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.

February 1, 2017
Chang's fifth novel is a turbo-charged requiem for a blood brotherhood rooted in an impossibly distant past.Some people are lucky at cards, some lucky in love. Even though he's waiting for his ladylove, attorney Alexandra Lee-Chow, to make her way through a messy divorce, Detective Jack Yu of the NYPD's Fifth District is still lucky because none of the many criminals who've shot at him have killed him. But he can't hold a candle to Tat "Lucky" Louie, the blood brother of his youth, who's just emerged from an 88-day coma brought on by his own shooting. Everyone in Chinatown recognizes that the number 88 is especially lucky, and Jack would like nothing better than to shake Lucky's hand, congratulate him on his return to life, and endorse his vow to avoid the kind of criminal behavior that brought him to death's door. Instead, Lucky disappears shortly after Jack helps spirit him out of the hospital. Fueled less by greed than by a lust for face-saving revenge, Lucky gathers a new gang around him and plots a series of high-octane crimes against his old enemies, from Big Uncle Jo, a gang handler from the On Yee Merchants Association, to Woo Sik Kee, a longtime stalwart of the Wo Lok triad. Though Lucky's improbable survival makes him feel immortal, Jack knows his latest carnival of crime can't end well; if rival Chinatown gangsters don't stop him, Jack's outraged colleagues at the Fifth District will. Despite some great action sequences, the story, as usual with Chang (Death Money, 2014, etc.), lacks both variety and surprise. What keeps you reading, along with the customary warts-and-all portrait of New York's Chinatown, is the uncanny strength of the bond between the career cop and his doomed blood brother.

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March 1, 2017

Det. Jack Yu struggles between his loyalties formed growing up in New York's Chinatown and his role as a police officer in the very same neighborhood. When he discovers that his ex-Chinatown blood brother "Lucky" Louie has woken up from his 88-day coma, he is determined to save his childhood friend. Jack views this miraculous recovery as a last chance for Lucky to enter witness protection and pleads with him to abandon his life of crime. Instead, Lucky is intent on executing a glorious payback to those who tried to kill him. The two old friends vie for dominance as redemption clashes with revenge and the body count grows higher. This fifth installment in the "Jack Yu" series (after Death Money) is set against an intriguing and fascinating backdrop in a section of New York rife with history. While it is possible to read this as a stand-alone, there are many references to past cases that seasoned followers will more easily understand. VERDICT The sparse writing infused with Chinatown culture will appeal to those who are drawn to noir mysteries with a rich cultural component.--Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017
NYPD Detective Jack Yu's Chinese blood brother, gangster Tat Lucky Louie, is a near medical miracle. After getting shot in the head twice and lying in a coma for 88 days, he awakens to find three Chinese gang leaders, who don't wish him well, at his bedside. So he calls Yu to get him out of the hospital. Yu, who lacks the grounds to arrest Lucky, urges him to get into witness protection as his only means of staying alive, but Luckycalling it witless protection has other ideas: form a posse, steal some cash, and use the notebook he has that lists police payoffs and gang assassinations as leverage to relocate. Yu has no one to talk to during this timehis lover, Alexandra Lee-Chow, keeping her distance while she argues for child custody during a messy divorce, and he attends mandated visits to an NYPD therapist. Lucky's legacy to Yu caps off Chang's fifth in this series of police procedurals notable for their portrayals of New York City's Chinese communities, with Yu a man who straddles two cultures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)