Hardback: There are Chinatowns in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, London...in many different countries all around the globe. But wherever they are located geographically, Chinatown is one community. Fire a gun in New York's Chinatown and the echo reverberates seconds later in Hong Kong. Political pressures emanating from Mainland China are felt by the new wave of immigrants on Mott, Hester, and Delancey Streets in hours.
American-born Jack Yu became one of the few ethnically Chinese officers in the NYPD. Now he has been promoted out of the Chinatown Precinct. But he cannot get away from Chinatown's criminals - his old friends - who are hooked up with Hong Kong based triads in a crooked scam of international proportions.
In this vivid evocation, Chang shows us the people he understands so well: a Chinese yuppie whose loss of face ends in tragedy; an ailing bookie with romance in his soul; a would-be gang leader and the tough new immigrants from Fukien who confront him; and the triad official, Grass Sandal, sent from Hong Kong to liase with local benevolent societies. He also cannot escape the Chinese victims whose stories cry out for justice, like the teenage Chinese take-out delivery boy brutally murdered in the projects.
Year of the Dog (2008) - the second noir suspense in the impressive Detective Jack Yu series set in New York - shows us what exists beneath the surface of the tourists' Chinatown.
About the author: Henry Chang is a New Yorker, a native son of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. His poems have appeared in the seminal Yellow Pearl anthology, and in Gangs In New York’s Chinatown. He has written for Bridge Magazine, and his fiction has appeared in On A Bed Of Rice and in the NuyorAsian Anthology. His debut novel Chinatown Beat (2006) garnered high praise from the New York Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, among others.
Henry Chang is a graduate of CCNY (City College of New York). He has been a lighting consultant, and a Security Director for major hotels, commercial properties, and retail businesses in Manhattan.
He resides in the Chinatown area, and his ‘Chinatown Trilogy' of Chinatown Beat (2006), Year of the Dog (2008), and Red Jade (2010) are currently being developed for television and movies. His fourth book featuring NYPD detective Jack Yu, - Death Money - published March 2014.
Rating: 5/5
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