by Henry Chang
Det. Jack Yu returns in this crime novel of fraud, murder, and "another tantalizing glimpse of precinct and street life in Manhattan's Chinatown" (Publishers Weekly).
Reassigned to the Ninth District after being wounded in the line of duty, NYPD Det. Jack Yu settles in for a welcome change of pace, away from the memories of his childhood on his last beat. But the past has a way of sneaking up on him.
When a bloody shootout erupts in Chinatown, his old precinct asks Jack for help. Back in his old stomping grounds, he finds himself immersed in all the crimes he thought he'd left behind: murders, gambling, credit card fraud, and tong wars. Navigating the bookies, fraudsters, and gangsters who make up the new face of his old world, Jack is back on the case in the second thrilling installment of a series that offers "a vivid, street-level portrait" of New York's Chinatown (The New York Times).
"An Asian-flavored The Wire . . . A richly atmospheric panorama of New York's immigrant demimonde." —Entertainment Weekly
"Year of the Dog arrived . . . And suddenly my life became an orgy of reading pleasure." —Slate
"This is a dense, moody, and intelligent glimpse at Chinese life in New York as seen through the world-weary eyes of a young man with a foot firmly planted in two cultures." —Booklist
"Chinatown is the hero here. Better say antihero, because while the picture is vivid and often compelling, it's anything but pretty." —Kirkus Reviews
"Chang deftly keeps the action moving as he brings the Chinatown neighborhood alive in all its guises." —Publishers Weekly
Det. Jack Yu returns in this crime novel of fraud, murder, and "another tantalizing glimpse of precinct and street life in Manhattan's Chinatown" (Publishers Weekly).
Reassigned to the Ninth District after being wounded in the line of duty, NYPD Det. Jack Yu settles in for a welcome change of pace, away from the memories of his childhood on his last beat. But the past has a way of sneaking up on him.
When a bloody shootout erupts in Chinatown, his old precinct asks Jack for help. Back in his old stomping grounds, he finds himself immersed in all the crimes he thought he'd left behind: murders, gambling, credit card fraud, and tong wars. Navigating the bookies, fraudsters, and gangsters who make up the new face of his old world, Jack is back on the case in the second thrilling installment of a series that offers "a vivid, street-level portrait" of New York's Chinatown (The New York Times).
"An Asian-flavored The Wire . . . A richly atmospheric panorama of New York's immigrant demimonde." —Entertainment Weekly
"Year of the Dog arrived . . . And suddenly my life became an orgy of reading pleasure." —Slate
"This is a dense, moody, and intelligent glimpse at Chinese life in New York as seen through the world-weary eyes of a young man with a foot firmly planted in two cultures." —Booklist
"Chinatown is the hero here. Better say antihero, because while the picture is vivid and often compelling, it's anything but pretty." —Kirkus Reviews
"Chang deftly keeps the action moving as he brings the Chinatown neighborhood alive in all its guises." —Publishers Weekly
Reviews-
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September 8, 2008
Less a conventional mystery than a study in Chinese-American culture, Chang's second novel (after 2006's Chinatown Beat
) offers another tantalizing glimpse of precinct and street life in Manhattan's Chinatown. When a prosperous family of four dies in their apartment, NYPD Det. Jack Yu determines it is murder/suicide, probably an effort to save face. Saving face, a powerful motivator in Chinese culture, drives many characters, including Yu's boyhood friend, now gang boss, Tat “Lucky” Louie; young turk Koo Jai, who's trying to pull one over on Lucky; and Sai Go, a dying smalltime bookie who wants to keep his dignity. DA Alexandra Lee-Chow, in contrast, embodies the struggles of ordinary Chinese-Americans who are neither crooks nor celebrities. While some may feel there are too many specifics about Chinese takeout meals and the finale is a bit of a copout, Chang deftly keeps the action moving as he brings the Chinatown neighborhood alive in all its guises. -
November 15, 2008
In mid-1990s, NYPD detective Jack Yu is assigned to a new precinct after being wounded in the line of duty, but he is still the go-to guy for all things Chinese. Thats how he picks up the murder-suicide of an upper-middle-class Chinese family whose father asphyxiated his family via carbon monoxide poisoning. The case winds back through a holiday season credit-card scam operated by one of the Chinese gangs and designed to leave real families saddled with debt for stolen merchandise. Yu also apprehends the murderers of a young Chinese delivery boy who was killed so the perps could buy new sneakers. In the midst of the chaos and heartbreak are parallel story lines of gangpower struggles and a terminally ill bookie, who may be in love for the first time. The backdrop for it all is a holiday-season New York ravaged by winter storms but still somehow surprisingly vibrant. This is a dense, moody, and intelligent glimpse at Chinese life in New York as seen through the world-weary eyes of a young man with a foot firmly planted in two cultures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.) - Entertainment Weekly "An Asian-flavored The Wire. . . . A richly atmospheric panorama of New York's immigrant demimonde."
- Slate "Year of the Dog arrived . . . And suddenly my life became an orgy of reading pleasure."
- The New York Times "A vivid, street-level portrait . . . evokes the spirit, sights, smells and language of his setting in compelling and original fashion."
- Stuart Neville, author of The Final Silence "Think you know New York? Then let Henry Chang show you around. This is tough crime fiction that reaches into the darkest corners of Chinatown and beyond, written with a deep understanding of the world through which Detective Jack Yu moves, and a soulful compassion for those who inhabit it. Every word has the ring of truth about it."
- The Wall Street Journal "Destiny could find no better assistant than the decent, determined Det. Jack Yu."
- The Boston Globe "For readers who relish noir suspense, it doesn't get much better."
- Richard Price, New York Times bestselling author of The Whites "A classic noir, filled with longing, violence, and that uniquely urban melancholy, but it also brings something new to the table, a loving specificity of a people and place, the multicultures of New York's Chinatown, that has rarely if ever been encountered in fiction before. A real discovery."
