Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Shanghai Redemption by Qiu Xiaolong

Shanghai Redemption: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong --- 308 pages

Tenth book in the Inspector Chen series combining police work, poetry and politics in modern China.

Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai police is a rarity in China, an honest and dogged investigator who has managed so far to walk a fine line between his responsibilites as head of Special Investigations Squad and the demands of the Communist Party.

But that delicate balance is disrupted when Chen is abruptly removed from his police position and "promoted" to the office of Director of the Shanghai Legal Reform Committee, where he is isolated, stripped of his police resources and a sitting duck for unknown powerful Party officials determined to cover up massive corruption and murder.

Trouble is, Chen doesn't know which of the politically sensitive cases he was handed caused the panic that led to his ouster, so how can he protect himself against the inevitable attacks that are coming?

What his enemies fail to realize however is that over the years of his career, Chen has built a network of highly unofficial connections inside and outside of the police and the Party.  These are people who will do what they can behind the scenes to help Chen out.

Qiu Xiaolong creates a compelling portrait of the New China's "socialist realities with Chinese characteristics," seen through the disillusioned eyes of one wary cop.

Qiu Xiaolong was born and raised in Shanghai, and now teaches at Washington University in St. Louis.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read an interview with the author describing the real events that inspired Shanghai Redemption. 

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