Customer Reviews

Bad Traffic: A Novel

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author's idea of writing a thriller in which the main characters do not speak / have trouble with the language of the place where the action develops is interesting. Especially when considering the tools used to convey this factor: a combination of broken English sentences, even when referring to some of the descriptions, and a need for translation help by other characters. This in turn leads to some funny situations but also to some frustrating ones.

That said, it is clear that some readers will find the style more annoying than rewarding. In my case, there were a couple of instances in which I started to get a little frustrated (this is the main reason why I took away a star) but luckily, the story has several good traits that allowed me to pull out of this state pretty quickly.

Those readers that enjoy fast-paced thrillers, with a combination of mystery, suspense and action will be right at home with this novel. The plot is not overly complex, and some of the surprises are not that hard to anticipate, but the experience is definitely enjoyable. Human trafficking is not a novel topic, but in this book the author uses a particular perspective to make it "taste fresh". Also, the two main characters, a Chinese inspector looking for her daughter and a hopeful peasant coming illegally into the UK, present a nice set of contrasts, which I found helped the story quite a bit.

As mentioned, the only potential drawback has to do with the writing style. However, I am confident that most people will like it or at least be OK with it, and therefore will have a very good time with Lewis' work.

Inspector Ma Jian is an influential Chinese policeman who is also a bit corrupt. One night when he's about to bed his current young mistress he gets a call from his daughter, who he believes is going to college in England. "Help me!" she says, then the line goes dead. Jian doesn't think twice, he gets on a plan and heads to England, even though he doesn't speak a word of English.

Ding Ming is Chinese as well. He wanted to be an English teacher, but somebody who wasn't qualified but was much better connected got the job, So Ding and his wife sell themselves as indentured servants and suffer through a long, arduous journey to England.

When Jian gets to London he's like a fish out of water, but he does manage to get up to Leeds where he finds his daughter had been lying to him, she hadn't been attending school, instead she was working as a waitress and hanging out with a Chinese gangster called Black Fort.

Ding Ming and his wife arrive in England to find it's not the golden mountain they'd been led to believe. They are separated by a snakehead called Black Fort (yes the same Black Fort) and Ding isn't happy. He wants to please his captors, but he want to see his wife, too.

Jian's investigation leads him to Ding and he forces the young man to help him, because he needs his English skills. Ding doesn't want to go along and often tries to thwart Jian, because he thinks if he gives him up to the gangsters, they'll look favorably on him and let him see his wife. Little does he know what's in store for his wife and without Jian he has no hope of ever seeing her again.

Jian and his reluctant sidekick make a great pair as they race through this novel at breakneck speed to an explosive conclusion you won't want to miss. Somehow I got the impression from the story and especially the ending that this is the first of many Inspector Jian novels to come. I hope that's true.

This novel is well reviewed by other readers. I won't bore you with repetition.

BEST PART - The short chapters are appreciated. The chapters break cleanly making it a book that can be read on the run. The writing style is different enough to be interesting.

Seeing the West, England specifically as foreign and alien was quite an experience for me. I've been there so many times it almost seems like home, but it's not home for the two protagonists in Simon Lewis's terrific thriller. It's a forbidding and dangerous place with pitfalls everywhere.

Inspector Jian is a corrupt, arrogant Chinese policeman, who keeps mistresses and lives high on the hog in the People's Republic. He has it made. Then one night he gets a phone call from his daughter Wei Wei, who is studying in England. She cries for help, then he loses the connection and he can't get her back. He gets on the next flight out and as soon as he lands he manages to get a cab to Leeds, where his daughter supposedly was attending university. But she's not there, she'd been lying to him. What had she been up to? He has a hard time finding out, because he doesn't speak a word of English.

Ding Ming is an illegal immigrant. He was smuggled in with his wife and a load of other Chinese, by what we would call coyotes in the American Southwest. These coyotes are Chinese gang members who send the men to work in the fields and the woman to work as prostitutes. However, they've told Ding Ming that his wife and the other women are going to pick flowers. And he believes this. He speaks English, so he is of some value to the gang members and he's going to be very valuable to Inspector Jian.

Although he isn't with his wife, Ding Ming is seems pretty happy to be working for a pittance to pay off his debt to the people who have smuggled him in and it's not till he meets up with Jian that he begins to really doubt what he's gotten himself into, moreover what he's gotten his wife into. Jians need Ding Ming as he speaks English after a fashion and Ding Ming needs Jian, because the man is tough, brutal and will stop at nothing to find his daughter and where she is Ding Ming's wife may also be.

What really makes this a fun read is the interplay between Jian and Ding Ming. Ding Ming is willing to turn Jian into the authorities or the bad guys or whoever if it'll help him in his quest to find his wife. The trust between them at times is zero and other times they really need each other. There are thrills galore here and some comedy too. Now add that with more suspense than you can shake a stick at and an explosive finish and you really have a story.

Inspector Jian is a very interesting character, but the whole language barrier at the beginning (although realistic) made it difficult to sink comfortably into the novel. I was very aware of reading, and how much effort I put into getting through the dense narrative. I missed having dialogue around a lot.

But after the story got up and going, it was smooth sailing. I liked the action and the way. Jian is not the kind of hero I normally root for. Jian has a lot of flaws and even caused his wife's death. His efforts to save his daughter do a lot to redeem him.

Also interesting were the reveals about the Britich and Chinese cultures, especially in conflict with each other.

This crime/thriller had me tunning page after page once I started it.
Partly due to the 3 or 4 page chapters, the non stop twists and action; and partly because it was so fascinating as well as entertaining.

Written from the POV of a Chinese Police officer who can't speak a word of English, searching for his daughter in England, you see the world in a way I suspect most of us have not. You also learn quite a few interesting things about life as lived in China.

My only gripe was the incredible number of beatings the guy took, and each time it seemed he was almost dead, but came back fighting.. a little unbelievable, but the rest was solid.

While it is certainly the case that one doesn't have to be a member of the ethnic/cultural/racial group that one is writing about to do a good job of writing about the particular group (Tony Hillerman's novels are, I think, a good example of this), I think it certainly helps. Granted we are talking about a work of fiction her, but really all works of fiction have an element of truth to them...at least the good ones do. Having said that the writer of this novel isn't Chinese (although it sounds like he has spent a lot of time immersed in Chinese culture), but his characters are and a lot of the novel is a description of the Chinese characters reactions to Western Society/Culture. This being the case, I was scratching my head throughout the novel wondering if this would indeed be their reactions and am I learning anything about the clash between East and West reading this novel. Granted, as I said before this is a work of fiction, nonetheless, I think it overall if detracted from the impact of the novel (I would expect this is a point that many would disagree with me on). Having said that, as far as mystery/thrillers/crime novels go, this was a good read. Oddly enough I found the most interesting character in the book not to be the protagonist Ma Jian, but Ding Ming. And while the Inspectors plight to find his daughter is certainly an agonizing one, I think it pails in comparison to that of Ding Ming's. Overall, I think that this is indeed where the novel really succeeds--i.e., in it's portrayal of the plight of illegal immigrants, be they Chinese of otherwise, and the truly awful circumstances they find themselves in search of a better life. The authors description of the human trafficking is a truly disturbing one; one which gives us a better understanding of the exploitation of illegal immigrants and the perhaps the role we all play in its existence. In that regard, I give the novel 5 stars.

One day a couple weeks ago my husband Ken started reading this book and it seemed like every fifteen minutes or so he'd say something like, "You won't believe how good this book is." Then he'd read me a few passages. Then he'd go back into the book, read a bit, then do it all over again. So, as you can see, he really liked the book. But sadly, he told me most of the story before I started it. So I put off reading it, hoping I'd forget what I knew.

Of course it didn't work, but even knowing the plot, even knowing how it would end, none of that took away from my enjoyment of BAD TRAFFIC. Simon Lewis has written a terrific thriller about a Chinese detective trying to find his daughter in a country where he doesn't speak a word of the language and that really adds to the tension, plus it leaves room for a little humor.

If you ask me, Simon Lewis is destined to be a major star in the thriller/mystery genre. His pacing is about as tight as you can get. His people are real and interesting as all get out. His plotting is superb and his description puts you right in place, whether it's a fish and chips shop or a blazing gunfight in the middle of the night. I can't recommend this book highly enough and I'll most certainly be on the lookout for the next Simon Lewis thriller.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Human trafficking and snuff have become pretty popular topics in the last nine years of fiction, it seems to me. And so has China, practically a medieval nation outside its major cities until the turn of the century.

Good genre writing--well, commercial writing at least--reflect current issues and cultural interests. Sure, but genre fiction really crackles when the author loves his or her subjects. Such is the case with Simon Lewis and his second "travel/suspense" novel, *Bad Traffic*.

You know what travel/suspense is--James Bond does it all the time. Historically, white slave traders would ship British girls across Asia, often with little regard for their safe arrival (they could always send more). But while I'm used to reading Brits or Americans threatened by sinister foreigners in distant lands, Lewis turns the thriller on its head. For the distant land is the West, and the foreigners speak English.

Inspector Jian, a widowed veteran and well-connected Chinese Police Inspector, sent his only child to Leeds University. Ostensibly for education, but practically to straighten out her troublesome streaks. Only trouble of the worst kind cries out of his cell phone one day, and 32 hours later, the good Inspector finds himself in England without a friend, a weapon, or a single word of the local language.

Ding Ming, an educated but poorly-connected husband, speaks English well enough to get himself into trouble. Which is one reason why he and his wife indebted themselves $40,000 plus interest to be smuggled into the Gold Mountain of Great Britain. His bosses seem perverted but fair, offering a generous 1 dollar an hour minus expenses. If only they hadn't separated him from his wife...

You know Jian and Ming will cross, in ways terrifying, exciting, and absurd. Especially when they cross Black Fort, a petty gangbanger with tong ambitions and an eye for daughters and wives.

*Bad Traffic* is suspense all the way, replete with situational humor and subtle twists on the genre. What Jian lacks in local customs and comprehension, he more than makes up with police brutality, Red Guard training, and the cunning of a Chinese social strategist. Simon paints him as an over-the-hill Asian Bruce Willis, with less emphasis on the guns and more on the bullheaded rampage through the English shop, er, countryside. Jian's struggles remind him of his own country's dark and often murderous past, as the search for his daughter leads to desperate actions.

Ming knows darkness too, especially as a peasant who watched arrogant officials like Jian get life handed to them on a silver plate. Yet his flight to England is one of wonder, surprise, and often painful naiveté. Ming isn't exactly a comical sidekick, so much as a pitiable little guy who keeps up his optimism and devotion to duty, no matter how obscene the situation becomes.

Simon weaves these protagonists into his plots like any good, if formulaic suspense writer. The story twists and turns like a sports car on hilly English roads, and practically every chapter changes the reality of whatever came before. Here and there, strategically placed sections backtrack to different POVs or plot threads, or otherwise delve into some seemingly mundane sideshow--often after a cliffhanger.

*Bad Traffic* is violent and profane, but not graphically so. Lewis gets the point across--often in a deft lunge at the unsuspecting reader--with just the right amount of f-bombs and twitching limbs. He has an old fashioned appreciation for the dashing hero and the damsel in distress, while his story remains cognizant of the treatment of gender in Western societies. Objectification is limited to the bad people point of view, and female distress is largely de-sexualized. Most of the male characters, for their part, are neither muscle-toned Bruce Lees nor romantic rogues, but often pudgy and middle-aged working men.

Getting into style, his prose is perfunctory and consistent. Lewis doesn't bog things down with chunks of back-story or description. Instead, character and setting flow along with the story. He is careful to limit narrative commentary or character thoughts. Nevertheless, the story teaches along the way, integrating Chinese and British culture directly into the action and dialogue.

Given this, the book is an easy read. Perhaps a bit lower on the scale than this very review, anybody with a ninth grade comprehension level should get it. I took three days to finish, only because of other work. This is an ideal read for a plane, train, or bus ride.

Still, the writing sputters a bit. However tight, Simon still uses too many words to build his sentences. I'm also not a fan of the "he was, she was" speech style that Western writers took from Hemingway like a divine commandment. Finally, I didn't recognize some of the British slang, but understood it well enough in context.

That's all quibble anyways. I mainly found disappointment with how the story sometimes degenerates into cardboard gun fights or chases. One major character is a student of Wing Chun martial arts, but doesn't it put to use, especially not in the climax. Also, the writing is occasionally a little obtuse on details. I can't tell whether characters are shooting revolvers or semi-auto pistols, and the plot doesn't exploit details like this anyways. I know it's a stupid little thing, but it kind of threw me off when the bad guys periodically appear with shotguns, only to announce at the end that these were double-barreled hunting weapons, not pump-action police specials.

Otherwise, this is my first Lewis Simon book. Through Amazon Vine, the first I've heard of him. As *Bad Traffic* is headlined as "An Inspector Jian Novel", I wouldn't mind seeing a series with his level of talent and cultural appreciation.

As such, it deserves to be the first Amazon Vine book I've awarded four stars. The story is formulaic and familiar enough, but that's not a bad thing. For mystery and suspense buffs, *Bad Traffic* offers a solid road to travel.

You just have to hang on for the ride as the characters strive to find their way through confusing and threatening situations and deal with nasty villains and alien bureaucracy. Well written, gripping, a brilliant dance of very different cultures. Rural England and gritty crime through the eyes of desperate men in a new and very strange land. This is a Thriller that reads like some of the best science fiction, rather like what you might get if Neal Gaiman or William Gibson wrote a contemporary crime thriller. Tough Chinese Police Inspector Jian speaks no English but has rushed to England to help his Daughter who is in trouble and finds that she is missing and has been lying to him about her life in England. Ding Ming and his wife have been smuggled into England by human traffickers in hope of finding work and prosperity in the "Gold Mountain". Things go really bad really fast, Ding Ming is separated from his wife by the "Snakeheads" he tries to deal with unexpected situations and demands from the smugglers in order to be allowed to speak with his wife. Both these men struggle to find their way in an alien culture without any guidelines. You see events through the eyes and minds of these two men.
I don't know enough about modern Chinese Culture to know if this is as authentic as it seems but I was unable to put the book down until the very satisfying end.