Ghost Month

Starred review from June 2, 2014
For a guy who scoffs at the ghosts revered by so many of his fellow Taiwanese, droll everyman Jing-nan, a night-market food stall manager, ironically finds himself spending much of his time chasing one as he investigates the murder of his childhood sweetheart, Julia Huang, in this darkly comic thriller from Lin (One Red Bastard). Baffled by what the ambitious valedictorian of his Taipei high school class was doing as a skimpily clad “betel-nut beauty” hawking betel nut to truckers on a remote highway, much less by who would want to kill her, Jing-nan keeps asking questions, despite risks to his own safety. As he starts to uncover Julia’s explosive secrets with the help of their spunky former schoolmate, Nancy, Jing-nan finally faces the need to let go of the past in order to build a future, which one hopes will be revealed in a sequel. Agent: Kirby Kim, William Morris.

July 1, 2014
The creator of the Robert Chow mysteries (One Red Bastard, 2012, etc.), set in New York's Chinatown in the 1970s, turns to contemporary Taiwan for this ambitious, muddled tale of murder in a culture that sees itself as both the center of the world and overshadowed by its powerful mainland rival.In the seven years since Cheng Jing-nan last saw Julia Huang, he's thought about her every day. After going through schools in Taipei together, the two departed for the U.S., Jing-nan for UCLA, Julia for NYU. Both of them ended up back in Taipei when Julia flunked out of college and Jing-nan returned to his father's side during his last illness and then took over both Unknown Pleasures, the family's food stand, and the mountain of debt his family had run up. But they didn't end up together, although Jing-nan always intended to return to Julia the minute he was in a position to marry her. Now he's missed his chance. Julia's been found shot to death at the side of a highway in the scanty costume of a betel-nut girl, one step removed from a prostitute. Dazed with grief, Jing-nan seems like the most unlikely investigator ever. Nor is he the cleverest or the most resourceful detective. But his questioning of his old schoolmates gradually reveals unwelcome news about some of the people he thought he'd known best, including Julia herself. At the same time, his sex-first romance with music-store clerk Nancy Han, formerly the mistress of a disgraced financier, forces him to face some equally unsparing revelations about himself and the love he cherished for a woman he hadn't seen since they graduated from high school together.The teeming Taipei setting and the tormented hero combine to create a furious energy that transcends a whodunit plot too mundane even to capture Jing-nan's full attention.

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Starred review from July 1, 2014

Jing-nan and his girlfriend Julia dreamt big, both of them leaving Taiwan for college in the United States and planning to reunite eventually. But life intervened. Tragically, both of Jing-nan's parents died while he was in school; he is now back in Taiwan, working at the family's food-stall business in Taipei. Then he learns that Julia--in Taiwan!--has been murdered. Despairing of the police force's integrity, Jing-nan begins his own clumsy amateur investigation. Surprisingly, his passion for a postpunk band brings a new friend into his life. Further, his coworkers help him navigate the treacherous waters of Taiwanese gangsters, making it feasible for Jing-nan to succeed. Throughout, the significance of Taiwan's "ghost month," when spirits are said to mingle with the living, adds a layer of atmospheric tension. VERDICT Taiwan's traditions play a major role in Lin's category-defying thriller that manages to be both funny and profound. Lin, who also pens the New York City-set Robert Chow procedural series (One Red Bastard), writes with strong literary overtones and delivers a bang-up finale sure to keep readers engaged well past lights out.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
In this stand-alone thriller, Lin proves he can portray modern-day Taiwan as believably as he did 1970s Manhattan in his Robert Chow series (One Red Bastard, 2012). As teenagers, Jing-nan and Julia dreamed of a future together in America, free from Taiwan's stifling traditionalism. When they left for American universities, they vowed not to speak until Jing-nan laid their dream's foundation. But before Jing-nan could finish school, his father became ill, and Jing-nan had to return to Taipei to manage the family's food stall. Still, Jing-nan dreamed of a reunion with Julia. Then, Julia is found murdered in Taipei, and Jing-nan is forced to confront life in the present tense. Why was she in Taiwan? And why was she working as a scantily clad betel-nut girl? Jing-nan can't move on without the truth, even after Taiwanese gangsters violently discourage his amateur sleuthing. Narrator Jing-nan offers full-sensory descriptions of Taipei's night market that are perfect for armchair travelers, especially if they like their vacations spiced up with odd companions and exotic Mob violence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)