At the start of Chang's promising debut, NYPD detective Jack Yu must cope with
his father's recent death and investigate the rape of a grade-school girl on
the fringes of Chinatown, where he grew up and has just been stationed.
Meanwhile, would-be gangster Johnny Wong is carrying on with Mona, the
gorgeous mistress of his employer, Uncle Four, head of the local branch of the
Hip Ching tong and a powerful underworld figure in both New York and Hong
Kong. As Yu digs deeper into his case, suspecting that an illegal Chinese
immigrant may be the serial rapist he is seeking, he finds evidence of a
connection between the rapist and the local gangsters. Though Chang builds
less suspense than more seasoned police procedural authors, he presents a
fascinating look at New York's Chinese-American urban community and its
subcultures. (Nov.)
NYPD Detective Jack Yu patrols the area in which he grew up in a falling-apart
tenement. His in-the-bone knowledge of his beat is colored by personal
concerns: grief and remorse over his father's death and conflicting feelings
about preserving his Chinese heritage as an American-born son. Yu is a
trustworthy guide to New York's Chinatown, an area in which 99 percent of the
beat cops are white and mostly incapable of dealing with the neighborhood's
unique form of organized crime, represented by the ancient Chinese secret
society, the Hip Chings, and by a clutch of street gangs. Yu's detective
efforts here center on tracking down a murderer and a serial rapist who preys
upon little girls. Throughout, the enormous difficulties of being a cop in a
community that has no faith in the police is emphasized. An intriguing, up-
close examination of a closed community. Give this one to fans of S. J.
Rozan's Lydia Chin and Bill Smith series, also set in New York's Chinatown.
Connie Fletcher
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
At the start of Chang's promising debut, NYPD detective Jack Yu must cope with his father's recent death and investigate the rape of a grade-school girl on the fringes of Chinatown, where he grew up and has just been stationed. Meanwhile, would-be gangster Johnny Wong is carrying on with Mona, the gorgeous mistress of his employer, Uncle Four, head of the local branch of the Hip Ching tong and a powerful underworld figure in both New York and Hong Kong. As Yu digs deeper into his case, suspecting that an illegal Chinese immigrant may be the serial rapist he is seeking, he finds evidence of a connection between the rapist and the local gangsters. Though Chang builds less suspense than more seasoned police procedural authors, he presents a fascinating look at New York's Chinese-American urban community and its subcultures. (Nov.)
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From
NYPD Detective Jack Yu patrols the area in which he grew up in a falling-apart tenement. His in-the-bone knowledge of his beat is colored by personal concerns: grief and remorse over his father's death and conflicting feelings about preserving his Chinese heritage as an American-born son. Yu is a trustworthy guide to New York's Chinatown, an area in which 99 percent of the beat cops are white and mostly incapable of dealing with the neighborhood's unique form of organized crime, represented by the ancient Chinese secret society, the Hip Chings, and by a clutch of street gangs. Yu's detective efforts here center on tracking down a murderer and a serial rapist who preys upon little girls. Throughout, the enormous difficulties of being a cop in a community that has no faith in the police is emphasized. An intriguing, up- close examination of a closed community. Give this one to fans of S. J. Rozan's Lydia Chin and Bill Smith series, also set in New York's Chinatown. Connie Fletcher
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