Rock Paper Tiger

Starred review from April 19, 2010
Ellie Cooper, the heroine of Brackmann's electrifying debut, is an Iraq War vet trying to forget her past while bumming around the fringes of the Beijing art world. Having been ditched by her husband, Trey, a former army interrogator now working in China as a private security consultant, Ellie has drifted into a relationship with the artist Lao Zhang, as well as into a fog of Percocet and ennui in order to escape her memories of Iraq. After Zhang disappears with a mysterious Uighur, Ellie becomes a person of interest to U.S. and Chinese authorities, and soon Ellie's evading goons and cops, getting information from Zhang's friends via a massive multiplayer online game, and flashing back to her experiences as a combat medic at an Abu Ghraib–like detention center. The China scenes are fast paced and strikingly atmospheric, and Ellie's backstory—her and Trey's return from combat is tough, sad, and endearing—is given in doses that perfectly complement the central action. Given the high-octane leadup, the ending is a bit of a letdown, but the book's exotic setting and tough heroine will definitely appeal to fans of John Burdett and Stieg Larsson.

April 1, 2010
Both veterans of the Iraq War, 26-year-old Ellie McEnroe and her husband, Trey Cooper, find themselves living in China, where Trey works as a security consultant for a large corporation. After moving and adjusting to a new country, what Ellie doesn't expect is to come home and find her husband in bed with a Chinese woman he immediately declares himself to be in love with. They separate, and Ellie, now known as Yili, is living a new life with a new set of friends, including Chinese artist Lao Zhang, aka Zhang Jianli. Yili's life takes yet another turn when she finds herself on the run in China from both American and Chinese security intelligence after a single brief and accidental meeting with Zhang's friend Hashim, an alleged Uighur terrorist. This debut novel is a snapshot of a very modern China filled with coffee shops, Internet cafs, and gamers. Brackmann's experience in the motion picture industry is evident, as Ellie's military backstory is cleverly interwoven and revealed throughout. VERDICT A gritty and intriguing tale of terror that draws in the reader with each page; Brackmann is a new writer to watch.Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Brackmanns debut deftly mixes modern China, the Iraq War, and online gaming, an unusual combination that manages to work. Iraq vet Ellie Cooper is making a new life for herself in Beijing, living with friends in an unsanctioned artists village on the outskirts of town. A chance encounter with an Uighur (Turkish ethnics living in China) sets in motion a baffling series of events in which Ellie is pursued by American and Chinese agents. Not sure whom to trust or where to turn, Ellie finds that she is able to communicate safely using a relatively unmonitored online role-playing game. Ellies story of her time in Iraq and the reasons she initially came to China are revealed in chapter-long flashbacks interspersed with the main story; taken together, the two narrated strands constitute a fast-paced and engaging story as both plots are full of mystery and suspense. Although the ending falls a bit flat, the tension up to that point is sustained superbly, and the characters are full-bodied and engaging. Good reading for anyone interested in the international crime novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)