The Snakehead

Feodor Chin is the listener's guide into Chinatown's heart: the neighborhoods that tourists don't see; the inner workings of human trafficking from China to America in the 1980s and '90s; and the growing violence of the emerging gang culture. The perfect guide, Chin keeps his voice instructive and interesting, never preachy or accusative. This grim true crime involves "Sister Ping," the "Snakehead" of the title, the person who, for an exorbitant price, arranges passage for the illegals--who then must pay her back or pay the consequences. Chin wisely doesn't give voices or accents to the many characters involved, but instead opts for a matter-of-fact tone that keeps Keefe's absorbing narrative moving and listeners listening. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine


A well-researched descent into the world of Chinese organized crime, THE SNAKEHEAD centers on the barbarous Sister Ping, who ran an international smuggling ring out of a noodle shop and ruled with an iron hand in the 1980s in New York City. The author reads his work himself, and it's a good thing. Keefe's voice is temperate but never monotonous as he describes the recently arrived Chinese immigrants, crammed 20 to a house, with nothing better to do than watch Asian martial arts movies and play video games before the sun goes down and they ply their ruthless trade. Similarly, accounts of boat people, jammed into shaky vessels to fester among one another, will make listeners recoil--but only at their horrific realism. J.S.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine