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The Interior: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries)
 
 
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The Interior: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) [Paperback]

Lisa See (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Red Princess Mysteries December 31, 2007
“See paints a fascinating portrait of a complex and enigmatic society, in which nothing is ever quite as it appears, and of the people, peasant and aristocrat alike, who are bound by its subtle strictures.”
–San Diego Union-Tribune

While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.

Despite David’s protests, Hulan goes undercover at the toy factory in the rural village of Da Shui, deep in the heart of China. It is a place that forces Hulan to face a past she has long been running from. Once there, rather than finding answers to the girl’s death, Hulan unearths more questions, all of which point to possible crimes committed by David’s client. Suddenly Hulan and David find themselves on opposing sides: One of them is trying to expose a company and unearth a killer, while the other is ethically bound to protect his client. As pressures mount and danger increases, Hulan and David uncover universal truths about good and evil, right and wrong–and the sometimes subtle lines that distinguish them.

“[See] illuminates tradition and change, Western and Eastern cultural differences. . . . All this in the middle of her thriller which is also about greed, corruption, abuse of the disadvantaged, the desperation of those on the bottom of the food chain, and love.”
–The Tennessean

“Sophisticated . . . graceful . . . See’s picture of contemporary China’s relationship with the United States is aptly played out through her characters.”
Los Angeles Times

“Immediate, haunting and exquisitely rendered.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

Frequently Bought Together

The Interior: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) + Dragon Bones: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) + Flower Net: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries)
Price For All Three: $30.51

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In our world, two years have passed since the publication of Flower Net, Lisa See's debut in thriller fiction, but as The Interior begins, only a few months have passed since Liu Hulan, a detective in Communist China's Ministry of Public Security, and U.S. Attorney David Stark first teamed up to catch a murderer--and rekindled their old love affair. Now, as David struggles to find a way to get back to China--or convince Hulan to move to America--Hulan goes to the village of Da Shui at the request of an old friend whose daughter has been murdered. Initial evidence suggests that it may have something to do with the nearby factory owned by an American toy manufacturer, where hundreds of Chinese women are working in sweatshop conditions. Meanwhile, David's old law firm has suddenly offered him an opportunity to head its new Beijing office, where one of his first duties will be to help one of the firm's corporate clients complete his purchase of the toy company. See's descriptions of daily Chinese life, both in Beijing and the far outposts of the country, are richly detailed. But the novel's even greater strength lies in the contests of will between David and Hulan and their various adversaries--as well as between each other, as Hulan struggles against what she perceives as a threat to her independence, and David must withhold critical information from his partner because it comes from one of his clients. While it certainly helps to have read Flower Net, The Interior is a surefooted exotic thriller in its own right, which will undoubtedly earn Lisa See as many new fans as the old ones it pleases. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

As in her debut novel, Flower Net, the strength of See's work here is in her detailed and intimate knowledge of contemporary China, its mores, its peculiar mixture of the traditional and the contemporary, and its often bedeviled relationships with the U.S. Here again are American lawyer David Stark and his Chinese lover, police investigator Liu Hulan; they become involved in the issue of working conditions among women in an American-owned toy factory in rural ChinaAa highly promising and original notion. Stark's law firm wants him to supervise the buyout of the American entrepreneur who launched the toy company, while Liu is called in by the mother of a factory worker who seems to have committed suicide. What actually happened to her, and why? It seems inevitable that the lovers will be pulled in different directions by their opposing interests, and soon Liu has introduced herself into the factory as a worker, while Stark's deal, important to his career, begins to unravel. So far, so good; but as the action becomes increasingly violent, with another girl's sudden death at the factory, gunplay, a deathly sick Liu struggling to survive, and a climactic fire that takes hundreds of lives (a calamity treated almost as an afterthought), it becomes apparent that See has plotting problems. Many story threads seem to disappear, the action scenes are stagy and unconvincing, and the David-Liu relationship never seems to generate much real warmth. A pity, because until the melodrama takes over, much here is original and fresh, an absorbing look at an unfamiliar world. Agent, Sandra Dijkstra. 6-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (December 31, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812978692
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812978698
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
5 star:
 (20)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I am hooked!, January 5, 2008
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Interior: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) (Paperback)
I have to admit I have read every one of Lisa See's books. The Inspector Liu/Attorney Stark books are very different from her other books (Peony in Love, Snow Flower & the Secret Fan, On Gold Mountain), but what I love about this author is that each of her book is unique and full of surprises. I came across Dragon Bones first and was hooked! At that time it was very hard to get a copy of The Interior. I ended up paying an outrageous amount to get a used one, and I am delighted --for Writer See and her other fans -- that it's now out in paperback. (I would have saved money if I waited, but I just couldn't wait. LOL.) The Interior is my favorite of the three books in this genre (Dragon Bones & Flower Net being the other two). The characters are complex, the plot sophisticated. These books do not have the literary value of See's other books, but I gave this book a 5 because it's among the best in this genre. I have e-mailed Writer See, asking when she will come out with her next Red Princess mystery. She promised there will be another. I can't wait!
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I too am hooked by Lisa See's Red Princess mysteries, February 17, 2008
By 
mtk (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Interior: A Red Princess Mystery (Red Princess Mysteries) (Paperback)
I first read Lisa See's Flower Net and couldn't wait until I read The Interior. Both books are beautifully and complexly plotted with betrayals that one does not see coming but, when they come, seem just right. The complexity of Chinese society, so much that is so positive yet also so much that seems enignmatic and/or corrupt to a Westerner, is conveyed beautifully by having both an American and a Chinese protagonist. The first book dealt with the drug trade (but not a conventional one), the second with entrepreneurial corruption and avarice, as well as with love in a variety of forms. See does not focus just on Beijing but on the countryside, not just on the role of the investigator but also that of the factory worker, not just on those who are prominent in Chinese society but on those who are poor and often exploited, not just on the situation of women but also of men, and, lastly, not just on those who are professionals today but on those who lived during the Cultural Revolution. Both books are long, but I wanted neither to come to an end. Now I look forward to Dragon Bones!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating portrayal of rural China (good story, too!), October 20, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Interior (Hardcover)
The previous reviewer doesn't seem to have actually read The Interior -- at least not the same book I did. I was struck from the beginning of this book by just how different it is from your average thriller. Just the information about what life is like in rural China was enough to keep me reading -- it seems like See has done a lot of research on the subject (either that or she has a great imagination...) In any case, I felt that she used this very specific local, and lifestyle as a jumping off point for what turned out to be a great story as well. I just love the character of Liu Hulan -- she's new new twist on the detective fiction heroine -- and her relationship with David Stark is one we can all identify with in this global village we live in. How can people from two such different backrounds make a relationship work? This book is much more than a thriller - it's a rich and complex novel.
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