Book Review: Pao, a Novel by Kerry Young

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

As I watch the ship sail away I realise that I would never leave Jamaica. Never. I was committed to her, for good or bad, rich or poor, in sickness and in health. (ch. 7)

Title: Pao: A Novel by Kerry Young
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; July 5, 2011
Source: personal copy

Publisher's description of PAO: As a young boy, Pao comes to Jamaica in the wake of the Chinese Civil War and rises to become the Godfather of Kingston's bustling Chinatown. Pao needs to take care of some dirty business, but he is no Don Corleone. The rackets he runs are small-time, and the protection he provides necessary, given the minority status of the Chinese in Jamaica. Pao, in fact, is a sensitive guy in a wise guy role that doesn't quite fit. Often mystified by all that he must take care of, Pao invariably turns to Sun Tzu's Art of War. The juxtaposition of the weighty, aphoristic words of the ancient Chinese sage, with the tricky criminal and romantic predicaments Pao must negotiate builds the basis of the novel's great charm.

A tale of post-colonial Jamaica from a unique and politically potent perspective, Pao moves from the last days of British rule through periods of unrest at social and economic inequality, through tides of change that will bring about Rastafarianism and the Back to Africa Movement. Pao is an utterly beguiling, unforgettable novel of race, class and creed, love and ambition, and a country in the throes of tumultuous change.

About the author: Kerry Young was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese-African mother and a Chinese father-a businessman in Kingston's shadow economy who provided inspiration for Pao. Young moved to England in 1965 at the age of ten. She earned her MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. This is her first novel. Formore information about Kerry, visit http://www.kerryyoung.co.uk/

Guest reviewer, Kathi Harris, has this review about the novel, Pao.
The book PAO by Kerry Young brought to mind fond memories of life in Jamaica. It is PAO'S story, told by him in a Jamaican voice. It is also a historical novel. Though I grew up in Jamaica, this book taught me quite a bit about the Chinese in Jamaica.

Pao arrives in Jamaica from China in the mid 1940s, with his mom and brother, after the Chinese civil war in which his father dies. Zhang is Pao's father's friend who came to Jamaica some time ago. Zhang is Godfather in Jamaica's Chinatown, and provides to Pao and his family, a place to stay and his protection.

Pao starts out as a kid just helping his uncle in his business.The fact that some of this business is illegal puts him on a path that leads to his becoming the biggest and baddest crime figure in Jamaica's Chinatown - Mathews lane. While on this journey Pao fathers three children from his wife and his long-time mistress. He tries to be a good father. He was a good provider.

Pao isn't such a bad guy, even though he eventually takes Zhang's place as Godfather in Jamaica's Chinatown. He is a strong enforcer of the rules in this organized criminality - almost like the Italian mob. But he is still a compassionate and caring man to his friends, family and people who need his help.

Kathi Harris is the author of the novel Medusa The Beginning. A part of her book is also set in Jamaica.

Book Review: Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley

I enjoyed reading about the country of Botswana and the people of the Kalahari Desert, the Bushmen. I also found the main character, Detective Kubu, a person with an endearing personality who does his best as Assistant Superintendent of the police force while trying to please his wife, Joy, who prefers to have Kubu spend more time at home with her and their new baby.

When a park ranger, Monzo, is found killed in the desert with three Bushmen by his side, suspicion is immediately cast on the Bushmen, who are often discriminated against in Botswana. Detective Kubu makes no such assumptions, however, but pursues the case with care and detail. When another man is killed in the desert, a man from the nearby country of Namibia, Kubu has to travel there to further investigate, much to Joy's dismay. He also has to travel further into the Kalahari, where he almost dies from the heat and lack of water.

There is suspense and intrigue about the Bushmen, who call themselves the people of the Mantis, and about their sacred places in the desert. I found the book intriguing and would read the previous mysteries in the series.

Title: Death of the Mantis: A Detective Kubu Mystery by Michael Stanley
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Original edition, September 6, 2011
Source: review copy from the publisher
Rating: 4/5
My rating of this book is in no way influenced by my receiving a complimentary copy for review.

For more information on the authors, Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, and for a list of other reviews, visit Death of the Mantis Book Tour held by TLC Book Tours.

Book Review: The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn

My first book in the Chet and Bernie Mystery series, and it won't be my last. I couldn't believe that Spencer Quinn could pull off having a dog tell the entire story, and do it so well. Chet is the dog partner in the Chet and Bernie private investigative duo. Bernie is his owner and boss, an ex-military man who isn't slowed down much by a slight limp.

"Chet. Are you listening, buddy?"
Of course I was listening. Didn't I always listen to Bernie? I made myself listen even harder, and right away heard distant footsteps, on some level above.(ch. 18)

In their newest case, the two are asked to find a boy missing in the mountains during summer camp. They discover the body of a camp leader, shot in the head in an old abandoned mine. When they pursue leads, both the dog and his PI partner are imprisoned. How Chet escapes and later helps Bernie to escape to solve the kidnapping and bring the perps to justice is good storytelling, dog style, of course. I also liked the humor in the novel.

Publisher's description: The fourth in the New York Times bestselling mystery series featuring canine narrator Chet and his human companion Bernie. Combining suspense and intrigue with a wonderfully humorous take on the link between man and beast.  Spencer Quinn lives on Cape Cod with his dog, Audrey. He is currently working on the next Chet and Bernie novel.

Title: The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn
Publisher: Atria Books, September 6, 2011
Rating: 4.5/5
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

© Harvee Lau 2011

Sunday Salon: The Dog Books of Summer

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. Click on the logo to join in.

My mother passed away last year. Today would have been her 97th birthday. I remember ten years ago that I forgot to call her to wish her a Happy Birthday. I'm sure she forgave me.

The past few days I've been enjoying the sunny days after last week's steady rain, doing some light gardening, picking Big Brother tomatoes from the one sprawling vine, deadheading roses, pulling up a few weeds here and there, and thinking of removing lilies from around the peony bush and replanting them around the skeleton of my now dead Shishigashera Japanese maple tree. I had planted the decorative maple in a shallow depression in the back yard, where it got too much water around the roots. It lasted over 10 years and had gotten as tall as six feet. I miss it, with it's curly leaves that made it look like a lion's mane. That's its common name - Lion Head's Maple. Maybe one day I'll get another.

Last week, I featured an historical thriller, The Devil Colony by James Rollins, reviewed three novels of suspense and a dog lover's mystery:
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
The Perfect Suspect by Margaret Coel
The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen and
Brute Strength: A Dog Lover's Mystery by Susan Conant.

At present I'm enjoying two more books on dogs -

The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn,
Nose Down, Eyes Up: A Novel by Merrill Markoe.
Following Atticus by Tom Ryan is next on the list.

All these dog books make me long for another dog! (We lost our wonderful and irreplaceable bichon frise Harvey in 2008.)

What have you been doing/reading during these last days of summer?

Book Review: Brute Strength, A Dog Lover's Mystery

As a dog lover, I enjoy this writer's mystery series about a dog trainer/writer and dog rescue volunteer for Alaskan malamutes.

 "Think of me as your matchmaker," I said. "Or your adoption social worker. Your advocate. I will do my best to find you the right dog. We're getting a young female from Maine, but I don't know much about her yet. She'll need to be evaluated and vetted. I have no idea how she is with other dogs. Or with cats. But I'll find out." (ch. 7)

Title: Brute Strength: A Dog Lover's Mystery by Susan Conant
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Severn House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
Rating: 5/5
Source: borrowed from the library

Comments: When I found out that Susan Conant had written another of her Dog Lover's Mysteries, I headed out to my local library post haste to get a copy of Brute Strength. I had been missing Holly Winters and her Alaskan malamutes, Rowdy, Kimi, and Sammy, who are featured in Conant's earlier books, and, dog lover that I am, was glad to meet them again in the author's nineteenth Dog Lover's Mystery. I was not disappointed. I learned more about dog adoptions, living with strong and independent dogs like malamutes, dog training and dog shows, and I also enjoyed a good mystery.

Synopsis: The main character Holly Winters is a dog trainer and dog writer/columnist in Cambridge Mass. who is actively involved in a malamute dog rescue group. She matches rescue dogs to potential owners to find a good match in personality, habits, proper environment, etc. Things begin to heat up when new neighbors move in next door, her stepmother wants help to train her bichon frise Molly to win her Canine Good Citizenship certificate, Holly has to screen applicants in order to find homes for rescue malamutes, and there are chores waiting to be done that she wants to do herself -  climb an extension ladder to paint the outside of her house and fix the drain pipes. Her husband Steve is all for hiring out the paint job, but Holly won't hear of it.

A young woman is killed in a car accident and another man suddenly dies of kidney/liver failure, nasty anonymous phone calls begin to come in to members of the rescue group, and dog owners around her are covetously eyeing Holly's beautifully groomed and trained show dogs.  When Holly's stepmother has a close call with death, Holly begins to put two and two together to find out if this was an accident or not.  Holly's life is in danger when she comes too close to the truth.

About the author: Susan Conant is a seven time winner of the Dog Writers Association of America's Maxwell Award. She has written 18 other mysteries featuring Holly Winter and her Alaskan malamutes.

Book Review: The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

Title: The Silent Girl: a Rizzo and Isles Novel
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition (July 5, 2011)
Source: Library book
Rating: 4.75/5

"Why would an immigrant on a cook's salary buy a Glock?"
"For protection maybe? Because he felt threatened?"
"You're the psychologist, Dr. Zucker. Don't you have an answer?" ( ch. 9)

Comments: I found The Silent Girl, my first Tess Gerritsen book, after scrolling through blogs and reading positive reviews of this suspense writer. The plot is complex and involves several families in and outside of Boston's Chinatown. I liked the pairing of detective Rizzoli with forensic pathologist, Maura Isles, in the series and using Chinese mythology and Chinese martial arts or wushu in the plot.

Publisher's description: In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this...had a chilling prequel.

Nineteen years earlier, a murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret....that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil. Cracking a crime resonating with echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with...a swift, avenging blade.

About the author: Tess Gerritsen, a physician and author of several books of suspense, lives in Maine. She is the New York Times best selling author of Ice Cold.

Book Review: The Perfect Suspect by Margaret Coel

Title: The Perfect Suspect: A Catherine McLeod Mystery
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published September 6, 2011 by Berkley Publishing
Objective rating: 4.5/5

"Who are you?" she said. "I can't do anything unless I know your name."
"No names. I told you what I saw. You take it from here."
"Listen," Catherine began, but the line had gone dead. A hollow space had opened between her and whoever had been on the other end. (ch. 4)

Comments: An unusual plot that worked well for me. We know from the first page who shot David Mathews, the leading candidate in the Colorado governor race, and we find out it is his lover, a detective and therefore a very unlikely suspect. Detective Ryan Beckman finds herself in charge of solving the very crime she committed and works hard to cast suspicion on the perfect suspect - the victim's estranged wife. Reporter Catherine McLeod receives a frantic call from an unknown woman who says she saw the detective at the home of the victim after the fatal shots were fired. Catherine's and the woman's lives are in danger when Detective Ryan Beckman finds out that they are too close to the truth.

I also liked learning about newspaper policies regarding informants and their privacy and their care in printing facts rather than conjecture or details that can't be corroborated. I gave this 4.5/5 for suspense and plot.

Source: A copy of the novel was provided by the publisher. My rating was not influenced by my receiving a complimentary copy for review.