Customer Reviews

Reflecting the Sky (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SJ Rozan -- one of my favorite crime writers anyway -- has hit a new level with REFLECTING THE SKY. Maybe it's the Hong Kong setting, but something in this book brings out a new depth and maturity in Lydia Chin. She show a seriousness we haven't seen before as she and Bill Smith, working with (and sometimes against) an Alabama-raised, Chinese-American Hong Kong cop, try to solve a complicated case revolving around kidnapping, smuggling, and the meaning of family. I'm eyeing ticket prices to Hong Kong as I write this.

Chinese-American Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are now official partners
in a private investigation business. Lydia's honorary grandfather Gao,
an herb shop owner in Chinatown asks her to perform some tasks in Hong
Kong for him. She agrees, taking Bill with her, to deliver a package
containing a jade statue to the grandson of a deceased friend, Wei Yao
Shin.

The easy assignment turns difficult almost from the onset
of their arrival in Hong Kong. Someone kidnaps Harry, the intended
recipient of the delivery, but Lydia and Bill have no idea who or why
since several diverse groups claim responsibility. As the American
sleuths try to find and return Harry safely home; they risk their own
lives in the process.

S.J. Rozan is one of the best writers of
hard-boiled private eye novel as proven with her latest, REFLECTIONS
IN THE SKY. The tale includes several red herrings that take the
reader down false trails leaving everyone clueless as to who the
kidnappers are. Hong Kong is vividly described as a beautifully
strange hybrid mix of Eastern and Western cultures that leads to the
reader wanting to visit the island. The award winning Ms. Rozan, in
her seventh Chin-Smith mystery, provides her fans with another
powerfully taut thriller.

Harriet Klausner

I only recently discovered the duo of Lydia Chin and Bill Smith ... and I'm hooked! I read one right after the other, and loved every word, but this is by far Rozan's best work. These two characters just get more finely-tuned with every book. She offers fascinating insight into the Chinese culture, while balancing it with Bill's very Western viewpoint. The mysteries are subtle and intricate, and always contain an element you didn't see coming. Treat yourself! Can't wait for more of these two!

S.J. Rozan's two protaganists, Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, alternately take the lead in this series, of which "Reflecting the Sky" is number seven if I'm not mistaken. They just get better and better. Here, it's Lydia's turn. Along with compelling plot, complex relationships, and a dazzling setting, "Reflecting the Sky" offers some rich insights into differences in mind-set of the two cultures (as represented by the dread "nature metaphors" frequently offered Lydia as she seeks more straightforward advice). On every level, I loved this book...read it in a day and was just plain happy as I did so.

Not one of Smith and Chin's better adventures. I think the author may have got caught up on the excitement of visiting HK and spent more time detailing the stereotypical attitudes the outside world has of Planet HK, of which I am resident.

Basically, upon the death of a relative, Lydia Chin and Bill Smith visit HK to personally deliver several items as a favour to an elder family member. Upon arrival, they quickly become involved in a triad kidnapping, the hunt and the relatively innocuous resolution. The story is thin, weak and void of any real serious reader excitement.

As mentioned, the author spends far too much space on describing the environment of Hong Kong and leaves no 'urban myth' unturned. Contrary to author belief, tea is not drank to the extent she would have us believe, people do not yell 'wai!' at the top of their voices into their mobile phones everytime they are answered, the sun does not set to the south behind the Peak (as in the rest of the world, it sets in the west), there is no elevated walkway linking the Furama Hotel to other buildings (indeed, and which would be unbeknownst to the author, there is now no Furama Hotel - having been knocked down in 2002 to make way for greater commercial interests) and people will not chastize you for walking too slow in the street.

For a guide to HK, read Fodor's. For top notch Rozan, read 'Winter and Night.'

From her very first book, China Trade, S. J. Rozan has been one of my favorite writers. Unlike so many other writers who get off to a good start, Rozan just keeps getting better with each book - from the almost liquid prose to the vivid characterizations, Reflecting The Sky is her finest yet. With a complex but never confusing plot (involving a kidnapped child and long held family secrets) and set against the fully realized backdrop of Hong Kong, if you've never read Rozan before than this is a great book to start with. If you already know her work, why are you wasting time reading this review?

This is my first Lydia Chin/Bill Smith book and I feel that I should have read some of Rozan's previous works in the series before tackling REFLECTING THE SKY. I have no complaints about the main characters. I was able to catch up as to who they are and their motivations. The problem was that this book was overly hyped to me and I just could not see what was so great about it.

Private Investigators Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are sent to Hong Kong in order to fulfill a bequest made to them by Grandfather Gao. They feel that there is something more to this mission that they are being told and find out that they are right. When they arrive to Hong Kong they are caught in the middle of a kidnapping case where two different groups are claiming responsibility for the actions. It appears that Harry Wei's nanny kidnapped him for reasons only known to her and later to the reader. Lydia and Bill will do everything in their power to rescue Harry even if it involves them getting involved with Chinese Triads, smugglers and tongs.

The story focuses on culture shock as Lydia Chin comes to China for the first time after living most of her life in Chinatown. We see the prejudice that Chinese people have on foreigners. This is not something exclusively Chinese but it is something we are seeing almost everyday in the news for other parts of the world. The author's descriptions are very vivid where it is easy for the reader to visualize the scenery. This book has its requisite twist and turns and the book had my attention. I just did not think it was that great. Hopefully I might change my mind in the future after I read some of S. J. Rozan's other works.

This is yet another great mystery in a very good series. The plot is complex and yet believable, Lydia and Bill are as entertaining as ever and the Hong Kong setting gives this book the added pleasure of an exotic atmosphere. I have read the entire series (except for Winter and Night) and it is all very good. Rozan seemed to reach a slightly higher level of excellence with A Bitter Feast and she has maintained that level with Stone Quarry and this book. Although I really like the Bill Smith narrated books, I have to admit I have a slight preference for the Lydia Chin narrated books (of which this is one). The Lydia Chin perspective, as one would expect, seems to come a little more naturally to Rozan than the Bill Smith perspective. Also, the Bill Smith books are written in a more hard-boiled style, which is fine but they do occasionally come across as a touch melodramatic, which never happens in the Lydia Chin books. I do have one very minor criticism of this series, however. Lydia's and Bill's personal lives seem to be almost in a state of suspended anamation; it is high time that something happens on this front. Lydia and Bill need to either get together or move on and develop other relationships. Anyway, I think Rozan is one of the very best mystery writers writing today and hope she writes many, many more!

Years ago I read a mystery novel, the main character of which was a woman who worked as a private eye in New York City. She was Chinese-American, had a constant series of fights with her mother over everything, and had an interesting dichotomy of cultural influences, being of Chinese ancestry but very American in many ways. It was called China Trade, the author was an architect named SJ Rozan, who lives in NYC, and it was wonderful. Rozan has to now be the best kept secret in mystery fiction: the only woman to win a Shamus besides Sue Grafton, she never is on the bestseller lists, and is relatively anonymous.

One of the most interesting aspects of the series is the narration. In typical hard-boiled style, the main character narrates the story. The twist here is that the Chinese-American woman, Lydia Chin, mentioned above has a sometime partner in detective work, a former sailor named Bill Smith, and the author switches narrator every book. Stone Quarry, the last book prior to reflecting the sky, and the sixth, was narrated by Bill, so this time Lydia is narrating again, as at the start of the series. It's one of the more entertaining and difficult things to pull off, changing narrators, and making it believable. Read through the rest of the reviews for this title, and you'll find most of the reviewers like the one character or the other as a narrator more than the other. That says to me that the author succeeds in making the two different.

In the current installment, Lydia is sent on a deceptively simple errand by her "Grandfather" Gao, an elderly friend of the family and community leader. A lifelong friend of his has passed away, and his ashes and a keepsake must be returned to Hong Kong, to the part of his family that's still in the former colony. Lydia is a bit suspicious that everything isn't what it seems, because Grandfather Gao tells her to take her partner, Bill Smith, with her, even though no trouble is supposedly expected. When they arrive, Lydia and Bill stumble right into the middle of a kidnapping, and things take right off. The author throws everything at you: a shady antiques dealer, a shifty fortune teller, a martial arts movie stuntman, various thugs and intrigues, and even foreigners in Hong Kong (Filipina amahs, or au pair girls, who are ubiquitous) are all drawn wonderfully, and the plot hops right along for 250 pages.

Like I said to start, SJ Rozan is one of the best kept secrets in mystery fiction. It's only a matter of time before the secret gets out.

I've read all of Rozan's books, and while I enjoyed them all, this was the best. The plot was well-paced, the dialog between Lydia Chin and Bill Smith was snappy, and the setting (Hong Kong) was an additional element of interest. I hope Rozan keeps writing these Chin/Smith mysteries. They really are great.