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Enquête de l'avocat Hong #4
Black Holes
From the author of Hanging Devils, one of The Guardian's top ten Asian crime novels, comes the long-awaited follow-up.
When Xia Zhe, an ambitious trader at a state-owned securities company, is indicted for corporate fraud, lawyer Hong Jun takes on the case at the request of the young man's father. But as the trial date looms, it becomes clear that this case of avarice and ill-gotten gains is far from black and white.
Hong Jun discovers a web of family secrets and hidden motives leading back to the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution. What he doesn't count on is that, in dredging up these long-dormant histories, he must face the shadows of his own past to get to the truth.
When Xia Zhe, an ambitious trader at a state-owned securities company, is indicted for corporate fraud, lawyer Hong Jun takes on the case at the request of the young man's father. But as the trial date looms, it becomes clear that this case of avarice and ill-gotten gains is far from black and white.
Hong Jun discovers a web of family secrets and hidden motives leading back to the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution. What he doesn't count on is that, in dredging up these long-dormant histories, he must face the shadows of his own past to get to the truth.
- GenresMystery
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
3 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 28, 2020
When Xia Zhe, a young stock market trader, is detained by the police for fraud, his father Xia Dahu asks the criminal defence lawyer Hong Jun to help clear his name. However, when Hong Jun begins his investigation into the events that led up to Xia Zhe facing indictment for fraud, he not only runs into an old flame, a woman he has not seen since he was a law student in the United States, but he also encounters a complicated web of family secrets and hidden motives, the source of which stretch as far back as the turbulent and violent years of the Cultural Revolution.
Like Hanging Devils, the first book in his mystery series featuring Hong Jun, the author He Jiahong has set this novel in the mid-1990s, far enough in the past not to upset the modern Chinese censors. Apart from some discussion of the Cultural Revolution – a time even the present day Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not look back on with any fondness – He Jiahong also avoids any political discussion and any overt criticism of the CCP policy or cadre. And, for a defence lawyer in China, his protagonist Hong Jun somehow manages to have a respectful and positive relationship with the police, prosecutors and judges. All that being said, Black Holes is a very intricate and very enjoyable story – if, perhaps, a little slow-moving for some.
The author, He Jiahong, is a professor at the School of Law, Renmin University, in Beijing, and specialises in the law in regard to the gathering of evidence and researches wrongful convictions. This is reflected in his protagonist Hong Jun’s approach to his investigation in the novel, his appreciation for the power of evidence, as well as his sharp eye for detail. However, unlike Hanging Devils, I found this novel to be a slower read: not difficult, just slower, as if I wasn’t getting entirely drawn into the story. This could be the fault of the translator; or, as I think more likely, it is because the novel does not progress according just to Hong Jun’s point of view. The novel moves not just slowly but also back and forth in time, and gives ample time to each of the major characters as the complex web of connections between them is slowly revealed.
This novel then is not an exciting pursuit for the truth by our noble and idealistic lawyer, but rather a character study, of lives caught up in the dark gravitational wells of events beyond their control – the ‘black holes’ of the title. Though not referred to in the novel, I also got the sense that these ‘black holes’ might also refer to the moral emptiness of most of the characters; not evil, just a lack of any real goodness more often than not due to the damage done to them by their life experience, their forced ‘eating of bitterness’. I get the sense that He Jiahong is not a believer in evil – just in broken hearts and disturbed minds. There is a gentleness and calm understanding that pervades this novel – sadness too. As in the novel Hanging Devils, Black Holes is enlivened by the witty and flirtatious interchanges between Hong Jun and his precocious secretary Song Jia – but probably not enlivened enough for most.
So, if you are looking for an exciting mystery this novel is probably not for you. However, if you are looking for a slightly sad, slow-burning, intricately plotted, but gently written, character study set in China and featuring a personable defence lawyer and his lively secretary then give this a go.
Like Hanging Devils, the first book in his mystery series featuring Hong Jun, the author He Jiahong has set this novel in the mid-1990s, far enough in the past not to upset the modern Chinese censors. Apart from some discussion of the Cultural Revolution – a time even the present day Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not look back on with any fondness – He Jiahong also avoids any political discussion and any overt criticism of the CCP policy or cadre. And, for a defence lawyer in China, his protagonist Hong Jun somehow manages to have a respectful and positive relationship with the police, prosecutors and judges. All that being said, Black Holes is a very intricate and very enjoyable story – if, perhaps, a little slow-moving for some.
The author, He Jiahong, is a professor at the School of Law, Renmin University, in Beijing, and specialises in the law in regard to the gathering of evidence and researches wrongful convictions. This is reflected in his protagonist Hong Jun’s approach to his investigation in the novel, his appreciation for the power of evidence, as well as his sharp eye for detail. However, unlike Hanging Devils, I found this novel to be a slower read: not difficult, just slower, as if I wasn’t getting entirely drawn into the story. This could be the fault of the translator; or, as I think more likely, it is because the novel does not progress according just to Hong Jun’s point of view. The novel moves not just slowly but also back and forth in time, and gives ample time to each of the major characters as the complex web of connections between them is slowly revealed.
This novel then is not an exciting pursuit for the truth by our noble and idealistic lawyer, but rather a character study, of lives caught up in the dark gravitational wells of events beyond their control – the ‘black holes’ of the title. Though not referred to in the novel, I also got the sense that these ‘black holes’ might also refer to the moral emptiness of most of the characters; not evil, just a lack of any real goodness more often than not due to the damage done to them by their life experience, their forced ‘eating of bitterness’. I get the sense that He Jiahong is not a believer in evil – just in broken hearts and disturbed minds. There is a gentleness and calm understanding that pervades this novel – sadness too. As in the novel Hanging Devils, Black Holes is enlivened by the witty and flirtatious interchanges between Hong Jun and his precocious secretary Song Jia – but probably not enlivened enough for most.
So, if you are looking for an exciting mystery this novel is probably not for you. However, if you are looking for a slightly sad, slow-burning, intricately plotted, but gently written, character study set in China and featuring a personable defence lawyer and his lively secretary then give this a go.
August 18, 2019
Review from Asia Thrills - https://asiathrills.com/black-holes-b...
During the 1980s, when I was living in Tokyo, I switched from journalism to a job with a British merchant bank. But my heart was still in writing, and I eventually completed a book on the Japanese stock market.
It was conservatively written, intended as a basic introduction for Westerners. But unwisely my publisher titled it “Making Money in Japanese Stocks,” and with adroit timing it appeared in 1989, right before the bursting of the great Japanese financial bubble, which sent shares plunging.
At the end of the book I added a chapter on other Asian stock markets, including some words on China, where a small stock exchange had been opened, in Shanghai. In what were the final words in the book, I wrote: “Foreigners are not allowed to buy. It looks to be some time before global fund managers will be flocking to Shanghai.”
I could not have been more wrong. In just the following year, 1990, the Shanghai Stock Exchange restructured itself, and foreigners gained limited access. It is today one of the world’s largest stock markets, and fund managers are flocking there.
The pace of change in China over the past thirty or forty years has been dizzying. Surely no major country in world history has transformed itself so fast. It is this transformation that forms the backdrop to He Jiahong’s novels, and makes them so absorbing.
City versus country, rich versus poor, new rich versus old rich, ancient tradition versus Western modernization, government versus the people, the desire to accumulate wealth, the struggle to uphold the rule of law within an authoritarian legal system – all these and more are themes in He’s books.
“Black Holes” is no exception. It is set in the world of finance. Xia Zhe is a young man playing the stock market, hoping to become rich. Unfortunately, much of his trading is being done on borrowed money.
So when something goes disastrously wrong he is in trouble. He tries to dump some shares that are falling, but by mistake a Buy order, instead of Sell, is submitted. He has unknowingly just bought more shares in a stock that is crashing, and he can’t pay. It seems that somehow he has been set up, and he is arrested for fraud.
So once again we are introduced to idealistic criminal lawyer Hong Jun, whom we met in He’s first novel, “Hanging Devils.” Hong starts working to help Xia.
It is a somewhat complex case, and the plot becomes a little jumpy at times. I enjoyed “Hanging Devils” more. But “Black Holes” is still a solid read, very well translated, and highly recommended, especially for its penetrating picture of modern China.
During the 1980s, when I was living in Tokyo, I switched from journalism to a job with a British merchant bank. But my heart was still in writing, and I eventually completed a book on the Japanese stock market.
It was conservatively written, intended as a basic introduction for Westerners. But unwisely my publisher titled it “Making Money in Japanese Stocks,” and with adroit timing it appeared in 1989, right before the bursting of the great Japanese financial bubble, which sent shares plunging.
At the end of the book I added a chapter on other Asian stock markets, including some words on China, where a small stock exchange had been opened, in Shanghai. In what were the final words in the book, I wrote: “Foreigners are not allowed to buy. It looks to be some time before global fund managers will be flocking to Shanghai.”
I could not have been more wrong. In just the following year, 1990, the Shanghai Stock Exchange restructured itself, and foreigners gained limited access. It is today one of the world’s largest stock markets, and fund managers are flocking there.
The pace of change in China over the past thirty or forty years has been dizzying. Surely no major country in world history has transformed itself so fast. It is this transformation that forms the backdrop to He Jiahong’s novels, and makes them so absorbing.
City versus country, rich versus poor, new rich versus old rich, ancient tradition versus Western modernization, government versus the people, the desire to accumulate wealth, the struggle to uphold the rule of law within an authoritarian legal system – all these and more are themes in He’s books.
“Black Holes” is no exception. It is set in the world of finance. Xia Zhe is a young man playing the stock market, hoping to become rich. Unfortunately, much of his trading is being done on borrowed money.
So when something goes disastrously wrong he is in trouble. He tries to dump some shares that are falling, but by mistake a Buy order, instead of Sell, is submitted. He has unknowingly just bought more shares in a stock that is crashing, and he can’t pay. It seems that somehow he has been set up, and he is arrested for fraud.
So once again we are introduced to idealistic criminal lawyer Hong Jun, whom we met in He’s first novel, “Hanging Devils.” Hong starts working to help Xia.
It is a somewhat complex case, and the plot becomes a little jumpy at times. I enjoyed “Hanging Devils” more. But “Black Holes” is still a solid read, very well translated, and highly recommended, especially for its penetrating picture of modern China.
January 31, 2016
Perhaps a bit too slow and repetitive for Western standards, too much back story, but an interesting insight into China as it moves forward and deals with its past.
September 30, 2018
Actually I bought this book because I am learning Chinese(!) and had managed to get through the original Chinese version after many months, so I wanted to check my understanding.
I was horrified! This is not a translation, it is a rewrite; and a very poor one at that.
The 'translator' has taken enormous liberties, omitting passages and adding content herself, some of it crass and badly written.
The book content and chapters are mixed up, the feel of book has changed and some of the suspense of the original has been lost.
Maybe the butchery is because the translator didn't understand some of the original, or she thought that English readers would not be able to cope with the rather better style of the original Chinese. Or she thought things needed more explanation....
Very disappointed and I am rather angry. I wonder whether the author realised what has been done to his opus.
I was horrified! This is not a translation, it is a rewrite; and a very poor one at that.
The 'translator' has taken enormous liberties, omitting passages and adding content herself, some of it crass and badly written.
The book content and chapters are mixed up, the feel of book has changed and some of the suspense of the original has been lost.
Maybe the butchery is because the translator didn't understand some of the original, or she thought that English readers would not be able to cope with the rather better style of the original Chinese. Or she thought things needed more explanation....
Very disappointed and I am rather angry. I wonder whether the author realised what has been done to his opus.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews