An acclaimed Chinese writer makes his English language debut with
this heart-stopping literary noir, a richly atmospheric tale of
espionage and international intrigue, set in Shanghai in 1931--an
electrifying, decadent world of love, violence, and betrayal filled
with femme fatales, criminals, revolutionaries, and spies. A boat
from Hong Kong arrives in Shanghai harbor, carrying an important
official in the Nationalist Party and his striking wife, Leng. Amid
the raucous sound of firecrackers, gunshots ring out; an assassin
has shot the official and then himself. Leng disappears in the
ensuing chaos. Hseuh, a Franco-Chinese photographer aboard the same
boat, became captivated by Leng's beauty and unconcealed misery.
Now, she is missing. But Hsueh is plagued by a mystery closer to
home: he suspects his White Russian lover, Therese, is unfaithful.
Why else would she disappear so often on their recent vacation?
When he's arrested for mysterious reasons in the French Concession
and forced to become a police collaborator, he realizes that in the
seamy, devious world of Shanghai, no one is who they appear to be.
Coerced into spying for the authorities, Hseuh discovers that
Therese is secretly an arms dealer, supplying Shanghai's gangs with
weapons. His investigation of Therese eventually leads him back to
Leng, a loyal revolutionary with ties to a menacing new gang, led
by a charismatic Communist whose acts of violence and terrorism
threaten the entire country. His aptitude for espionage draws Hseuh
into a dark underworld of mobsters, smugglers, anarchists, and
assassins. Torn between Therese and Leng, he vows to protect them
both. As the web of intrigue tightens around him, Hsueh plays a
dangerous game, hoping to stay alive.
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