Two Sides of a Lie

by Elaine Chan

This story is inspired by real events. It was a chilly September evening when the body of a young pro-democracy protester surfaced in Hong Kong’s eastern Yau Tong Bay. The local police quickly concluded his death as accidental drowning but fellow protesters believe it was part of a dark ploy by the authorities to quash the political movement. James Lai, the Han Herald’s senior reporter, is assigned to investigate the mysterious death. Unbeknownst to him, the assignment is a front created by his editors to shift the narrative against leaders in Beijing, unnerved by the intensified public opinion. As he digs deeper, he finds himself coming to close brush with the forces of a power struggle among the Party’s top brass. His pursuit of the truth challenges his personal and professional integrity at every step of the way. Faced with a politically-pressured media environment in Hong Kong and the Herald newsroom that has declined from a once globally respected publication to a propaganda mouthpiece, James can only trust his own journalistic beliefs and dogged reporting to piece together the mystery and bring the story to life. Nonetheless, the answers he uncovers of the conspiracy are more sinister than he could have imagined.

264 pages, Paperback

Published August 23, 2021

Reviews

[Wu Ming · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is set behind the scenes of a newsroom under a context of the Hong Kong issue. As the story unfolds, the pace is well controlled through an interesting blend of office politics. Office politics is everywhere and in the realm of a newspaper organisation, the spark is even blasting, the news direction may cave in to the Government but contradicts a journalist’s ideology. Good journalists who play inside the game had known well enough, the rule of game is to be manipulated like puppets on strings, theories are utopian, but the job is to take order. Regrettably many good minds may not be able to stay, others strive to climb up the organisational ladder, but only a few who are willing to be totally manipulated will “lead”.

James is in a role in which he struggles between company’s direction and his own ideology. The mental wrestling is uneasy, which challenges his moral decisions, as he unfolds more, he finds the conspiracy behind is beyond his imagination.

I believe the authors well summarised their values in a quote “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” Dante Alighieri.

Therefore, we need to read this book.

[Hyeyeongie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like watching journalism Hong Kong/ Kdrama with political corruption 🤭

If you’re a fan of this genre (no romance btw) this book is for you

*I hope to deliver a decent review without sounding bias or taking sides iykwim

This book is divided into 2 parts; the first one feels like reading non-fiction because authors introduced each character with their background stories and relate to many 🇨🇳 🇭🇰 conflicts/ events hence it feels like reading non fiction. Some events mentioned are
-Chinese Civil War, Great Leap Forward, Umbrella Revolution, Tiananmen Square Protest and so on

I had to stop at few pages just to check the fact again 😂 just like the blurb says, this book is based on true story

As I moved on to the 2nd part, the story became more interesting as we’ve been briefed on the characters and related conflicts so it makes more sense reading it

You know you watched so many kdramas that the scenes are playing in your head 😂 although in this book, the scenes are delivered in a much calmer manner (I’m guessing the authors themselves are true journalists hence why)

To be honest, there’s not much flaw I could pinpoint since this book is based on true story. The life of the main character is not much revealed here, the story focuses only on the case and the events connected to it. Only the timeline is a bit confusing to me as the narration keeps looking back into the past, stating so many facts, thus I tend to forget which scene I’m at. It might be better if the chapters are titled with months too ✌️

Overall, this is a great book to get yourself exposed to the two countries. It won’t be long until 2047 where “One Country Two Systems” will be uplifted so I’m hoping for the best between them

Thank you for sending this review copy @putrifariza & @timesreads 💕

[Rudbeckia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed like a spy movie :)

[桑子かつ代 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring and interesting.