Customer Reviews

Dragon's Eye

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Please read Mr Ross's review, which I agree with wholeheartedly. I would add to him that this book does not refect China in the least. For example, the author refers to the "best hotel in Shanghai" as being Jing Jiang, whatever that is (the best is the Portman Ritz Carlton and has been for years). Despite what the author says, one would never find "100 cigarette butts and 3 used condoms" under the bed of the finest hotel in Shanghai, nor would a "Room Boy" enter without knocking every 5 minutes.

This entire book says nothing about China today, so with a weak plot, silly characters, British words in the mouths of Americans, there is really no reason to waste time on it, like I unfortunately did.

I'm a big fan of crime stories set in other countries, and have really enjoyed Qiu Xialong's Inspector Chen series, which is also set in Shanghai. Unfortunately, this bloated thriller fails to deliver a story or characters worth wading through its 460 pages for. It starts promisingly enough, with eight corpses discovered shackled together on the banks of the Huangpu river, which runs through central Shanghai. A classically weary and stoic detective, Sr. Homicide Investigator Piao, shows up to charge of the investigation. The corpses are soon discovered to have been heavily mutilated to avoid identification, and when the senior medical examiner refuses to have anything to do with the case, Piao immediately suspects some kind of coverup. And so the story begins its tortuous trip into conspiracy-land.

It's pretty clear that there is indeed a high-level conspiracy, and the reader is dragged grimly along by Piao, as he doggedly pursues the matter. As per the conventions of such stories, Piao is a firm believer in justice, and just happens to have nothing to lose. Part of the back story is that his wife has recently run off with a high-level cadre, and with almost no family or friends, he is free to ignore very explicit warnings to back off . Indeed, one of the true mysteries of the story is why the villains don't simply kill Piao off once he starts becoming a pain, since they clearly have no problem killing plenty of other people.

Things are additionally complicated by the quickly-established fact that two of the victims are Americans, and the mother of one of them soon shows up to find her missing son. She also happens to be a beautiful willowy blonde and the lead negotiator on some unspecified Chinese-American diplomatic discussions (which will end up having an amazingly coincidental role later on). It doesn't take long for her and Piao to find each other, and it's only a matter of time before they completely improbably fall in bed together. It's all so trite and silly that it's a relief when she leaves the scene for most of the final third of the book. The story slogs along, with Piao slowly putting together pieces of the puzzle in the face of increasingly powerful opposition, and with the faithful aid of his gluttonous sidekick, Yaobang. Unfortunately, the payoff is far from worth the effort.

The most interesting aspect of the book is its portrayal and implied critique of the hypocrisy of the modern Chinese political system. The running theme is the disconnect between stated ideology and everyday reality, and the cynical corrupt nature of the Party (a line that appears several times is that while there is no class in the PRC, there is rank). And while Oakes does a good job delineating this theme: from the grand crimes of the villains, to the petty bribes of cigarettes and whisky required to get any police work done, it all goes on for far too long. The prose is also exceedingly forced and generally awful as Oakes strives to achieve a kind of noir atmosphere. A brief example: "Noise. Movement. Feet over splintered wood. Piao instantly awake. Adrenalin jolting through him. Black from black. Three bodies, four?" Choppy. Writing. Does not equal. Noir. Or atmosphere.

The book is probably best appreciated by very patient readers looking for a sense of life in a modern Chinese city. The grimy oppressive nature, the shoddy goods, stale cigarettes, tiny apartments, and seedy bars all come through reasonably well. But that's a pretty small payback for the length of the book and weakness of the writing. Oh yeah, the book also commits one of my pet peeves by repeatedly putting British terms in the mouths and minds of American characters. Americans do not say "knickers" or "arse" and do not write their dates in the European month/day convention, nor use A4 paper, just a few examples of sloppiness that any competent editor should have fixed. Very disappointing all the way around.

I am generally a fan of both noir detective fiction and police thrillers. I am, however, roundly suspicious of novels which use the detective form to examine life in another country. At least, I am suspicious of it when it happens that the author is not from that country.

Before you accuse me of being some kind of throwback to the Great Cultural Identity wars, let me hasten to say that there are certainly occasions where it works very well. Nicholas Freeling writing about Holland, for one. Freeling manages to combine his outsider's view with a real feel for Dutch culture in a way that makes his Van Der Valk books both affectionate and critical.

Unfortunately for Andy Oakes, Dragon's Eye is not an occasion where it works. At least not for me. I have not traveled in China, so it is difficult for me to tell you how well he really knows China. I can tell you that he certainly cannot write American characters. Barbara Hayes managed to grate on my very last nerve throughout the novel and the degree to which she felt off tends to make me suspicious about any other claims to authenticity which the book may have.

He does manage to be atmospheric in his writing, and I got a very visceral feel for the Chinese world that he was describing. I was also, despite myself, entertained. The plot is kind of preposterous and I may have been irritated by the female lead. But still, it somehow kept me turning the pages.

I would think that this would be suitable for airplanes.