Customer Reviews

Formosa Straits

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

 

 

Nick Lamp, an American educated Chinese, is invited to discuss a business proposition with a Taiwanese underworld boss. When he arrives at the address he was given, he almost stumbles over the body of the boss who has evidently just been murdered.Nick finds himself caught up in an intrigue involving past secrets with former big time politicians and their female companions, and becomes an unwitting pawn in a larger game of international espionage. He is forced into a run and hide situation as the body count grows around him.

Stripped to its barest essentials this is the story of a hunt for buried treasure. As a novel of international intrigue FORMOSA STRAITS is above average and it is laced with captivating bits of Chinese history. The author also gives us some scandalous morsels about both Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-Shek.

I ordered this one because i LOVED 'Red Fox'(the BEST thriller about Russia{and I can say- I live in this country}),and I am glad, that I did. It moves at breakneck speed,plot thickens more and more all the time...breathtaking.The characters are complex, which really adds to the experience.If you want a good thriller with beliavable characters and solid writing-get this one.

The "story" in this book is very easy to predict and very boring. The focus of the book is a deal gone to hell. It uses the typical idea of an innocent suspect trying to prove his/her innocence. Hyde spends far too much time trying to impress the reader with his "knowledge" of Taiwan. As a resident of Taiwan, I found most of his information -- wrong! If you want a book that reads like a no-brainer Hollywood big budget movie, then get this book. If you want content, then go elsewhere.

This is a poor excuse for a suspence thriller. If you are looking to waste your time without killing a single brain cell, then this is the book for you. This book focuses on Nick Lamp, a Chinese-American entrepreneur trying to close a big deal in Taipei. The problem is the person he has a meeting with is murdered, and Nick becomes the main suspect. He has to try to stay one step ahead of the police, gangsters, the dead man's family and a shady lawyer. His situation causes him to re-evaluate the amount of trust he has for his friends. Hyde's representation of Chinese people is very poor. His facts regarding Taiwanese family culture is very out of date. Hyde represents Chinese families as they were about half a century ago. If he is going to generalize a group of people, he should at least use up to date information. Basicallly, this is a very predictable book. Hyde's style is basically very bad Grisham combined with a bad Bogart wanna-be movie. There are a few fun moments, but not enough to even call this book entertaining trash.

Wonderful sense of being in a foreign land. While the protagonist is very much the foreigner, he is a sophisticated foreigner who is able to believably convey the strangeness of a strange land. Complex, well plotted, fully fleshed out minor characters; Hyde is really cooking in this one.

What happened to this author, his first book was one of the best I have read, the second was ok - better then average, but then he gave us this? He should have dumped this manuscript in the Formosa Straight instead of publishing it. Bland, lifeless and dull, without using profanity that is about all I can come up with. I was dedicated to finishing the book becuase I was hoping for any small bit that would let me keep a high opinion of his, but the only good part was actually closing the book on the last page.