Yuck. For a better story, better writing, better research, better everything about Hong Kong and espionage, read The Honourable Schoolboy by John LeCarre. Coonts should stick to writing about warfighting.

...he should use him as a boss for characters young enough to do the action sequences the way he was with Toad Tarkington a few books back. I'll admit, he skillfully avoids having Grafton turn into an ideologue in his old age the way Clancy sometimes does with Jack Ryan. In this book, Grafton has a logical reason to want to kick butt and take names--after all, a Hong Kong crime lord has kidnaped Jake's wife Callie while they're over there for a symposium she's involved in as a professor. One aspect of the action sequences here sort of pushes the envelope of plausability, though: semi-autonomous battle robots straight out of Greg Bear or The Terminator. It's a bit of an "aw come on"--funnybook technology from an author we've come to know as a lot more realistic than that. One thing you'll notice here--the aforementioned Tarkington is still only a Commander. If you're familiar with that character from earlier Coonts books, what we have there is the eternal post-adolescent who even marriage to the right woman hasn't matured. Even Rita Tarkington's maturity and working for a boss like Grafton hasn't settled this overgrown frat boy down, and I'm glad to see him reduced to a bit part here.

This was actually my first Stephen Coonts novel I have read, and I loved it. There were so many changes in what was going on, and so many interesting characters to follow. I really liked the story line in this book, and I would reccommend it to anyone.

I am at a complete loss as to how anyone could have liked this book. ....

The author goes through great lengths to set up these characters and their lives (hundreds of pages of overly descriptive prose about asian finance, artifical ensemination and retirement homes), and all for absolutely no reason. Almost none of it had any bearing what-so-ever on the story or ultimately on the fate of the characters. ....

Out of the all of the many books I've read in recent years this is probably the only one that ever left me extremely angry at the author, because I enjoyed about two-thirds of the book only to feel like I was deliberately kicked in the teeth in the final third.
Now what bothered me wasn't the fact that it didn't have a cookie-cutter "they live happily ever after" type of ending, I've enjoyed and recommended other books which had dark, even grisly endings. But at least when authors like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Lawrence Block are explicit they do so with a purpose that serves their story, and they know where to draw the line.
But "Afterburn" is needlessly cruel and openly sadistic, putting it's main characters through unbelievably graphic physical torture, which Harrison describes in excruciating detail. In the end I couldn't find any purpose it had served, other than what seemed to be an inexplicable attempt by the author to punish his readers.
When I finished this book I felt sucker-punched, with all the stomach-churning sadism I had endured reading it I found the end held no real surprises, no ironies, no last minute saves, no poetic justice, or any thing else of substance to justify what Harrison puts you through. This was the first and will be the last book I'll ever read by this author, I hope to never stumble upon another like him.

Afterburn is my first exposure to this author, and I can see why this novel generates the strong sentiments, both positive and negative, that it has. Let's start with the obvious-Colin Harrison is a brilliant writer and Afterburn is a daring book. It is not your average cookie-cutter feel good run-of-the-mill thriller. And that's the problem for the people who hated it. The sex, the violence and the torture are all so vividly portrayed that you shrink away from the words even as you read them. But if you're daring, and if you can appreciate the word smithing that underpins Afterburn, then you'll enjoy it. If not, you'll hate it. I came down firmly in the enjoy/admire category.

This book is about Lord Napier's mission to China, its subsequent failure and the unexpected founding of Hong Kong. As he sails off on his own mission, the author interweaves in, between an edited version of Napier's letters and diaries, stories of earlier attempts by the West (mainly British) to make contact with China, and their relevance to an understanding of why Napier's mission was doomed from the start. This takes up about half of the book before Napier even lands in China. An attempt to recreate the exotic and mysterious Far East setting by invoking an impression of cadavers, unwanted babies and the mournful wailing of the dugongs (mammals) amidst the junks, warships and bustling trade activities all floating together in the bay of Hong Kong seems a little surreal. According to the author, the Chinese, bless their inscrutable little hearts, will not lift a hand to assist strangers for fear of being drawn into a perverted world of Confucian logic of somehow contributing to that person's plight in the first instance. Nor was opium such an odious commodity in the 19th Century. And even if it was, Lord Napier was an enlightened and politically-correct gentleman (who wasn't?) but was unable to right things in his time. This is pure hokum and a bit of eye-wash considering that the author is a direct descendant of Napier. There is no doubt that Napier failed in his mission to liberalise trade with China but the author's premise is that history should not pin all the blame for failure on him alone. There was also the King of England, Lord Grey, the rogue traders and of course, the inscrutable Chinese.

Priscilla Napier was a wonderful author, not only of the Napier family (which she married into, not descended from) but also of primate study (under the name PH Napier). She died early in 1999, and will be missed. Her books, including Barbarian Eye, were a result of her historical research into the conditions and events which take place in them. Her husband was in the Navy, so you can be assured that her use of naval history is accurate, and her descriptions of foreign places are both strange and true. Perhaps she does write with a kind eye towards her main character, but which writer does not?

I have given several of Marshall's Yellowthread Street Hong Kong police procedurals 5 stars, and deservedly so, for they mix suspense, mystery, and zany humor in wonderful combinations. This time, however, Marshall has strayed into the King-Koontz genre, and has failed---dismally.
As usual, there are three plots, one involving Detective Chief Inspector Feiffer, one with his deputy, Christopher O'Yee, and one with Detectives Phil Auden and Bill Spencer. All 3 threaten the lives of these police officers more than in other Marshall books. But really! Is a bomb going to do away with Auden and Spencer? I doubt it. And is O'Yee going to be murdered by somnambulist thugs? Of course not. And is Feiffer going to die in some supernatural way? No way.
The bomb plot, in particular, is massively overwritten, with the same sub-basement slime, bomb wires, and tension between Auden and Spencer repeated ad nauseum. The O'Yee plot is interesting, but O'Yee's repeated failure to get help---even though help surrounds him outside the police station and below, in the sub-basement---strains credibility.
And as for the supernatural plot, well I'm not of Asian descent, nor have I travelled much in that part of the world, but I don't find it believable at all. A crime wave caused by an eighty-year old man using magical powers is just too much.
I hope Marshall returns from left field in the next Yellowthread Street book I read, for I am fond of his characters and their travails. But this book is only a nightmare.

It is the final weeks of the ninety-nine year lease that Great Britain has had on Hong Kong before it is returned to China. For the Yellowthread Street Police Station, the countdown to the transition has not changed a thing. They are very busy working on various police assignments. ...... Detective Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer dreads his task of uncovering a murderer who scares his victims into ripping their own eyes out of their sockets. Corpses have been found everywhere on the island. Detective Senior Inspector Christopher Kwan O'Yee struggles with a visiting group of six crazed but armed demons, who nonchalantly stick a sharp knife into the law enforcement officer's desk as their calling card. Detective Inspectors Phil Auden and Bill Spencer are trying to unclog the plumbing that must have been put in the building during Confucius' time. However, instead of clearing the line, the pair uncover a World war II aerial bomb that could go off any minute. This is only the beginning of the new day. ...... The sixteenth Yellowthread Street mystery is a humorous police procedural that has a lot of activity going on at the same time (like a real police station would have). Several of the subplots are very interesting and all the Hong Kong law enforcement official are fun to read about. However, a primary story line never surfaces, leaving readers a bit disconnected with the overall humorous mishaps confronting the local Hong Kong police force. Those fans of Mr. Marshall who enjoy his surreal comic writing style will want to read this novel; however those who want a suspense-laden mystery as well should pass on this book and go to one of his previous Ye llowthread tales that combine the sublime with a charged suspenseful mystery. .....Harriet Klausner

Kowloon Tong By Paul Theroux Published by Hamish Hamilton Ltd. $29.95 Despite the fact that this book was pushed by Whitcoulls as the book to buy for Father's Day along with the Jonah Lomu autobiography, I'll try to reflect that I did actually quite enjoy this novel. Theroux's central character is Englishman Neville Bunt, part-heir of a successful stitching factory in Hong Kong in the final two years before the island reverts back to Chinese rule. As characters go, Bunt is a particularly dislikable one. Although he has lived in the colony his entire life, he has remained uninterested in making any attempt to get to grips with the local culture in that despicable way that only wealthy ex-pats seem to be capable of. His half-dozen or so words of Cantonese all revolve around prostitution; he lives with his mother, and has the social skills of a mute graduate of the Timaru School of Tedious Conversation. After the death of his Chinese business partner, Mr. Cheung, Bunt's tediously predictable life begins to go astray. Enter Mt Hung, representative of the Chinese army and tactless yet efficient business negotiator. Hung makes his case to Bunt quite clear: if he does not sell his business immediately then it shall be acquired through other less friendly means following the handover. Seeing he has few options, and to alleviate his mother's desire for the offered 'million quid', Bunt begins to go along with Hung's offer. Despite this, other things begin to go astray; Hung at first invades Bunt's private life. Then things turn nastier... On the other side of things, the book did have its bad points. All the characters are extremely stereotypically. Bunt is boring, predictable and is nothing outside of the worst ex-pat; his mother is a domineering archetype who flutters away on the horses and ignores the handover completely. Mr. Hung meanwhile, is a one-dimensional character. Theroux portrays him as a ruthless toll of the PLA, determined to eliminate anyone or thing that stands in the way of 'the great Chinese Takeaway'. Although these points are a downfall, they also somehow add to the book - it does point out that Hong Kong has been about one thing and one thing only: money. The Chinese are simply replacing the British, who always looked down at the people of Hong Kong who were the workers who made the island the economic power it is today. Kowloon Tong is a reasonable read, some of you may enjoy, and others may not. Theroux has often been labeled a racist and, although it is not obvious in this novel, he has defiantly not gone out to remove the suspicion. Some reviews I have read loathed this book and many of their criticisms are well based. Hmm..what can I say but check it out.

Amid the hoopla and (often forced) pagentry of the Hong Konghandover, Paul Theroux deserves some credit for this courageouscontemplation of the darker side of the historic change in rule. In this decided politically incorrect view of the handover, the British, particularly in the form of the very Thatcherlike character of Betty Mullard, are portrayed as bitterly turning their backs on the Hong Kong people. Worse still, Chinese officaldom is personified as a greedy, lecherous PLA thug. Such characterizations have earned Theroux the label of racist, but those accusations have to be put alongside the sight of Jiang Zemin and Li Peng, unelected leaders who ordered the tanks to roll in Tiananmen Square, accepting the mantle of Hong Kong sovereignty from the British.
It's clear from the start of the book that Theroux's story has a rather cynical point: That Hong Kong was little more than a commercial plaything for two governments, both with little regard for the people who live there. The novel presents the British as social elitists--looking down on the Chinese who really make Hong Kong the economic engine it is. The Communist Chinese, on the other hand, are political and economic elitists--coldly removing anyone or anything that stands in their path to power. Kowloon Tong is not a travelogue nor a story of personal journey. It's a commentary on the political attitudes that, if you watched the Handover ceremony, were all clearly on view. It is unfortunate that Theroux missed some of the factual and geographical detail that he is otherwise renowned for, because this dampens the affect of the novel. But for its sheer strength of conviction--that the Hong Kong people deserve better then they got from all parties--it deserves to be read.

I very much enjoyed "Kowloon Tong" but then I am a big fan of Paul Theroux's writing. This one of his better novels I think.

The characters in this novel are typical of Theroux, they are strong and evoke a strong reaction. The novel has been criticized for how it depicts the Chinese. Having visited Hong Kong a number of times and studied Mandarin in Bei Jing I found one side of the Chinese character well described and represented. I would say though that another side of the Chinese personality is perhaps not so well represented. Many of the Chinese people whom I know are also very warm and delightful people.

The British I don't now so well but they do seem to lend themselves to being made fun of. If you enjoyed this part of "Kowloon Tong" try Theroux's "Emerald Kingdom"!

The story in "Kowloon Tong" is exciting and difficult to put down. This is a novel well worth reading.

The above comment is true, the only reason I gave this book one star was because there was no other less star choices and that the cover art deserved some credit. The only reason I started reading this book was because of the cover art. The plot got far to complicated and the story basicly turned Hong Kong into some decaying coruped city, full of whores and night-clubs. That is not true. No wonder the tourism around here is failing! After this book, if I were an American or someone from another contry I would never come to Hong Kong!The characters weren't developed properly either and the whole book was a basic flop.

TWO STARS FOR A NICE TRY. THE BOOK READS MORE LIKE A SCREENPLAY (NO DOUBT THE AUTHOR ASPIRES TO BE A SCREENWRITER. AS A MOVIE, I WOULD LOOK FORWARD TO TWO SCENES: ONE IN WHICH THE HERO IS NAKED IN A BATH TUB FILLED WITH ICE AND TRADES HIS ROLEX AWAY. THE OTHER THE AGING DRAGON HEAD DEMONSTRATING HIS SEXUAL PROWESS. IT'S A REALLY THIN BOOK, BOTH PLOT AND PAGES. IF YOU WANT DIVERSION, GO FOR IT.

This book, although having some stereotypes, was very thrilling and from the beginning interested me until I had finished the whole thing. Having been to Hong Kong I don't think this book depicts the city as nothing but sleazy and crime infested, but instead shows a different side of what goes on in a very colorful, multicultural place with many kinds of people. If you have an open mind and you like to read about the dark side of things, you will enjoy this book.

Suzy's Hong-Kong only book was wonderful. It recommended specific shops, not just neighborhoods, for every type of good imaginable. It also gave fantastic hints like where not to bother looking if you wear a size on the upper end of the spectrum.

The new book including Shanghai and Beijing is next to worthless. All of the shop recommendations for HK have been ommited. Some of my favorites from "Born to Shop Hong Kong", like Gemsland in the Mandarin Hotel, deserve to be mentioned as providing amazing service, great quality and reasonable prices to every visitor planning on coming to HK.

I purchased the book in preparation for an upcoming trip to Shanghai. With the exception of the overview of the markets, very little else was of use. There are almost no local shop (non-department store) recommendations and suggestions for totally random (and useless?) things like wedding photos. In fact it only gives shopping suggestions for 9 categories- and included in that 9 are things like Drugstores. How are you going to Shop til You Drop in a drugstore?

Additionally, the index is horrible. There is a whole paragraph on the Hoabao Building in the Yu Gardens, but good luck finding any reference to it in the index. This is just one example, there are many more.

I was so disappointed in this book. Entirely way too much time spent on travel logistics. Anyone going to China is not going to purchase this book as their sole resource guide. Leave the logistics to those who do it best, and spend more time on where to shop!

The author hasn't a clue as to how to negotiate with the Chinese and does not give the correct warnings or prices. She is a "princess". I just returned from my 31st trip to China. There is almost no silk or original merchandise at the Silk Market. However, it is a lot of fun. There is not a shirt or blouse there that cannot be bought for 30 yuan ($3.60). North Face knockoffs can be bought for 130 yuan ($15.60) for their most expensive long jacket. Pearls at the Hong Qiao (Pearl) Market are of very low quality. Most strands cost about 100 yuan ($12). Learn the difference between salt water and fresh water pearls and how to tell the quality difference. Know how to tell if the pearls are fake before you go there. The fourth floor stores are just a different form of marketing pearls so don't be fooled by their nicer western look. Remember that only the store knows their price - and they will only sell to you if they can make a profit. Always walk away after making an what you may consider an absurd offer and after you let them know that you really want to buy the item. Make them make at least two offers before you make your absurd offer. There is not relationship between their initial offfer and what the item is worth. All this takes a lot of time so be prepared. Comparison shop before buying. All stores carry the same items.

I purchased Suzy's last edition on Hong Kong, to guide me around this great shopping city. It was very helpful. She tells you the places to forget, and the places not to be missed. When I heard that she was releasing a new edition with Shanghai & Beijing, I purchased it also, for an upcoming trip to Beijing. I was a little disapointed to find that she had trimmed alot off of the Hong Kong section to make room for the mainland cities. But it's still a must have if shopping is on your "to do" list. Suzy seemed to list all the things I wanted to buy on my trip, she does have impecable taste.

If you are planning to live in Hong Kong for the next three years do not count on this map guide to help you get around. It shows only very limited, touristy portions of the SAR. I deem it a total waste of money.

The actual map is incomplete and presented in awkward segments, so it's not really useful as a map.

Went to Hong Kong for the first time and wanted to do some background reading. If you're fairly familiar with world history and politics and some background on the fact that Hong Kong was a former British colony, I don't think this book offers any earthshattering insights. Furthermore, this book was poorly edited with grammar and punctuation errors.

If you're simply travelling for business, a good guide book will provide much of the same information. If you're trying to open a business or office, then you will likely need a more in-depth introduction than this book provides. In addition, the authors add several personal ancedotes, which I didn't find to be particularly insightful or instructive.

The bottom line is browse through this book in a bookstore first. I think you'll find that you can much of the same information by reading a good guide book or even talking to other colleagues who have travelled to Hong Kong.

The second chapter in this book produces an amazingly deep study of potential theoretical explanations (Marxist, feminist and her own hybrid) for the corporate cultures found in two southern Chinese factories. Lee explains that the factories, while owned by the same company, are microcosms of radically different cultures on and off the Chinese mainland.

While her theory is interesting and well studied, she hangs all of it on two small anecdotes; one story of life in each of the factories. While anecdotes reveal realities, I believe we would be hard pressed to think of a single phenomenon that did not occur somewhere in a nation of 1.3 billion people. It seems quite possible that she came up with her theory and then looked at a few of the thousands of factories in southern China until she found some that displayed what she wanted. She simply does not enough people to make me believe that she it really seeing a difference that generalizable or important. She may understand these two factories well, but to make a book like this worthwhile, I'd like it to offer understanding of a larger subculture than that.