Hello Kitty Must Die

Starred review from February 22, 2010
Choi's scorching-hot debut rips into the stereotype of Hello Kitties, young Asian-American women who are upwardly mobile, outwardly modern, but trapped by their families' old-fashioned cultural expectations. A week before turning 28, Fiona “Fi” Yu, a San Francisco corporate lawyer who lives with her parents, uses a silicone device to take her own virginity, an act she soon regrets. When she consults Dr. Sean Killroy about restoring her hymen, the cosmetic surgeon turns out to be Sean Deacon, a former grade school classmate who once lit a girl's hair on fire. Fi renews her friendship with Sean, who draws her into a secret world that's empowering but also highly disturbing. As Sean encourages Fi to fight back when her parents suggest suitors, people who cause problems for Fi wind up dead. A demonic stir-fry of influences, including Amy Tan, Chuck Palahniuk, Clive Barker, and Candace Bushnell, infuses Choi's prose with passionate ferocity.

April 1, 2010
Fiona Yu is a Chinese American attorney who refuses to be any man's "Hello Kitty"the stereotypically well-groomed, well-behaved Asian wife. When Fiona is reunited with Sean Killroy, a childhood friend with a penchant for punishing the people who wrong him, she finds herself on an adventure with a serial killer who is only too happy to teach her how to get rid of unwanted fiancs and bosses. Choi, herself a former attorney, writes her first novel with a stiletto for a pen. The pace is fast. Sympathy for the victims is absent. And, as the body count rises, Sean's taste for blood grows. VERDICT Fiona's experiences are light-years from the young women in Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" and only somewhat closer to the twins in Marilyn Chin's "Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen". Now that serial killers have become the new 21st-century heroes, fans of Jeff Lindsay's "Dexter" series and Chuck Palahniuk's hard-core novels are the readers most likely to enjoy this book. [Tyrus Books is the new publishing venture of former Bleak House founding editor Benjamin LeRoy.Ed.]Andrea Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

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