Tangled Web UK Review September 2008
Death of a Blue Lantern by
Christopher West
pbk out May 08
(Allison Busby)
at £6.99
This book is the first of Christopher West’s China Quartet, featuring Wang Anzhuang (or ‘Anjuang Wang’ as he would be called in English), a former soldier turned inspector in the Beijing CID. It was initially published in 1994 and this is the third reprint. Mr West wisely provides a brief pronunciation guide and a list of dramatis personae as a reference, as well as a glossary - all of which help readers deal with the tongue-twisting names which might otherwise prevent them from getting to grips with the characters and understanding the plot. The vast difference in culture between the eastern setting and the western audience at which the novel is aimed is both a strength and a weakness, but the main obstacle the author must negotiate is 1990s China itself.
Despite the fact that European and American liberal democracies have always maintained strong commercial ties with China - it appears there is simply too much money to be made to let ideology interfere with the free market – most readers will be aware that China was, and still is, a totalitarian police state. Having a protagonist in the Chinese police is therefore much the same as having one in the police of 1930s Germany, or the 1950s USSR, and he or she is unlikely to be regarded with anything other than distaste. A great deal of skill is thus required by the author if readers are to empathise, and successful examples are fairly few. James McClure’s Kramer and Zondi in Apartheid-era South Africa, and Josef Skvorecky’s Lieutenant Boruvka in Soviet Czechoslovakia, are perhaps the most accomplished. Mr West attempts to address this issue in a rather clumsy flashback to Wang’s minor role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, but is not entirely convincing.
The story begins well, with Wang discovering a man stabbed to death at the opera. While the ethos of the Beijing police frowns upon any individual achievement in the force, he is allowed to work apart from the rest of the Number 6 Investigation Team due to his early involvement in the case. Despite being assigned the none-too-adept Constable Lu as an assistant, Wang’s inquiries quickly reveal that the deceased was a Blue Lantern, a new recruit to the Yi Guan Dao Triad. The investigation is complicated by the police hierarchy’s reluctance to admit that the Triads are still a powerful force in Beijing, and Wang’s discovery that the police expert on this particular Triad has recently died of a heart attack
The plot unravels in typical police procedural fashion and provides an entertaining - if not thrilling - insight into Chinese culture and policing. The current international focus on Beijing and China is likely to ensure the novel reaches a wide audience in Britain and America, and the number of times it has already been reprinted indicate a solid seller. The Blue Lantern is certainly original in its setting and characterisation, and it will be interesting to see whether Allison & Busby reprint the second Inspector Wang, Death on Black Dragon River.
(
Rafe McGregor
Rafe's own site - www.rafemcgregor.co.uk)
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