The Pool of Unease

Robin Ballantyne #3

by Catherine Sampson

The scream female, high-pitched, terrified, breathless, a wordless, formless, plea for mercy arrived from silence and was cut off, abruptly strangled, leaving a gurgling echo in its airy wake . . . Robin Ballantyne is investigating the murder of a British man in Beijing. But in a city thick with paranoia and corruption, she struggles to separate rumour from reality. Meanwhile, late one freezing night, Chinese private detective Song rescues a young boy from a fire on a building site. With witnesses appearing from the murky surrounds, bloody clothes on the ground but no body, and flames blazing around him, Song panics and flees through the woods still clutching the boy. From the smog of the capital to the poverty-stricken countryside, and from the mansions of millionaires to a disused quarry where the children of scavengers root among the rubbish, Song and Robin must unravel the truth behind the murders before they find themselves silenced and before the killer can make another sinister move . . .

Genres: Crime, China

Mass Market Paperback

First published August 3, 2007

Reviews

[R.J. Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I'm not going for five stars because I found a little too much explanation towards the end instead of the whole thing just unfolding. Nevertheless, a very good read. I don't know China as well as the author does, but I know it well enough to know that she has got it right -- the pollution, the paranoia, the food, the state of the built environment in places where tourists aren't expected to go. And, of course, the corruption and the abuse of power. Through all this, the action takes place through characters we can believe in and care about. Four stars.

[Olga Hammock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book interested me less for the crime than its depiction of Beijing and the differences in western and Chinese culture. Ballentyne is a naive journalist, putting her Chinese colleagues in danger through her lack of understanding of life in Beijing. Nevertheless, I liked the juxtaposition of her phone calls home to find out how her twins are doing and the seriousness and danger of what she uncovers in Beijing. The plot is quite well developed but the quality is in the setting and culture examined.

[Debs · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow. I have to say that I Really Liked this book. at first I feared it would be amateur-ish because I couldn't find many proper reviews. then I got caught up in the story and I was hooked. I just came back from china fascinated by the country. so I am on a china reading marathon. I have not been to Beijing but I can imagine these vignettes to be fairly accurate. If you want a good read or an insight into life in China, read this book! !