for our sins and become saints."
A gripping page turner! You know a book is GOOD when you can not, for the love of anything sacred, put it down, and this is one of those. The cases and mystery solving elements have been well-researched by the author and the hints that you get along the line are minimal and subtle enough to keep you interested and guessing and in the end everything just ties up beautifully together. I was particularly shocked with the second case, gotta admit I did not see that one coming at all!
The relationship between the main characters Xie Lanshan and Shen Liufei is simply fire!
Xie Lanshan is a police officer who flirts as if his life actually depends on it. Shen Liufei is the newly hired analyst for the Bureau, who is cold and arrogant, a quintessential renaissance man. This men are highly intelligent and even though it is beyond evident from the very first meeting that they have an insane need to try to one-up each other, there is something that just keeps pulling them to each other, closer and becoming softer for one another, and you can't help rooting for them despite CLEAR indications that there is so much more to each one of them that meets the eye, and perhaps being together is not the sanest decision.
"A lifetime is both long and short. Some people have their sights fixed on the faraway past or future, some are always looking in different directions, while others are simply on a search for that certain someone- and that someone will always be the warmth during a snowstorm no matter how long one lives."
Did I already say that their interactions are fire? Yes, fire! *punches wall*
Extra bonus points in this book for well fleshed out side characters, who are so much more than just tools for the main characters. I loved Captain Tao and his 'wifey', Su Mansheng. There is something so endearing about watching Captain Tao and Xie Lanshan showing off about whose crush is the best and smartest.
Gotta mention the book itself could really use another round of editing because I even found an entire 30 pages or so that just repeated, but this is not something that would ever affect my opinion on the actual novel.
Now, I can't help to feel apprehension due to the countless times the word "dark" or "darkness inside" has been used to describe human beings, especially when mixed with the main characters monologues, along with how the author just casually threw the 'Theseus ship theory' amidst a lot of the seemingly unimportant information some of the people in the cases vaguely mention, and have a sense of foreshadowing that things are gonna turn horribly bad as soon as I start Vol2, but I am absolutely ready.
A gripping page turner! You know a book is GOOD when you can not, for the love of anything sacred, put it down, and this is one of those. The cases and mystery solving elements have been well-researched by the author and the hints that you get along the line are minimal and subtle enough to keep you interested and guessing and in the end everything just ties up beautifully together. I was particularly shocked with the second case, gotta admit I did not see that one coming at all!
The relationship between the main characters Xie Lanshan and Shen Liufei is simply fire!
Xie Lanshan is a police officer who flirts as if his life actually depends on it. Shen Liufei is the newly hired analyst for the Bureau, who is cold and arrogant, a quintessential renaissance man. This men are highly intelligent and even though it is beyond evident from the very first meeting that they have an insane need to try to one-up each other, there is something that just keeps pulling them to each other, closer and becoming softer for one another, and you can't help rooting for them despite CLEAR indications that there is so much more to each one of them that meets the eye, and perhaps being together is not the sanest decision.
"A lifetime is both long and short. Some people have their sights fixed on the faraway past or future, some are always looking in different directions, while others are simply on a search for that certain someone- and that someone will always be the warmth during a snowstorm no matter how long one lives."
Did I already say that their interactions are fire? Yes, fire! *punches wall*
Extra bonus points in this book for well fleshed out side characters, who are so much more than just tools for the main characters. I loved Captain Tao and his 'wifey', Su Mansheng. There is something so endearing about watching Captain Tao and Xie Lanshan showing off about whose crush is the best and smartest.
Gotta mention the book itself could really use another round of editing because I even found an entire 30 pages or so that just repeated, but this is not something that would ever affect my opinion on the actual novel.
Now, I can't help to feel apprehension due to the countless times the word "dark" or "darkness inside" has been used to describe human beings, especially when mixed with the main characters monologues, along with how the author just casually threw the 'Theseus ship theory' amidst a lot of the seemingly unimportant information some of the people in the cases vaguely mention, and have a sense of foreshadowing that things are gonna turn horribly bad as soon as I start Vol2, but I am absolutely ready.