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Summary
Summary
A Chinese national working for an American-owned construction company is grabbed off a Shanghai street in broad daylight, and his one-man security detail goes missing. With private investigation illegal in China, Rutherford Risk, a firm specializing in the recovery of hostages, hires two unique outsiders to do their bidding: forensic accountant Grace Chu to follow the money; and John Knox, a civilian with unparalleled training in both combat and culture.
Author Notes
Ridley Pearson was born in Glen Cove, New York on March 13, 1953. He was educated at Kansas University and Brown University. In the early 1970s, he was a musician and songwriter for a rock band, eventually writing more than 300 songs and the score for an award-winning documentary.
Having honed his craft writing scripts for television shows such as Columbo and Quincy, he turned to writing and published his first novel, Never Look Back, in 1985. His novels include The Angel Maker, No Witnesses, and Beyond Recognition. He has also published many children's books including The Kingdom Keepers series and a series of prequels to Peter Pan written with Dave Barry. His book Peter and the Starcatchers, written with Dave Barry, was adapted into a Broadway play that won 5 Tony Awards. He received the Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship at Oxford University in 1990 and the Missouri Writer Hall of Fame Quill Award Winner in 2013.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
As one of the two leads of this contemporary suspense novel set in China is female forensic accountant (and, conveniently, former Chinese intelligence agent) Grace Chu, narrator Todd Haberkorn must create a compelling and believable woman's voice. Fortunately, he does, which removes any barrier to an effective rendering of the first book, about efforts to rescue an employee of an American company snatched in China, in a promising new series from Pearson. The other protagonist, John Knox-an importer with security training based in Shanghai-who's introduced somewhat the worse for wear after more than a week in the jungles of Cambodia, could come across as a cliche, the typical macho action hero, but Haberkorn helps to make him more than that, injecting an undertone of wry gallows humor to his performance. A Putnam hardcover. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
If you have the right incentives, dollars in the billions can be made in Shanghai, where capitalism wrestles with communism. So says Pearson (In Harm's Way, 2010, etc.) in this first in a new series of thrillers. Of course, "incentives" means bribery and overpayment. And that means more business for Rutherford Risk, specializing in corporate security. Now Rutherford has only days to free Lu Hao and Clete Danner, an American who had been surveilling Lu for Rutherford. The ransom is meager, but stakes are high. Lu delivered and accounted for incentives paid by The Bethold Group, an American company building Shanghai's Xuan Tower, the world's tallest building. Suspects are plentiful, especially considering entrepreneurs like Yang Cheng were resentful of the American company's success. With private investigation illegal in China, Rutherford reaches out for John Knox, an import/exporter with a long history as a military contractor, and Grace Chu, an American-educated, Chinese army intelligence veteran who's currently a Hong Kong forensic accountant. With subplots involving Grace's muddied love affair with Lu's brother, Knox's need to protect his brother and partner, Tommy, who is autistic, and Danner's shadowy connections, Pearson's narrative grabs readers and rockets through hundreds of pages of nonstop action laced by violence, double-dealing and shady characters. First, there are the Mongolians, exiles working for a chimerical Bejing bigwig. There's Shen Deshi, an inspector for the People's Armed Police, "the Gestapo of China." Most mysterious is mainland China itself, "an anything-goes market economy layered over a police state." Knox knows China, but he's a waiguoren (foreigner), never to be completely familiar with "the complexities of the interwoven social and professional etiquette involving the Chinese." And then there is guanxi (connections), and that untranslatable matter of "face." A cunning thriller worthy of the promised series, especially if the fascinating Grace Chu reappears regularly. Exotic locale. Credible heroics. Vicarious thrills. Fans will want more, and soon.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Pearson, author of the Sheriff Walt Fleming series set in Sun Valley, Idaho, trades snowy slopes for the teeming streets of Shanghai in this first entry in a new international series. When the Chinese employee of an American construction company is snatched in the middle of the day in downtown Shanghai, the security firm of Rutherford Risk enlists two top-notch operatives to locate the hostage and negotiate his release. Forensic accountant Grace Cu is a cool, whip-smart beauty trained in the Chinese military. John Knox is a combat veteran with focus and ferocity in equal measure. The pair must contend with a slew of shady characters: thugs, spies, and wily executives with greed and ambition to burn. Pearson renders steady suspense and a vibrant portrait of a city that blends history, mystery, and a remarkably resilient citizenry. Shortly after a tsunami-like storm rages through Shanghai, writes Pearson, the city sprang back to life as if nothing had happened. . . . It was like kicking an anthill, only to see the ants back to work minutes later rebuilding the hill. --Block, Allison Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Rich with the atmosphere of Shanghai, where best-selling author Pearson (In Harms Way) lived with his family during 2008-09, and filled with breathtaking suspense, this international thriller series opener begins with the disappearance of Lu Hao-along with his financial records of bribes he'd been paying out for a U.S. construction company operating in Shanghai. The woman who helped him get the job, Grace Chu, who was educated in America and also has military training, currently contracts out as a forensic accountant for an international security firm. Because of her connections and involvement, Grace is given the task of finding Lu and his missing records. John Knox, an import/export entrepreneur with friends in the same security company, is recruited as a Shanghai insider to deliver the ransom and/or extract the hostage. It complicates matters that private investigations are illegal in today's China, so they must work outside the police. VERDICT Famous for his plotting and attention to details, Pearson is off to a great start with his compelling and multilayered new protagonists. His many fans as well as readers who love international thrillers won't be disappointed. Buy multiple copies. [See Prepub Alert, 12/5/11.]-Vicki L. Gregory, Sch. of Information, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.