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.
