BookBrowse Review

An American expat gets caught up in a web of terror in this debut mystery set in modern-day China

Let's consider some popular qualities of the modern-day thriller heroine: a painful incident in her recent past, residence in an exotic locale, a heightened ability to talk trash, and a complete inability to recognize danger as she walks right into it. Ellie Cooper has them all.

Sent into the Iraq War as a medic at the age of 19, where she lived through several highly traumatic incidents, she has washed up in China. Her post-traumatic stress disorder prevents her from doing much except drinking beer and hanging out with her friend Lao Zhang, occasionally showing up for her part-time job at a karaoke bar, and checking her email. As for talking trash and blithely putting herself in harm's way, she reminds me of Janet Evanovich's bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. I hope that Lisa Brackmann wouldn't take that the wrong way; I happen to admire Stephanie Plum a great deal.

After Lao Zhang, an artist with democratic ideals, disappears leaving only a cryptic note, Ellie is pursued by agents of two separate security organizations and by Creepy John, a young Chinese man who claims friendship but exudes menace. Though she is never sure why these men are after her, she figures it's best to elude them. But despite her fears, Ellie is also seeking some kind of meaning and purpose for her life. The psychic undertow of her quest saves this pulsating tale of plot turns and hair-raising danger from being just another summer suspense thriller.

Brackmann has made regular visits to China since 1979; these first-hand glimpses of the country's development from the Cultural Revolution to the present give her descriptions of its cities, peoples and societal issues a compelling veracity. From reading her blog, I understand how she has been able to craft a novel that delves into war, terrorism, and international interpersonal relations with such a sense of authority.

Immediately after turning the last page, I thought the book would best be recommended to younger readers, aged twenty to thirty. Ellie Cooper is in her mid-twenties and I was so involved with her heart and mind that I felt that age myself, though I am way past it. But after a few days had passed, I decided that any reader who doesn't mind the language and some gritty violence would not only be entertained but enlightened about a country that looms so prevalently in our current world. Check out the first chapter here at BookBrowse and you'll know right away if it's for you.

This review was originally published in August 2010, and has been updated for the June 2011 paperback release. Click here to go to this issue.