Product Description

The second Detective Inspector Chen novel (after Snake Agent) returns us to Singapore Three. A mysterious murder sends Chen and his demonic partner Zhu Irzh on the trail of a conspiracy between hell and one of the heavenly hosts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #883853 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 242 pages

Customer Reviews

good exotic novel - but muddled and not a patch on the first
With the first book in the inspector Chen series, Liz Williams introduced a clever, thought out world of oriental occult police work, and the book was a real gem.
however, book 2 in this series, The Demon and the City, is not a patch on that first novel.
yes its written well, interesting prose, lots of nice ideas and the oriental world and main characters are great.
but there have been some changes that really detracted from the things i loved about the first one. Firstly 'Inspector Chen' himself is absent from more than half the novel, replaced by the bubbling Zhu Irzh (who is fine as a character but not as great) and with him disappears the police procedural element of the story for that half. What follows is a muddled adventure story, set mildly within the boundaries of police work.
the plot is also extremely convoluted, random events, non explained characters and happenings make it a struggle to understand and chapters are spent explaining what happened last chapter - very dull.
Williams has also introduced a larger cast - at least 4 new characters - to begin with these are interesting (you assume they are a part of the investigation) but they soon seem to be more important than that - but no more compelling. They have nothing to do with Chen. One wonders why they replaced Chen to no effect - when i pined for Chen to come back. it seems from the ending that most of these characters are back in the next installment - which is a real shame - its not really the Chen novels anymore. Bring back the police work, bring back the plot, the interest.
in short, a muddled convoluted plot that races to a disastrous somewhat pointless finale, a collection of new and dull characters and little to no Chen! it is nicely done and written well. i just hope what i loved from Snake Agent is back in Precious Dragon.
7/10
(Snake Agent got a 10)

A fascinating world
I have read other books by this author and I felt they were sometimes very good, other times they just missed the mark, but I felt she could possibly bring it together if she found the right focus. With this series I think she has well and truely hit the spot. I found the whole world she has created completely fascinating, the detail is excellent and I found it all believable in the way that some worlds are not. The story moves along and with interlocking twists and turns that come partially from the detective story and the strange environment. It all makes an excellent read. I have now read two of this series and the third one sits in my 'next to read' pile.

Devilishly good
I loved this book as it explores more of Singapore 3's links to Heaven and Hell. Zhu Irzh is a fascinating character and the fairly convoluted plot rushes on at a great pace.
An excellent installment in the Detective Chen series.