Customer Reviews

Bamboo and Blood (Thorndike Reviewers' Choice)

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Bamboo and Blood by James Church is "an Inspector O" novel. I did not know what that meant when I picked it up but I soon found out. The prologue starts, "The Russians... think they are the only ones who know the cold," then jumps right into action.

I've been reading mysteries placed in Red China, Thailand, and now, with Inspector O, in Red Korea. Who knew it would be so entertaining, so warm, so enigmatic, so humorous? (Not giving away the plot here, OK?) Suffice it to say missles are involved (somewhat) and that I'm going to read more by the author, James Church.

Church's bio asserts a) His name's a pseudonym, b) He was with Western intelligence for decades in Asia, and c) Many of the events in the story really happened. That's nice but what I care about is the story engaged me from the start and I want to read more. All good mysteries have a mystery, yes, it's how they work, but the reason we read them is the milieu, characters, surprises, new perspectives.

I remember the same thrill first reading Len Deighton's novels about East and West Berlin. That's the closest I can come to sharing the feel of Bamboo and Blood, except now it's North and South Korea.

Inspector O is a reading pleasure!

The idea of a North Korean inspector/detective is great. We (in the West) have trouble imagining earnest, hard-working investigators working to solve crimes in a nation that does not follow the rule of law. That is the first and primary paradox in both the Inspecter O series and the Gorky Park type books set in the former USSR.

The author depicts a totalitarian stranglehold where the army spies on the police, schools are empty because teachers and students are quietly starving to death, orders can mean the opposite of what they say and innocence can mean guilt. It is a land of subtlety and nuance as is the book. The ever-present drabness and bitter cold was an integral part of the psyche, yet another obstacle to overcome in order to survive.

The story (***** Warning - Plot talk - ******) centers around talks on North Korean atomic weapons and attempts to either advance or derail the talks. All the while, Israeli agents attempt to offer a trade: Cessation of missile technology in exchange for money and aid. In the midst of the cloak and dagger sleuthing, Inspector O is told to investigate the death of a woman who may have been in Pakistan. He is given no details. In other words, he is NOT to dig too deeply. He travels to New York and Zurich, observing the abundance of the West with distant melancholy. Yet he refuses to defect, whether out of duty, honor or lack of choice we can't be sure. As he probes deeper, he must watch the shifting alliances within the regime, each scheming to survive the long, dark winter. The search for loyalties is as difficult as the elusive search for the dead woman.

My Grade - A+

It was a mixed bag for me. Yes, the guy can write. He has wit and some depth and he knows his wood. What he can't do is make much of the action plausible. He may have been a former spy, certainly not a former English teacher, for he embraces the "fallacy of imitative form," which is to say that in order to portray the cryptic, he writes cryptically. This does not work out well for the reader in terms of comprehension. In his head I suppose it all makes sense, but in mine, it doesn't. There are too many "why's" for me: Why didn't O know who Sohn was? I did. Why was Dilara even involved? Just so O could have some sex and be hit on the head? Rather irrelevant and not funny. I mean, she isn't even described. Why would M. Beret be an assumed name when his actual name and position are public knowledge? What's with the stupid woman on the bench who thought O was Chinese? Irrelevant and superfluous. Just as was O's trip to NY.

But the author's most tiresome habit (besides a love affair with non sequiturs) is interspersing a great deal of prose between normal dialogue: Let's say a character asks, "What are your reasons?" Here will follow descriptions of weather, street, facial tics, funny remarks, philosophical statements, observations of character for 100-200 words. Paragraph. Then, "They are not for you to know." Hmmm, what isn't for you to know? So you have to hurry back up to the first sentence of the preceeding paragraph in order to remind yourself of how the dialogue started. Of course, it doesn't stay with you because the interspersed prose is so riveting.

Who is the mutual friend who sent O the wood? I could come up with at least three possibilities, none of them terribly fitting. Why does O burn the wood? The girl murdered in Pakistan is a shaggy dog. Really, the entire book is about a low level inspector being surprised to be chosen to go to Geneva to pass along exactly one sentence to the Americans. That's it. Instead, he delivers his sentence to the Swiss but does not repeat it word for word, which is odd, especially since his boss loves code. Then he returns to North Korea fairly clueless.

The cold (it's either raining or snowing) permeates the book, as does the despair and dullness of the citizens of NK and this also leaks out to the reader. There is not one happy or near-normal person in the book. It suffers due to the very lack of contrast. Unrelenting depression and anxiety can eventually be tuned out -- which I did -- but I couldn't have done it had these moods been expanded with contrasting upbeat qualities like joy or playfulness, at least a few times.

For me, the characters were so opaque that they and the book never came to life. Yet I truly enjoyed a great deal of the author's prose. It was the little originalities that delighted me: Says O, "I told you I lost my temper. Not lost, actually. More like I folded it up and calmly put it in my pocket." I will do that with Bamboo and Blood.

In North Korea the Ministry of Public Security Inspector O is assigned to follow a foreigner. O quickly realizes the outsider is working for the Israelis. However, O also realizes that at least one or more other government security agencies are watching him and his superior Chief Inspector Pak.

Meanwhile Pak assigns O to investigate the murder of a North Korean diplomat's wife in Pakistan. However, he is warned not to solve the case, but to only gather known facts about the victim. Bristling over the limitation, O tries to solve the homicide, which only leads to more trouble for the dedicated inspector from other security agencies for his clues lead to the top secret special weapons program.

The third Inspector O investigation (see CORPSE IN THE KORYO and HIDDEN MOON) is once again a great tale more so because of a the deep look into North Korea. O is excellent as he knows other agencies are spying on him to insure he learns very little as the need to know is always restricted. The whodunit and the Israeli espionage caper are both well written to showcase Inspector O's skills and the paranoia of a regime that sees everyone even loyal citizens as the enemy.

Harriet Klausner

This is a review of the latest (third) installment in the Inspector O series by James Church.

Of the three books in the series (so far), I think this one is the second best. The first in the series, A Corpse in the Koryo, is the best in the series (and a really great book).

This book is set in the 1990's during the North Korean famine, but this stays more or less in the background in many respects. Inspector O spends a large part of the book in Geneva in any case - plenty of cloak and dagger there and even a love interest of sorts. Strangely enough, his boss Pak is back, although he died in an earlier book - maybe they are not coming out "chronologically". Pak was a really good character, so it is nice to see him again.

The thing that I missed here was the local color of North Korea that was so extensive in the first book - there was some here, but not that much. As in all the books, Inspector O investigates, but things are never quite fully resolved (or not resolved at all) by the end, which is a little less than satisfying. It is never quite clear (even to the Inspector) why things are being investigated, or if they really tie together. But then, North Korea is a bizarre place and maybe this is all part of a game generated by the jockeying for power among the top dogs. Unlike the other books, there is some attempt to explain at the end, but it does fall a little short.

Overall, this is a much better book than the second in the series, but no where near as good as the first. It is still worth a read.

I really enjoyed the first "Inspector O" novel, "Corpse in the Koryo". I wasn't as pleased with "Hidden Moon", which to me at least was so chaotic, especially at the end, that it was almost unreadable. "Bamboo and Blood" is a return to form. This is set in the late nineties, during one of the North Korean famines. The writing is as good as always, and the story is much tighter. That isn't to say that everything is resolved in a nice package at the end, indeed much of what transpires is not completely explained, but given the circumstances, that was OK. Much of the story takes place in Geneva, which brings to mind some of Conrad's novels like "Under Western Eyes", as well as some of Graham Greene's novels. That said, the best scenes in the book are the ones set in North Korea. The scenes in Geneva are done well, but since Conrad people have been setting espionage novels in Geneva, and to me at least it seems like it is difficult to find anything fresh or new about the place.

Your post

James Church is the author of a series unique in its setting. Inspector O is a detective in Pyongyang, North Korea but his duties cross into intelligence in the closed society that sees enemies everywhere. BAMBOO AND BLOOD is the third in the Inspector O series but it is a prequel beginning in the winter of 1997. North Korea is in the midst of a famine that is devastating the country. The very young and the very old are dying and only people of strong will are likely to survive until the spring. Restaurants serve hot water as the beverage to accompanies meals of soup made by cooking a bit of wood in more hot water. The country is hiding its desperation from the rest of the world so it is a great surprise to Inspector O when he is asked to play host to an Israeli agent who is able to come and go seemingly at will into a society that is a mystery to its own people. Jeno introduces information about the death in Pakistan of the wife of a North Korean diplomat. O is assigned to investigate and told not to look at things too closely and to avoid any discussions about missiles. O knows nothing about missiles and doesn't understand what he is being sent to investigate but suddenly he is given a passport and a plane ticket. Inspector O finds Jeno always nearby as he travels from Pyongyang, to a nearly abandoned factory in the countryside, to New York city, to Geneva. There O finds himself attached to a diplomatic mission about which he knows little, meets a Swiss security officer, "M. Beret", and realizes that someone, perhaps his brother, is trying to kill him. Inspector O is a great find. He is a simple man who lives quietly, is proud of his heritage and the memory of his deceased grandfather, a hero of the revolution. He always carries with him pieces of wood, small pieces that he uses like worry beads. "...I might as well have a piece of wood that would help me sort through the case. Something pragmatic. Elm was good that way. Most trees succumb to nonsense at some point in their lives. They get top heavy. They forget their roots. Not elms. From beginning to end, they remain stately and pragmatic." O could be talking about himself. He is worth meetin

Well written, occasionally funny with some clever sentences, but, really, overall, dull, cheerless and not very satisfying. So little of meaning happens that it borders on the post-modernist style, unintentionally, I assume. Just a few more pages to go and I really don't care what happens anymore. Good reading if you don't want to stay up all night!!! The insight into the N. Korean regime is not enough to sustain this reader's interest. The characters, despite, being very quirky, are still somewhat one dimensional - more bamboo than blood!

Bamboo and Blood gives readers an interesting peek into North Korea. These may be the only books set there.

The lead characters are quirky, interesting and likable. They're well-designed and put into believable situations.

Bamboo and Blood is the third in James Church's wonderful Inspector O mysteries. Once again, the author deftly weaves together several stories: a tale of murder, missile deals, and diplomacy, set in the context of North Korea's devastating famine of the late 90s. The Prologue sets the tone beautifully, with its sounds and evocations of bitter cold, snow, ice, starvation, and --- death. Inspector O encounters various characters right away: a jovial, giggling Israeli agent; a solitary North Korean general at an abandoned complex; a former colleague from a mission gone awry; a bevy of peculiar North Korean diplomats - in Geneva; and an odd Swiss counterintelligence officer. The latter's walks and chats with Inspector O, along the streets and woods of Geneva, pay homage to Paul Nitze's and Yuli Kvitsinsky's famous "walk in the woods," and a singular collegiality formed in the depths of 1983's Cold War arms-control negotiations. The tension of these talks - as well as the diplomatic negotiations - in Geneva is full of ironies which are cleverly described by Inspector O. The tale ends with hopefulness, amidst the paradox of Inspector O's caveat to Jeno, the Israeli agent: "Belief is easy. It's doubting that causes difficulties." And so Inpsector O survives the famine, another winter, as does North Korea. One can only eagerly await James Chruch's next Inspector O mystery, each one a token gift, like Inspector O's pieces of wood, to be touched, savored, and coveted. Once again, a marvelous achievement.