City of Ice, by Brian Klingborg.

 

          This would be a pretty standard Crime novel, were it not for its setting:  the People’s Republic of China, specifically in the North East city of Harbin, known as the City of Ice for its frigid winter temperatures.  And the place that young people flock to from the constraints of their country villages, where there is no work and certainly no fun;  where their families all still follow the ancient traditions of worshipping their ancestors, regardless of exhortations of leaders old and new to embrace the modern age.

            Inspector Lu Fei is the deputy Chief of Police in one such village, Raven Valley;  he has been sent there from Harbin by his Boss in the Harbin Police Department, ostensibly as a promotion but they both know that their enmity is the main reason for his exile:  jealousy and corruption flourish as always, regardless of whichever regime gains power – Communism has not altered people’s base emotions and as always, it’s not what one knows, but whom.  Well, Lu is one of the few incorruptibles in a department that has no place for him, hence his ‘transfer’.  There is nothing on which to test his formidable detecting talents apart from your common-or-garden chicken thefts, domestics, and drunk-and-disorderlies, so Lu’s life could hardly be regarded as action-packed – until the discovery of a young woman’s body at her late mother’s house, gruesomely murdered.  Yang Fenfang, aged 23, had come home from Harbin to arrange her mother’s funeral;  now she is dead, too, with heart, lungs and liver removed:  Raven Valley has progressed from sleepy backwater to notorious hideaway for a sick killer, and it isn’t long before Lu finds after careful checking, that there have been several similar crimes committed in Harbin.

            Brian Klingborg lived and worked in the People’s Republic of China for several years.  He has a prestigious MA from Harvard University majoring in Chinese Cultural Anthropology, so he knows whereof he speaks when he writes about PRC mores and customs, ancient and modern, on which his complex plot depends.  His characters are entirely credible and he has a nice line in humour just when it is needed.  I have to say that I did guess Who Done It about halfway through, but am willing to forgive that for the quotations from Chairman Mao which start every chapter, and the almost documentary explanations of the political and moral infrastructure in place in today’s modern China.  I hope we haven’t seen the last of Lu!  FIVE STARS   

 

We Are Not Like Them, by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza.

         

  

            Riley Wilson and Jen Murphy have been best friends since Jen was sent by her mother to Riley’s grandmother’s day care centre (a glorified name for their converted lounge) when she was very small – and Jen has always blessed her feckless mother’s decision (even though it was entirely a matter of convenience), for she was always treated as part of Riley’s loving family, an important part, a feeling entirely absent at home with her mother, who is anything but maternal, and proud of it.

            The fact that Riley is Black and ambitious – she is a television journalist and hopes to be News Anchor soon – and Jen is white and married to a member of Philadelphia’s finest, a city police officer – makes no difference to their regard for each other;  they will always be Besties, no matter what.  In fact, Riley has lent Jen enough money for one last crack at IVF:  Kevin has a low sperm count but now, Jen finally has a successful pregnancy.  The baby will be born in three months!  After many vicissitudes shared in the course of their long friendship, life is finally good.

            Until it’s not:  a shocking and terrible quirk of fate intervenes.  Police Officer Kevin and his new, inexperienced partner are chasing a criminal who tried to hold up a store; during their pursuit, Kevin’s partner sees a figure walking down an alley – and shoots.  His victim is a 14 year-old Black boy on his way home for dinner;  he made the fatal mistake of reaching into his pocket to turn off his headphones when the cop shouted at him.  Now, the worst has happened:  he lies bleeding out on the ground and the cops have realised that there is no gun.

            Riley is fortunate enough to eventually score an interview with the young boy’s grieving mother:  Jen is not so lucky.  She and Kevin are forced to leave their rented home and hide at his family’s house after people paint MURDERER on their fence and leave filth on their doorstep.  The trolls on social media are also unrelenting:  murder charges should be – will be laid – unless Kevin cuts some kind of a deal to throw his partner under the bus.  There are no winners in this awful tragedy:  racism and bias flourish as strongly as ever.  How can any friendship prevail against such innate hatred?

            Pride and Piazza, one Black, one white, have produced a mighty testament to America’s deeply troubled times.  They are not afraid to call out tokenism and hypocrisy, or question the ‘justice’ system (which was formulated by old white men), and they do it brilliantly:  this great book should be compulsory reading in every school.  SIX STARS.   

 

Wolf’s Lair, by Brian Falkner.  Katipo Joe series # 3

Junior Fiction.

 

          Once again, Brian Falkner takes us all on a dizzying World War Two ride with teen-age spy Joseph St George, embedded deep within the highest echelons of power at Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s mountain retreat – indeed, his disguise is so perfect Hitler has made him his eventual successor, a fact that makes Joe faint-headed to even think about, and a source of great, ill-concealed resentment from those more deserving and ambitious.  Joe doesn’t sleep well at night, nor does he relish betraying his fellow Hitler Youth companions, still filming their propaganda movie with Leni Riefenstahl. 

            No, Joe’s life is anything but carefree, and suspense is ratcheted up even more with Hitler’s plans to invade Russia:  Operation Barbarossa is in full swing, and Der Führer thinks it would be an excellent idea if, as his successor, Joe and his companions should travel with him on his armoured train to Wolf’s Lair, his bunker in East Prussia near the Russian front – he can have a taste of the front lines and War in all its terrible majesty.  Of course they will be perfectly safe, and Leni should get some good footage of her handsome charges as those miserable Russians are slaughtered by the invincible power and might of the German Army.

            Needless to say, the reality of Joe’s experiences at the front doesn’t match the rosy theory;  his life is saved more than once by Sergeant Misch, part of Hitler’s security detail (a real-life soldier whose photo is in the back of the book!), but worse is to come:  Joe’s handler and contact informs him that, after several botched attempts, it’s time for Joe to Do The Deed:  to assassinate Hitler.

            And how does a 15 year-old boy do that?   

Desperation can make heroes of us all, and Joe, with the assistance – knowing and otherwise – of his friends, concocts a plan.  As does Hitler:  what a stroke of genius it would be (all in a day’s work for the Führer) now that America has been drawn into the war by Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbour, to send a bright, handsome boy soundly coached in Americanisms and the American way of life to be a spy for the Reich.  Not only would Hitler be master of Europe and eventual conqueror of Britain, but he would hopefully be privy to the inner workings (with luck) of the American War Machine.  Brilliant, as always!

This excellent series is an ideal way for young  teenage readers  to  learn of the terrible history of the 20^th century as seen through the eyes of fictional characters they can identify with, and Mr Falkner is the storyteller to do just that:  every fact is authenticated, and the suspense and horror is spine-chilling:  I’m hoping that Joe’s adventures in America will give us some light relief!  FIVE STARS.