Creative Truths in Provincial Policing

by Paula Lichtarowicz

It doesn’t take much to tip the world into chaos. You don’t even have to mean to do it. You might be an honest family man; a police chief in a small town in Central Vietnam, say, with no desire whatsoever to unleash catastrophe. A man such as Chief Duong, with simple dreams of domestic happiness and future immortality by means of a small statue on a roundabout.

But the problem with dreams is it’s often hard to look ahead. To see that borrowing money for your daughter’s marriage to a local bigwig will lead to the kidnap of a footballer from Scunthorpe, the downfall of a global soft drinks empire, incidents of attempted matricide, public murder, re-arranged marriage, hypnotic malpractice, and one unfortunate act of geriatric perversion. And that’s not to mention what happens to the town’s monkeys.

Because every action has a consequence.

And were she asked Mrs Duong could consult her astrological charts and tell her husband exactly that.

But it’s not just the chief who needs telling. There’s roving British blogger, J C Bone, with an illegal marriage contract on his hands, and Global Human Resource Manager, Sherry-Sioux with a celebrity surveillance programme to keep under wraps. There’s a chief superintendent with lucrative investment plans and a physician with trail-blazing psychological ambitions. And then there’s Chief Duong’s freedom-fighting children.

You see the biggest problem with chaos is that once it’s unleashed, everyone’s involved.

And once everyone’s involved, how on earth is one little police chief ever going to put things right?

Genres: Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2015

About the author

Paula Lichtarowicz was born in Cheshire and studied English literature at Durham University and psychology at the University of London. When not writing, she makes television documentaries. She lives in London. THE FIRST BOOK OF CALAMITY LEEK is her debut.

Reviews

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of humour and very well written indeed. Tempted by the 4 star rating as the footballer plot jarred slightly - struggled with the idea of a Scunthorpe player as international star and some of the phrasing such as shortening Leyton Orient to Leyton, "unblemished league penalty record" (?) suggested a lack of knowledge which made me question the authenticity of other elements. In the end, I decided these were minor details compared with the enjoyment I derived from the first book I'd read in months. Would really recommend this.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent farce set in a small town in Vietnam. Many disparate strands of plot are juggled and the outcome knits them all together nicely. Recommended. Plus I'm always a sucker for hard-living monkeys.

[The Angry Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video review can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6bGM...

[Ana Menendez-tuckman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a crazy, fast-paced amusing book! Lots of black humor, farces, wild characters and absurd situations (even talking monkeys!). Marx Brothers meet Dr. Siri.

[Kenneth]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14686146