★ 12/09/2019
Nga-Yee Au, the heroine of this clever, twisty novel set in Hong Kong from Chan (The Borrowed), who has devoted herself to taking care of her 15-year-old sister, Siu-Man, after the death of their widowed mother, is devastated to learn that Siu-Man has jumped to her death from their apartment window. After Siu-Man’s death, Nga-Yee learns that, over a period of months leading to the suicide, Siu-Man was the victim of a subway groper, Shiu Tak-Ping, who was convicted of sexual abuse and sent to prison. Siu-Man was subsequently subject to cyberbullying and harassment from someone claiming to be Tak-Ping’s nephew, who insisted that his uncle was framed. Nga-Yee is determined to hold the nephew accountable for Siu-Man’s death, and after the PI she hires learns that Tak-Ping has no nephew, he directs her to an eccentric investigator, who just calls himself N, to track down the impersonator. The reveals are both logical and surprising, and Chan populates the plot with realistic characterizations. Fans of hacker thrillers such as Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander books will be amply rewarded. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Hoffmann & Assoc. (Feb.)
Praise for The Borrowed
" The Borrowed manages to combine the pleasures of many types of crime story. One story will remind you of Ed McBain, another of Agatha Christie, another of Raymond Chandler’s evocations of the city. It is indeed rare for a novel demonstrating so much artistic skill, operating on many social and psychological levels, and with so much mastery of what might be called classical tropes to be so consistently entertaining.”— World Literature Today
“This is an ambitious narrative brilliantly executed. It hands us the living history of Hong Kong through the gripping prism of crime and politics—told backwards. What an achievement!”—John Burdett, author of Bangkok 8
“Five decades of Hong Kong policing stand behind the wise Inspector Kwan as he helps his protégé, Detective Lok, confound murderers and reveal much about life in their unique homeland.”— Sunday Times (Crime Club) (UK)
“This naturally reminded me of Soji Shimada, and the strength of his detective Takeshi Yoshiki’s passion and determination to unravel clues. I also thought of . . . the American novelist Ed McBain, whose 87th Precinct series examines the intersections between police work and the individual lives of those in the force. The strong sense of social responsibility in the books by the Swedish Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö came to mind too.”— OKAPI
“With the police force and social conflicts as its background, covering 50 years of politics, history and economics, intertwined with clever detective fiction, [ The Borrowed ] fits peculiarly with the current social situation in Hong Kong, and will surely stir up readers’ emotions.”— Macau Closer
“This unusual collection of linked stories spans more than four decades, each of them set at a significant date in Hong Kong’s history . . . [starring] Inspector Kwan as an old-fashioned, omniscient . . . detective.”— Sunday Times (UK)
“[Chan’s] latest award-winning book is about the evolution of the police force and graft-busting in the city . . . [It] spans 50 years and is a tale about a prominent local policeman that takes in watershed events in Hong Kong . . . It is likely to strike a chord.”— South China Morning Post “In the eternal search for something new in the crime genre, varieties from other countries other than the Nordic countries are undergoing forensic examination. . . The success of [ The Borrowed ] suggests that Hong Kong may be fertile territory . . . An innovative novel with a complex structure”—Barry Forshaw, CrimeTime (online)
“Chan Ho-kei’s The Borrowed is full of surprises . . . A brilliant detective novel.”—Taiwanese novelist and crime editor extraordinaire Wolf Hsu
02/01/2020
Software engineer Chan (The Borrowed) returns with a new complex and well-crafted mystery of a Hong Kong librarian searching for the truth about her teenage sister's death. Most chapters begin with short text message exchanges between unidentified antagonists, adding tension and intrigue to the plot. Main character Nga-Yee is a hard-working, family-oriented young Chinese woman who has experienced great loss, of both family and financial stability, and is now alone in the world. The authorities say her sister's death was by suicide, but Nga-Yee engages the reluctant help of a mysterious, taciturn cyber expert who goes simply by the letter "N"; his involvement leads to the discovery of an increasingly complicated snarl of seemingly unconnected threads that eventually reveal an unexpected puppetmaster. The story addresses timely and dark themes of society today, including teenage sexual harassment, internet bullying, organized crime, and the machinations of the digital underground. VERDICT Chan's appealing style will hold readers' interest, especially those who enjoy their suspense set in international locales.—Crystal Renfro, Kennesaw State Univ., Marietta, GA
2019-11-24
A young Chinese woman suspects her younger sister's suicide is not what it seems in this somber tale of investigation and discovery.
Siu-Man, the schoolgirl victim, had been the subject of online bullying after reporting a man for groping her on public transportation, a charge that resulted in the man's going to jail. Siu-Man's older sister and guardian, Nga-Yee, can't accept that her sister killed herself and hires a cyberhacker to see if the chat board posts against Siu-Man can be tracked down. The premise is a pretty slim reed, really more of an excuse to examine the simultaneously liberating and corrupting potential of the internet, the anonymity it affords people to say what they want, and the temptation that comes with it to indulge in gossip, invective, and maliciousness. Inevitably, the investigation leads beyond users to the tech companies content to exploit those temptations. The story is also a portrait of life on the economic fringes of Hong Kong, a city so expensive the inhabitants cling to the tiny government-issued housing as their only slim foothold. The sense of fatigue with which Nga-Yee comes home from a day's work near the beginning of the novel hovers over the rest of it. Unfortunately, these threads are more interesting than the unfolding of Siu-Man's fate.
This is a novel in which the motivating mystery feels swamped by the commentary surrounding it.
