Chinatown Beat

I guess I'd sum this up by saying that it shows promise but didn't quite hit the mark for me. The setting is great: Chinatown is alive and vibrant, seedy and jaded (no pun intended). However, the plot was a bit uneven but lacking in drive. The main character is reasonably well drawn but I never got a real sense of what made him tick. Chang seemed to set us up to root for the murderer, but then turned him/her into someone that left a bad taste in the mouth. Still, the promise was there and I might try #2 someday to see if Chang grows into his work.

A fairly grim story about a cop who works out of the 5th precinct in Chinatown. He's cleaning out his dead father's apartment and mulling over their relationship as a serial rapist of children is on the loose and the mistress of a tong leader tries to stay one step ahead of disaster.

Jack Yu, a cop from a Chinese background, has returned to police his old neighbourhood in New York's Chinatown.
We follow two other characters as well, both with dreams of escaping--a limo driver and a rich Tong leader's mistress.
Prejudice and racism and American society are dealt with, as well as entrenched criminality in the Chinese community.
Different perspective. Interesting.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I written that a lot lately... This was a free kindle download of a debut novel and the author's inexperience shows, with uneven pacing and plotting.

It's certainly evocative, you get a sense of the emptiness and loneliness of these men's lives, either trying to go straight or falling in with the tong. Chinatown in New York is an area I know well enough, I live in walking distance from it, and like wandering around, but it is another country, plenty of people there don't speak a word of English and this was a glimpse into their lives, I was just sad that their lives were so bleak. (well it's a noir novel, what did I expect?) the mystery held no energy, I didn't care, and the book definitely bogged show more down in the middle. I wanted the killer to get away with it. I didn't care about most of the other characters. The most vibrant character was Chinatown itself and she was well described. show less

Author Henry Chang was born in New York's Chinatown and grew up there, giving him personal history and an insider's knowledge to draw on in this noir thriller.

This is Chang's first novel and it shows sometimes, but I plan to buy his second Detective Jack Yu novel. This might just be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

New York police detective Jack Yu, working out of the Fifth Precinct, has come home to Manhattan's Chinatown, where he was raised. His father has just died, and Jack is cleaning out his apartment. He is also working a case involving a serial rapist of young Chinese girls. The politics of being a Chinese American on a police force thought to be racist and corrupt is the dominant theme of Chang's debut.

Loosely constructed portrait of the underbelly of Chinatown, with glimpses into the lives of a Chinese-American detective, a Chinese godfather type, his mistress, his driver, and other crime operators.