23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shanghai + (Harry Bosch+Martin Beck)/2 = Inspector Chen, December 22, 2006
This is another fine entry in Xiaolong Qiu's Inspector Chen series. Once again, Qiu has produced a novel that is both an excellent detective novel, and a window into contemporary urban China. Like the earlier books, it not only should be of interest to fans of mystery novels, but should be required reading for anyone who contemplates doing business in China, or who has even a passing interest in contemporary urban China.
Chen is assigned to a case that seems to been been inspired by a real and very important case, that of Lai Changxing, a businessman who fled from Fujian to Canada in 1999 and who the Chinese government wants extradited. Obviously, the details differ in key respects. Roughly half of the book is set in Shanghai, and the remainder, through what I thought was a very clever and in the end completely plausible twist, is set in the United States.
In the tradition of the Martin Beck novels by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall, and in the same vein as the earlier Inspector Chen novels, Case of Two Cities offers the same rich ethnographic detail about life in contemporary Shanghai as the earlier ones, evolved somewhat from the earlier novels to reflect the rapid pace of change in urban China. One key difference from the earlier novels is that whereas in those Qiu used the conventions of the detective novel to explore the lives of the working class, this novel spends more time on the nouveau riche and their otherworldly and otherwise inaccessible demesne of gated estates, exclusive restaurants, private clubs, and entertainment complexes.
Perhaps more so than the earlier Inspector Chen novels, this also has elements of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch or Ian Rankin's Rebus mysteries: Inspector Chen, like Harry Bosch, spends as much time on departmental and other political intrigue as he does gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses. He comes across as more isolated and hard-boiled than in the previous novels, representing a fairly natural revolution. Given the situation, a high profile case with very high stakes that may affect very powerful people, such intrigue is entirely likely, and indeed its absence would make the novel unrealistic. The way in which Chen and the other characters mobilize their webs of personal connections to achieve their ends is a quick education in the culture of guanxi, and should be an eye-opener to anyone who has a naive view of guanxi as a simple matter of exchanging gifts or hosting meals.
Chen's trip to the United States turns out to be a novel and interesting vehicle for presenting the United States as experienced by someone from China here on a short trip. Indeed, the last half of the book should be an eye-opener for anyone who has hosted a group or delegation visiting the U.S. from China. The last half of the novel will also be a treat to anyone who is a fan of David Lodge's academic novels, but to avoid spoilers I won't offer any further detail.
I should add that the Inspector Chen novels are also a wonderful introduction to classical Chinese poetry. Chen was a poet before he was a policeman, and throughout this and the earlier novels, he recites classic poems to himself in response to developments. I hope that at some point Qiu publishes a companion volume to the Inspector Chen series that includes the original Chinese characters and pinyin, his translations, his exegesis, and a more detailed discussion of the link to the text.
Again, while this book can be read on its own, it will be more rewarding if you read the others first. In particular, Chen's connections to some of the other characters who play key roles will be much clearer, and make more sense.
As at least one of the other reviews notes, the novel is marred by what I would regard as a higher than average number of typos. Most jarring are a few cases where words are missing and a passage has to be reread for it to make sense.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bit of a struggle getting through it, May 13, 2007
My wife is from Shanghai. I have read the Inspector Chen series aloud to her over the past few years. She enjoys hearing about and explaining to me the various Shanghai expressions that Qiu Xiaolong uses. She also enjoys hearing and then back-translating much of the Tang dynasty poetry that is included in the stories.
However this time, I'm finding the story heavy going. Qiu is not a native English speaker and he's no Joseph Conrad. The language is pretty pedestrian and the story lacks drama.
With Chen's visit to the USA, I was hoping for similar poignant descriptions of culture shock to what Martin Cruz Smith used in Polar Star when he had his Soviet fishing crew come ashore in Alaska for a shopping spree.
I will continue following the story of Chief Inspector Chen but only because of my particular "China interest".
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best since Red Heroine, December 29, 2006
This is the fourth Inspector Chen novel in what is becoming a favorite guilty pleasure of mine. As I have mentioned in previous reviews I am no big Mystery book fan. However, Xiaolong has been able to infuse his investigations in settings with enough political and cultural information as Modern china transitions to capitalism in the 1990s. On one web page I noticed the book was tentatively titles "Red Rats, A Case of Two Cities" which I think would have been a better title. Why? Because this time Chen is assigned a highly political case of corruption where the old corrupt guard (Red Rats as Old Hudson calls them) are living off bribes and favoritism. (Interesting enough, Chen has his own network of friends too. Does he see paying a visit to a friend who owns a restaurant as stepping stone to more major corruption on his part?) Chen is to investigate Xing Xing who left (escaped) leaving the country for wealthy communities in Southern California leaving behind a half brother no one can find. The book opens with the last officer in charge of this investigation found murdered in highly embarrassing circumstances. Does Chen understand the danger he is in as he is assigned the case? The case, like all of Chen's takes a back seat to his daily living, coping for example with is elderly mother, and his real desire to be a poet as he plods from interview to interview. And when he gets a clue the informant does not call him back, she has been killed. Then out of no where he is assigned to head a delegation of authors to the United States where in St. Louis he meets up with US Marshall Catherine Rhone (who visited China in the second installment, "Loyal Character Dancer". What I thought was a bit heavy handed in that prior book works much better here as "Two Cities" is the best of the books since the first, most excellent, "Death of a Chinese Heroin". Chen's partner Yu ( whole series could be written about detective Yu and his wife and father) is left along in Shanghai to investigate while Chen is in the United States. I do wish Xiaolong would expand on some of the minor characters as he did in the first book. And perhaps Xiaolong needs to begin to have Chen reveal more of him self and what toll these cases are having on his personality and character. Did he for example really expect the relationship with Rhone to go someplace romantically? How does this affect him as he grows older? Does he have the desire for a private life? At the moment he caught between the old China and the new China and he understands both oh so well. I will be in line for the next Inspector Chen novel and would hope that Qiu Xiaolong would attend next years Los Angeles Times book festival at UCLA so I could meet him and hear more of his experience with this series as it is being translated into Chinese for the modern Chinese reader.
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