China Bride

by Henry Luk

Overview

Beth Connor is suddenly plunged into the nightmarish world of underground Hong Kong when she is kidnapped by the Chinese Mafia while on her way to meet her fiance's parents. A former Olympic runner, Connor makes a daring escape, only to find herself alone and bewildered in an unfamiliar and threatening world of seedy nightclubs and illicit pornography. It will take guts, street smarts, and a healthy dose of good luck for Connor to outfox the Triads still on her trail--as they are determined to teach the American Girl a lesson she'll never forget.


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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466845909
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Series:	China Bride , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	498 KB

About the Author

Henry Luk, author of China Bride, lives in Hong Kong.

Editorial Reviews

Despite certain opposition from his fabulously wealthy and exceedingly traditional family, Michael Chang brings former Olympic runner Beth Connor to Hong Kong to introduce her as his fiance. Upon arrival, however, the pair are immediately kidnapped by thugs from one of the island's many triads, Asian secret societies richer and more powerful than the Mafia. Beth manages to escape only to find herself alone and abandoned: Michael's family refuses to acknowledge her and the authorities regard her with suspicion. In her search for Michael, she has only the sympathies of a young police inspector and the dubious support of the head of another triad to help her. Beth's refusal to keep silent in a society that demands compliance from its women further imperils her. Unfortunately, stilted dialogue and cardboard characters mar this briskly paced novel filled with Eastern political intrigues, brutality, perverse sex, and deadly family intrigues. Gratuitous references to Beth as the "American whore" and endless disparaging comments regarding her physical endowments grow from tiresome to offensive. (June).

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Earnest but awkward woman-in-periler: What could have been an intricate story of Hong Kong on the eve of its return to Chinese control is reduced to a contrived thriller. Not long after she's plucked from the filthy Hong Kong harbor by a pair of mute fishermen and taken to the Chinese mainland, former Olympic runner Beth Connor is thrown into a gloomy jail cell. Beth is making her first visit on the arm of her fianc‚ Michael Chang, a fellow Harvard student and scion of a Hong Kong dynasty; the familyþs enormous wealth derives, it turns out, from a criminal past founded on prostitution and arms smuggling. That's reason enough to have Michael and Beth abducted shortly after they arrive in Hong Kong by a vulgar band of thugs linked to a Taiwan triad—one of several illicit organizations that wants to use Michael and his family to maintain its economic foothold when the Crown colony goes back to the Chinese. A tale of the tangled political, economic, and criminal loyalties bedeviling these characters would have been sufficient material for any thriller, but Luk piles on needless complexity: While competing in the Barcelona Olympics, Beth accidentally tripped a Chinese competitor, causing global embarrassment that some Chinese now want to avenge. Add to this the fact that Michael's brother Frederick, head of the family, is dying of AIDS. This leaves Michael heir to a corrupt business empire that he knows almost nothing about. And Michael's sister-in-law Anne (who does not have AIDS) wants to hold on to her virtual matriarchy, and so doesn't want Michael to marry Beth. It's all neatly resolved, of course, by storyþs end. First-novelist Luk clearly knows histerritory: His Hong Kong is grotesque, secretive, menacing, and wonderfully ironic. But this compelling examination of the cityþs political and cultural complexities is finally overwhelmed by an unwieldy plot, creaky dialogue, melodramatic violence, and kinky scenes of sex and torture. (Radio satellite tour)

Kirkus Reviews