Beijing Payback

Starred review from May 20, 2019
College basketball player Victor Li, the narrator of Nieh’s remarkable debut, has little to concern him beyond his next game, until his restaurateur father, Vincent Li, is killed in a burglary at home in L.A. Sun Jianshui, a 30-ish immigrant who was raised by Vincent before he married and left for America, tells Victor that his father was part of a criminal enterprise formed when Vincent was a young man in China in the years after Mao’s death. According to Sun, Vincent was murdered for refusing to import a dangerous product called Ice. A letter from Vincent to Victor that Victor finds among his father’s papers instructs him to accompany Sun to Beijing and destroy the syndicate. The rich cast includes beautiful young courtesans, Chinese thugs, Russian gangsters, French journalists, and corrupt police in Beijing. Nieh, a Chinese-English translator, has a real gift for language; one character has “a voice that sounds the way strawberries taste.” This impressive blend of crime and coming-of-age marks Nieh as a talent to watch. Agent: Bonnie Nadell, Hill Nadell Literary.

This is a listen for anyone who likes a great crime novel performed by a truly talented narrator, Ewan Chung. A Chinese-American college student's immigrant father, a restaurateur, is found murdered. Soon, his son discovers his father's life was about more than restaurants--he was involved in a crime syndicate in China. Anyone who listens to this audiobook will not be surprised to learn that the author is a former Chinese interpreter. Chung's narration is full of diverse accents. He moves from Valley speak to Chinese accents to a myriad of others. Chung's narration will leave listeners wanting more. J.P.S. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

May 1, 2019
After Victor and Jules Li's father, Vincent, is murdered in an apparent home invasion, the siblings discover that everything they knew about their life is an intricately woven myth. Their mild-mannered father, who they thought owned a chain of restaurants, leaves them nothing but a mystery and a briefcase containing cash and a gun. Then Victor is approached by Sun, a young man from Beijing who claims that he is Vincent Li's right-hand man. Sun reveals that Vincent's organized-crime partners, considered his brothers from childhood under Mao's brutal regime, murdered Vincent because he refused to cooperate with their latest smuggling plot. When Sun delivers a letter from Vincent that implores Victor to honor his memory by going to Beijing and shutting down the organization, loyalty trumps reason. Victor, a thoughtful but aimless college student, finds purpose in battling Beijing's underworld. Happily, Nieh leaves the door open for a sequel to this staccato-paced, character-driven thriller, and readers will welcome the opportunity to follow good-guy Victor's path of retribution and self-discovery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)