Across The Border

by Mark Morey

The stark realism of Across the Border sets it apart from any crime story I've ever read. Definitely a must-read. Ann Reed – author.

Across the Border is fascinating, no question, using well-developed and interesting characters in an exotic setting, with a surprising but also satisfying outcome. Surely one of the great crime fiction stories of all time. Kate Baldwin – author.

Like its predecessor Ice, Across the Border is a crime story like no other. Highly recommended! – Michael Garrick, author


Detective-Sergeant Shui Nuan goes undercover in the nightclubs of her home city, Guangzhou China, to be recruited by triad gangs manufacturing the drug methamphetamine or ice. Only Nuan doesn't realise her taskforce is infiltrated by the gang she's investigating.

Ma Thi Mai is a young Vietnamese girl abducted into China, first into a fake marriage before being swallowed by organised crime in Guangzhou. Mai despairs of her future as much as Nuan is unaware of the danger she's in.

Police investigations never travel in straight lines, especially when an undercover operation turns deadly and a teenage girl is trafficked across the border.

332 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 11, 2020

About the author

Writing a novel didn’t cross my mind until after a visit to the local library where I couldn’t find a book that interested me. That led me consider a new pastime - write a book. That book may never be published, but I felt my follow-up cross-cultural romance-crime hybrid set in Russia had more potential. So much so that I wrote a sequel that took those characters on a journey to a very dark place.

The opening of the Red Sun Will Come came to me in a dream, and to this day I have no idea why Moscow. I had never been there before, but during the course of developing this novel we did visit Russia, and my wife and I both fell in love with Moscow. It is a world city: exciting, dynamic, visually beautiful and more What better setting for a romance with many difficulties?

Beyond part-time work and part-time writing I particularly enjoy travel.

But writing is my favourite pastime and I have many more tales that I would like to tell. Keep in touch to see where my next journey will take you.

Reviews

[Iva Kenaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Across the Border has so much tension mainly because the characters are very likable and get into awful situations, which we need to see them overcome. The novel is about two separate women, a Vietnamese girl called Mai, who was tricked and sold for marriage to China, and a female detective called Nuan. While Mai is treated terribly by her “husband” and his family, Nuan has to go really far to accomplish her mission, but is an epitome of a bad-ass heroine. I found their stories so intense and entertaining that the novel kept me on my toes, worrying for the two women, and just hoping for them to be okay. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, interestingly written thriller that will keep you reading until the last page, then this is definitely a book not to miss.

[C.A. King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say this is an interesting read about international crime - especially sex slaves and trafficking. It does deal with some sensitive material, including rape and prostitution, but if you have no triggers it's worth picking up!

[K.J. Simmill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sixteen year old Mei was thrilled to have met Long. They connected instantly. She had always hoped to find someone she could be with, someone who could make her happy. But little did she know he wasn't who he said he was. Torn from her home and sold as a wife Mei is learning the harsh truth of the world. Isolated in a country where no one speaks her language she is forced to serve, and slave away under the hateful eyes of her new mother in law. Until she is thrust into further danger and she gets drawn unto the world of organised crime. Meanwhile detective-sergeant Nuam is undercover, investigating the local drug triad and in more danger than she could possibly fathom.

Across the border is a fast paced, gritty crime thriller delving into the world of six trafficking and organised crime. I enjoyed how the author gives the reader a real feel for the culture, settings and environment while spinning a harrowing tale of a young girl's spiral into the world of organised crime, while presenting an alternative angle from the police's undercover investigation side. Great settings and intense as you follow the story from the perspective of several key players.

[Kate Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A police officer working deep undercover to cultivate criminals as colleagues and then friends gives Across the Border an air of realism quite different to most crime stories I have read, as does the zig-zaged investigation and servings of good and bad luck. Across the Border is fascinating, no question, using well-developed and interesting characters in an exotic setting, with a surprising but also satisfying outcome. Surely one of the great crime fiction stories of all time.

[Ann Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the literary world needs are crime stories that are different, and Across the Border is very much that. What starts as an investigation into triad gangs manufacturing the drug methamphetamine or ice becomes a difficult undercover operation using modern policing techniques that are real and believable. Yet the end result of this police investigation isn't what police were aiming for, with two cases run in parallel and eventually a different but worthy outcome. The stark realism of Across the Border sets it apart from any crime story I've ever read. Definitely a must-read.

[Allan Challis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Across The Border is an extension of Mark Morey's previous novel Ice, but written to be stand-alone. Now a veteran of her first case as a young detective-sergeant, Shui Nuan goes undercover in a sequence like nothing I've ever read before but absolutely believable. While undercover Nuan discovers another and more disturbing crime which takes her attention. The policing techniques used, the odd loops in the quest to bring criminals to justice, and taking advantages of leads discovered by accident, all make Across the Border a unique crime fiction novel. I can't recommend Across The Border highly enough.

[Diana Febry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast-paced follow up to Ice. Nuan goes undercover in the hope of infiltrating the drug industry and find information about the people higher up the supply chain. In that role, she uncovers a sex trafficking trade where young women are being smuggled to Vietnam. Her precarious position is further endangered by the blackmail of a colleague for up to date inside information.
Recommend to crime thriller readers especially if they like them set in different locations.

[Charissa Dufour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't keep up with the novel, but like in a good way. It was just go go go from page one to the end. The characters were well rounded which made me care about the outcome. Great writing.

[Kat Drennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morey does a good job of writing about a tough subject without getting too graphic. Told through the eyes of several characters, the story exposes the fallacy in China's social norms which discriminate against female births. I hadn't really thought about the repercussions of such policy until reading this work. The story follows a main character female police officer up the ranks as she examines her country's policy and how it affects young women in both China and Viet Nam. I was particularly invested in the story of one sex slave in the beginning but disappointed after she was rescued that we no longer had her story and the last half of the book was mostly police procedural and though interesting, became a bit wrote.