Lucky

January 30, 2017
Jack Yu has no regrets about taking lives in self-defense in a spate of violent incidents, in Chang’s middling fifth crime novel featuring the NYPD detective (after 2014’s Death Money). His superiors have ordered him to see a psychotherapist, May McCann, who Jack is discomfited to find is not only Asian but extremely attractive. Jack’s personal life has been in flux since his lover, Alexandra Lee-Chow, broke off contact in the midst of contentious divorce proceedings after he was caught on videotape taking the elevator to and from Alex’s Chinatown apartment. All this serves as the less-than-compelling context for the main story line, in which Jack must deal with the crimes of a childhood friend, Lucky Louie, the former leader of the Ghost Legion gang. Lucky survived being shot twice in the head, but resumed a life of crime after his release from the hospital. Chang offers no new insights into the mind of a cop torn by divided loyalties to past and present. Agents: Dana Adkins and Debbie Phillips, Adkins & Phillips Agency.