GRAVE IMPORTS (The Ray Sharp Novels) [Kindle Edition]

ERIC STONE (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Grave Imports is a terrific read. Stone's keen eye for the Asian landscape always finds the compelling image, the startling fact. The story is harrowing and believable. And his hero, Sharp, is a refreshingly humble soldier in his fight against what is wrong and evil in the world." -- T. Jefferson Parker, author of "L.A. Outlaws"

"International intrigue at it's best. Stone is master at creating intense suspense and his pacing is pure precision. GRAVE IMPORST should be on every reader's watch list. If you don't have time for a vacation just pick up GRAVE IMPORTS and let Stone export you to a whole new world." -- Jon Jordan, Crimespree magazine

"A multi-course Asian feast of a novel... Dig in, savor the spice, and come back for seconds.". -- Dan Fesperman, author of The Prisoner of Guantanamo

"In this intriguing tale of loss and redemption...Stone takes the reader on a wild ride...a smart and compelling thriller." -- Dianne Emley, author of Cut to the Quick

"The exotic and dangerous East comes to vibrant life...Bristling with fascinating details ...you're in for a...riveting ride." -- Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Spymaster

*Stone, Eric. Grave Imports: The Second Ray Sharp Novel. Bleak House: Big Earth. Sept. 2007. c.326p. ISBN 978-1-932557-46-6. $24.95; pap. ISBN 978-1-932557-47-3. $14.95. M (starred review)

Ray Sharp (The Living Room of the Dead) earns a living investigating Asian companies as possible investments for U.S. businesses. A routine probe into a Chinese art-supplies company has Ray following an antiquities smuggling ring from Hong Kong to mainland China to Cambodia. It is 1995, and art smuggling is a money maker for a Vietnamese ex-general, the Khmer Rouge, and every lowlife in Southeast Asia. What starts as a fast-paced thriller turns into a deeper social novel concerned with poverty, slavery, and the best and worst of the human condition. This will appeal to fans of John Burdett and Colin Cotterill, as well as patrons who enjoy exotic Asian settings and a mystery plot with some substance. -- Library Journal, August 2007

Eric Stone knows Asia up, down, and sideways,...it makes you wish you were in on the action...". -- SJ Rozan, Edgar Award winning author of In This Rain

Product Description

The second Ray Sharp detective thriller, set in Asia and based on true stories.

Is it possible to smuggle the soul of an entire country?

Just another due diligence job, checking out a Chinese art supplies company. Simple. Ray Sharp knows he could do with a little simplicity - his life has been far too muddy lately. He needs a chance to gather his thoughts and repair his heart. But digging around in a company's back-room business proves to be a dark, dusty, dangerous affair...

Beautiful, tempting women, locked away in crates. Smiling serene smiles, cocking their hips suggestively, the apsaras are the heavens' dancing girls, carved into stone. These precious relics are being chipped away from the already crumbling walls of Cambodia's ancient temples. Stolen and smuggled by erudite killers eager to finance their bloody wars.

What can one man hope to achieve in the face of such callous disregard for a country, its history, and its people?

"What starts as a fast-paced thriller turns into a deeper social novel concerned with poverty, slavery, and the best and worst of the human condition. This will appeal to fans of John Burdett and Colin Cotterill, as well as patrons who enjoy exotic Asian settings and a mystery plot with some substance." - Library Journal, starred review.

"A complacent reader will not get the full affect of books such as Grave Imports. It is a mystery/thriller but it is also a commentary on the modern world, its foibles and its fancies. The world seen through Ray Sharp's eyes is not a pretty world, it is not nice, but it has heart and hope. The story starts with a statue of heads, it ends in a temple of a head—a fitting symbol of this thriller for the thinking man." —Front Street Reviews

"The exotic and dangerous East comes to vibrant life in Grave Imports by Eric Stone. Bristling with fascinating details about culture, customs, and history, the story hurls the reader on a violent journey into the dark underworld of illicit art transportation and sales. Relax into your favorite easy chair. You're in for a wild and riveting ride." —Gayle Lynds

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 428 KB
• Publisher: Originally published in hardcover and trade paper by Bleak House Books, 2007 (January 24, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004KAAWN6
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,131 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #42 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Arts & Entertainment > Art > Art History > Regional > Asian

More About the Author

I worked for many years as a journalist in the U.S. and Asia, covering everything from economics to crime; politics to art, rock music to sex. I once wrote an advice to the lovelorn column in a bilingual Chinese-English fashion magazine based in Hong Kong. I currently live in Los Angeles, where I was born, and which is the most culturally and ethnically diverse place I've ever been.

My most recent book is SHANGHAIED, the fourth book in the Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers set in Asia and based on true stories. The previous books in the series are, going back from book three to one, FLIGHT OF THE HORNBILL, GRAVE IMPORTS and THE LIVING ROOM OF THE DEAD. I also wrote WRONG SIDE OF THE WALL, a true crime / sports biography.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raise your pulse and stimulate your mind, October 6, 2007

By 

Deborah Turrell Atkinson (Honolulu, Hawaii USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grave Imports (Ray Sharp Novels) (Hardcover)

GRAVE IMPORTS kept me up late. Author Eric Stone leads the reader on a thrilling journey to the remote corners of Cambodia, Thailand, and Hong Kong. One can smell the gunpowder, eavesdrop on the cacophony of Chinese dialects, observe the limbless beggars, and taste the sting of pungent chili.
In GRAVE IMPORTS, protagonist Ray Sharp is compelled to investigate a smuggling enterprise that is robbing ancient Cambodian temples of their priceless artifacts. Still recovering from an experience that plagues him with nightmares and occasionally drives him to the bottle, Sharp must confront not only his own demons, but a lawless world of opportunists and manipulators. Though many of the characters are unique and deeply sympathetic, some tread a narrow line between survival and corruption. Sharp can't pass judgment, as the lines he once drew between right and wrong have blurred or moved. I heartily recommend the journey through GRAVE IMPORTS, which will leave you with a racing pulse. It will also have you pondering the clouded moralities of war and enterprise.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stolen Treasures, October 5, 2007

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Grave Imports (Ray Sharp Novels) (Hardcover)

Stolen Cambodian art--statues, parts of temples, icons--illegally sent through Thailand, Vietnam and China to Hong Kong where it is sold, at the time, legally, brings Ray Sharp to his second adventure. The exotic Far East background provides the reader with real glimpses into the people and locales.

Sharp leaves his journalistic career as a result of an unfortunate incident, which leaves him in a depressed state. A good friend, a former CIA spook, now trying to build a corporate investigation firm, hires Ray. He is assigned a routine look into a Chinese art supplies company in which an American client is considering investing. Instead of mundane art supplies, he finds secret stashes of antiquities. The trail leads to an ex-South Vietnamese General now living in Thailand and to the Khmer Rouge, the ancient temples, and the killing fields of Cambodia.

The author's knowledge of the Far East seems to be quite genuine, and the descriptions of the streets and people of Hong Kong, Bangkok and other locations compelling. The story is believable and the characters real. Insights into the cultures of the area, as well as the horrible plunder of artifacts, are lessons well-told.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ray Sharp explores the darker side of the antiquities trade in Asia, September 29, 2007

By 

PJ Coldren (Saint Helen, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grave Imports (Ray Sharp Novels) (Hardcover)

Ray Sharp is working as an investigator for Due Diligence International, a job that requires a lot of the same skills Ray used to use as a journalist/editor for Asia's largest circulation business monthly. His latest assignment involves looking into the background of one firm because another firm wants to invest some big money. Seems like a fairly easy job.

What Sharp discovers is the huge trade in Asian antiquities. Some places it's legal to sell them, some places not. The borderline between those places is dangerous. Naturally, Sharp winds up there. He runs afoul of a former general, he winds up in a prison camp, and he gets shot at once or twice. None of the women he has more than nodding relationships with come out of this whole.

Stone writes about the dark underbelly of Asia. Readers of THE LIVING ROOM OF THE DEAD will be delighted that Stone's second book is at least as good as his first. Ray Sharp is one of those people who can't just walk away from something; this makes for a tough personal life but a great book. GRAVE IMPORTS is loosely based upon events that happened to Stone; his ability to transform fact into fiction is superb. GRAVE IMPORTS is not always pleasant to read in terms of content; Stone's writing is good enough to make this reader not want to put the book down, no matter what.