Snakehead [Mass Market Paperback]

Peter May (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2002

Beijing detective Li Yan, now based at the Chinese embassy in Washington, is dispatched to find out how his fellow countrymen suffocated in a sealed refrigeration unit in southern Texas - only to find himself face to face with the woman who walked out of China, and his life, to return to the U.S. Tasked to work together again to find out who is behind the 100-million-dollar trade in illegal Chinese immigrants which led to the tragedy in Texas, they discover that the immigrants were unwitting carriers of a deadly cargo. Still wrestling with the demons of their past, Li and Margaret find themselves racing against time to defuse a biological time-bomb that threatens to wipe out not only their future, but that of humankind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"1 'A gripping thriller' The Mirror on THE FIREMAKER 2 'Stunningly original, highly topical and extremely well written' Scotland on Sunday on THE FIREMAKER 3 'Intense and fascinating' Good Book Guide on THE FIREMAKER 4 'Is the book any good?The answer is a very solid...yes...it's engaging, topical...and certainly qualifies Peter May as a name to watch.' Shots

From the Inside Flap

Someone is ritually sacrificing people, and it is up to Pathologist Margaret Campbell and detective Li Yan to discover who and why. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Library Hb (January 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340768665
• ISBN-13: 978-0340768662
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,639,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snakehead Rocks, September 26, 2010

By 

Cecil G. McGuire, Jr. (ONALASKA, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Snakehead (China Thrillers) (Hardcover)

May has done the best again. Snakehead made my day--I could not put it down. May surprised me with the unexpected turns.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent mystery, February 14, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snakehead (China Thrillers) (Hardcover)

American pathologist Margaret Campbell left behind her beloved Li Yan in Beijing to come home to Texas where she has become Chief Medical Examiner of Harris County; she never expected to see him again. However, the former Beijing police detective has been reassigned to work at the Chinese embassy in Washington though he has no plans to look up the woman who left him.

When he is sent to work with American authorities investigating the deaths of Chinese citizens in Walker County in Southern Texas, Li and Margaret, on loan to the nearby county, are stunned as both are involved in the inquiry into the suffocation deaths inside a truck's sealed refrigeration unit. As they work together, the attraction remains hotter than the sun, but both knows first they must uncover the Snakehead mastermind behind human smuggling. However, the autopsy reveals they did not die from suffocation; they were injected with a form of the Spanish flu virus which killed millions in 1918 and potentially threatens pandemic billions worldwide now that an offshoot has returned.

The fourth Campbell-Yan police procedural (see THE FOURTH SACRIFICE, FIREMAKER and THE KILLING ROOM) switches the location from China to Texas, but maintains the high quality as Li though several thousand miles from his Communist home still must be cognizant of the rulers. The story line focuses on a real threat based on a plausible biological premise of using the deadly 1918 Spanish flu virus to cause a pandemic. Adding to the feel of this could happen is the dead illegal immigrants, another timely topic in spite of seemingly falling off the map when Tancredo's; run ended. Whether it is France (home of the Macleod investigative thrillers (see EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE, THE CRITIC and BLACKLIGHT BLUE), China or the United States, Peter May always provides readers with an excellent mystery.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars International thriller meets expectations, January 24, 2009

By 

carl brookins "Carl Brookins" (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Snakehead (China Thrillers) (Hardcover)

Fourth in the author's China Thriller series to be published by this press. Make no mistake this is one scary and thrilling book. So thrilling, in fact I had the sense toward the end of being carried just a bit over the top. The novel brings back two of May's most endearing characters, forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell, American and Beijing detective, Li Yan. But they are no longer in China. Campbell is now the county medical examiner based in Houston, Texas, and Li Yang is learning about and dealing with America's multiple and complex law enforcement agencies as a member of the Chinese Embassy staff in Washington, D.C.

Until a major tragedy brings them together, Campbell is not even aware that they are again in the same country although still thousands of miles physically and culturally apart. The tragedy that brings these two together are the deaths of scores of illegal Chinese immigrants being smuggled to the United State via the same pipeline and organization which smuggles drugs from South America to the U.S. In this incident, the dead are found in a refrigerated truck abandoned in Texas. Those deaths appear to be accidental until it is discovered the bodies have all be injected with a dangerous virus that has no known antidote.

Now the race is on to determine what the virus is, who is behind the multi-million dollar smuggling operation, the Snakehead of the title, and Li Yan and Margaret must try to set aside their own emotional difficulties in order to help literally, save the nation from a devastating plague.

The pace is fast, the writing always to the point, the characters are genuine in their language and their emotions, and most worrisome of all, the science is real. This is a novel with the potential to scare the pants off you. It's timely, international in scope, a whirlwind of a thriller.