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Yellowthread Street #8
War Machine
A terrorist has declared war on Hong Kong. It starts with mysterious gunfire in the harbour. Then come the bombs, snipers and an ominous telephone warning. A Japanese man with an antiquated accent proclaims a “divine mission to eradicate all the uniformed forces of colonial depression”. The enemy is hidden deep, and nobody knows where to start looking. Time for detectives Christopher O’Yee and Harry Feiffer to get to work. The crime fighting duo have solved some of the most bizarre cases imaginable. This one will test them like never before. The eighth book in William Marshall’s classic series sees the colourful cops of Yellowthread Street in their most explosively violent story yet. Join Christopher O’Yee and Harry Feiffer on a labyrinthine journey into the darkest recesses of Hong Kong past. Prepare for painful memories, surreal humour, fast-paced dialogue and streetwise action.
Praise for the Yellowthread Street “Marshall has the rare gift of juggling scary suspense and wild humor and making them both work.” Washington Post Book World “Marshall’s style – blending the hilarious, the surreal, and the poignant – remains inimitable and not easily resisted.” San Francisco Chronicle “Marshall has few peers as an author who melds the wildest comedy and tragedy in narratives of nonstop action.” Publishers Weekly “Marshall is building a growing, iconoclastic body of work that mixes weird fantasy [and] wayward characterization . . . to produce a subtle, charged, atmospheric, lush fiction hybrid sure to satisfy those with a taste for mysteries on the far edges.” Philadelphia Inquirer “Despite the wild humor, Marshall’s stories contain excellent police procedure, real suspense, and fine irony . . . incessantly scary.” Chicago Tribune “Among the best police procedural series on the market.” Detroit Free Press “As an inspired poet of the bizarre, [Marshall] orchestrates underlying insanity into an apocalyptic vision of the future.” New York Times Book Review “Marshall’s novels feature seemingly supernatural events that turn out to have logical, if not precisely rational, origins. He has savage fun with police procedure.” TIME “Nobody rivals Marshall’s ability to expose the links between comic hysteria and the most mundane human foibles, from greed to cowardice to simple funk.” Kirkus Reviews “Moves at the speed of a bullet; don’t read it aloud or you’ll run out of breath.” Chicago Sun-Times
Praise for the Yellowthread Street “Marshall has the rare gift of juggling scary suspense and wild humor and making them both work.” Washington Post Book World “Marshall’s style – blending the hilarious, the surreal, and the poignant – remains inimitable and not easily resisted.” San Francisco Chronicle “Marshall has few peers as an author who melds the wildest comedy and tragedy in narratives of nonstop action.” Publishers Weekly “Marshall is building a growing, iconoclastic body of work that mixes weird fantasy [and] wayward characterization . . . to produce a subtle, charged, atmospheric, lush fiction hybrid sure to satisfy those with a taste for mysteries on the far edges.” Philadelphia Inquirer “Despite the wild humor, Marshall’s stories contain excellent police procedure, real suspense, and fine irony . . . incessantly scary.” Chicago Tribune “Among the best police procedural series on the market.” Detroit Free Press “As an inspired poet of the bizarre, [Marshall] orchestrates underlying insanity into an apocalyptic vision of the future.” New York Times Book Review “Marshall’s novels feature seemingly supernatural events that turn out to have logical, if not precisely rational, origins. He has savage fun with police procedure.” TIME “Nobody rivals Marshall’s ability to expose the links between comic hysteria and the most mundane human foibles, from greed to cowardice to simple funk.” Kirkus Reviews “Moves at the speed of a bullet; don’t read it aloud or you’ll run out of breath.” Chicago Sun-Times
- GenresMystery
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
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About the author
William Marshall
258 books29 followersWilliam Marshall (or William Leonard Marshall) (born 1944, Australia) is an Australian author, best known for his Hong Kong-based "Yellowthread Street" mystery novels, some of which were used as the basis for a British TV series.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 3, 2014
A deeply frustrating read. I persevered as I wanted to know the outcome - a predictable twist didn't fail to disappoint - but the odd half-sentence style prose fought against me all the way. Oddly can't be totally condemned - it paints quite an interesting picture of the Hong Kong of its day - but not really recommended.
July 10, 2016
The eighth Yellowthread Street mystery. Intricately written, with his characteristic stop-action style, and fewer coincidences than usual, this one is an interesting examination of perceptions of loyalty and betrayal.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews