Customer Reviews

A Bitter Feast (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With this sumptuously hard-boiled fifth installment in her acclaimed Lydia Chin-Bill Smith series -- which gracefully alternates between the voice of Lydia, a gutsy PI born and raised in New York's Chinatown, and her off-again, on-again partner, Bill -- Shamus-winning Rozan will no doubt regale her fans.

Hired to find four waiters who've gone missing from the Dragon Garden, a busy dim sum establishment owned by a local Cantonese power player, Lydia gets herself a job as a waitress and goes to work on the joint, all the while offering insight into how the community power structure has been transformed as Fukienese-speaking immigrants have superseded the older Cantonese.

And soon enough Lydia and Bill uncover a mystery -- involving drug-smuggling, alien-smuggling and dissident-smuggling -- that brings that ethnic conflict into sharp focus. All in all, a beautiful and gripping novel, brimming with spice, complexity and suspense. (And food -- enormous, mouth-watering quantities of it.) --APBnews.com

Ever since I began reading S.J. Rozan, I've been convinced that she is secretly Chinese. Being part Chinese myself, I've found that she more than any other author has conveyed to me what it's like to be a young Chinese American living with an exasperating traditional mother and fighting against racism and sexism to be a P.I. Lydia Chin is a wonderfully believable and likeable character, and in this novel she must resist the pressure to be a stereotypical good Chinese girl and give up her search to find four Chinese waiters who are involved the unionization of a Chinese restaurant. I've also been in love with Lydia's partner, Bill Smith, and throughout her five mysteries have rooted for the two of them to get together. Congratulations to Rozan for creating another enjoyable and exciting mystery.

I have read Rozan's first five novels and they are all very good but this is clearly her best yet. This book has it all: a complex, realistic plot that keeps you guessing until the end, interesting, well-developed characters, great dialogue and a very exciting conclusion. Bill and Lydia are more interesting and entertaining than ever. The thing that impresses me most about this book, however, is simply how well it is written. Rozan's writing is clean and precise and her discriptions of Chinatown are so good I almost felt like I was there. Rozan is now my favorite mystery writer and I hope she writes many, many more.

Private Investigator Lydia Chin has been hired to find a missing person, who disappeared in the middle of New York's Chinatown. The seemingly simple case begins when she works undercover as a waitress in a Chinatown restaurant, a place where allegedly four illegal aliens vanished without a trace.

However, her inquiries are slowed down by the demographic change in the local community. Apparently, the newly arrived Fukiense-speaking Chinese are more and more taking over from the previous generation Cantonese immigrants. This makes it more difficult on Lydia, who has lived her entire life in the neighborhood, to obtain information. Still, with the help of her professional and growing personal partner Bill Smith, and shockingly (at least to this reviewer) her mother, Lydia plows ahead with her investigation.

This series is more of a movable feast rather than A BITTER FEAST because of the wonderful reoccurring characters and the insiders look into Manh! attan, especially Chinatown. The ethnic foods (not just Chinese) add a fabulous taste to a great who-done-it. Award winning S.J. Rozan has scribed another winning entry to a triumphant mystery series.

Harriet Klausner

S. J. Rozan just gets better with every book! I have read all her books so far and anxiously await the next one! Her writing is so refreshing, she makes you care about the main characters, Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, and you get caught up in what's happening from the very first chapter. Once you find yourself turning the pages, you hate to finish the book so soon but you just can't resist. This series is one of the best to come along in years and long may S. J. Rozan write!

Rozan has created a marvelous mystery here. She paints a vivid picture of Chinatown and it's inhabitants as well as creating a most satisfying who-dunit. I love the characters of Lydia and Bill. They play off one another so well. My only complaint is I would like to see them move their personal relationship along a little faster (sorry Ms. Rozan, I am a romantic at heart). If you like your mysteries fast paced and intricate, this is the series for you.
Ree-views

I've never read Rozan, but this book is a winner. I liked the dialogue between Lydia and Bill (possible romance?) and the way the plot developed. The book has a good pace and characters that don't stick to narrow stereotypes. I especially appreciated the depth of Lydia's mom. I would highly recommend this book to mystery/suspense fans.

Not an aaaahhhhhhh! Not an uuuuhhhhhhhh! Sort of a ehhhhhhhhh!

A complicated plot that barely kept my interest in a story peopled by characters that I barely cared about.

Lydia was too terminally perky for me, and Bill too forbearing as he graciously accepted an unending stream of rebuffs from her.

I should'a just passed this one by.