Kirjahaku

An acclaimed Chinese writer makes his English language debut with this heart-stopping literary noir, a richly atmospheric tale of espionage and international intrigue, set in Shanghai in 1931-an electrifying, decadent world of love, violence, and betrayal filled with femme fatales, criminals, revolutionaries, and spies. A boat from Hong Kong arrives in Shanghai harbor, carrying an important official in the Nationalist Party and his striking wife, Leng. Amid the raucous sound of firecrackers, gunshots ring out; an assassin has shot the official and then himself. Leng disappears in the ensuing chaos. Hseuh, a Franco-Chinese photographer aboard the same boat, became captivated by Leng's beauty and unconcealed misery. Now, she is missing. But Hsueh is plagued by a mystery closer to home: he suspects his White Russian lover, Therese, is unfaithful. Why else would she disappear so often on their recent vacation? When he's arrested for mysterious reasons in the French Concession and forced to become a police collaborator, he realizes that in the seamy, devious world of Shanghai, no one is who they appear to be. Coerced into spying for the authorities, Hseuh discovers that Therese is secretly an arms dealer, supplying Shanghai's gangs with weapons. His investigation of Therese eventually leads him back to Leng, a loyal revolutionary with ties to a menacing new gang, led by a charismatic Communist whose acts of violence and terrorism threaten the entire country. His aptitude for espionage draws Hseuh into a dark underworld of mobsters, smugglers, anarchists, and assassins. Torn between Therese and Leng, he vows to protect them both. As the web of intrigue tightens around him, Hsueh plays a dangerous game, hoping to stay alive.

In this story of intrigue, friendship and love, we follow two hustlers through Shanghai in the dynamic period shortly after China's reform and opening up.During that dynamic period shortly after reform and the opening up of China, two friends and their acquaintances struggle to not only survive but to thrive by running hustles throughout Shanghai. Friendship, love, and loyalty are ultimately tested when they embark on a scheme to rob a lucrative amount of money in the for of one check that becomes two, then three, and eventually four.Soon, the game that started as a sure thing becomes complicated with the involvement of different players and their agendas. A web of deceit is spun as everybody tries to capture the real check. Echoing the quick changing pace of modern China, the alliances the players form are broken and realigned again sometimes in the span of one night, a day, or a week as they realize that not all players are created equal and not all games have a clear winner.