09-07-2024, 03:01 PM
The Firemaker by Peter May
Eleanor is fleeing Chicago and some bad memories. She takes a job on the spur of the moment to teach forensics in Beijing for six weeks. Lin has just been promoted to Deputy Police detective in Beijing and on his first day there are three different homicides to fall. Naturally Eleanor and Lin meet. They hate each other on first sight but they have to work together because her expertise in dissecting burn victims dovetails nicely with his case. Of course over the course of the investigation their feelings change.
I liked seing the workings of Beijing from the insider level. It might be a totally fictitious view of the culture in China back in 1999 but I liked it. It was a time as the country was slowly regrouping after the effects of the Cultural Revolution and the wounds were still a bit raw.
The murder mystery itself was compelling at first but then went off the rails as it became a nationwide conspiracy.
Good book for the atmosphere, bad for the plot. The love story was also a bit over wrought.
Eleanor is fleeing Chicago and some bad memories. She takes a job on the spur of the moment to teach forensics in Beijing for six weeks. Lin has just been promoted to Deputy Police detective in Beijing and on his first day there are three different homicides to fall. Naturally Eleanor and Lin meet. They hate each other on first sight but they have to work together because her expertise in dissecting burn victims dovetails nicely with his case. Of course over the course of the investigation their feelings change.
I liked seing the workings of Beijing from the insider level. It might be a totally fictitious view of the culture in China back in 1999 but I liked it. It was a time as the country was slowly regrouping after the effects of the Cultural Revolution and the wounds were still a bit raw.
The murder mystery itself was compelling at first but then went off the rails as it became a nationwide conspiracy.
Good book for the atmosphere, bad for the plot. The love story was also a bit over wrought.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm