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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Trade relations between the U.S. and China might be tense right now, but when it comes to solving a double murder, things have never been better. In Lisa See's transpacific thriller, The Flower Net, Liu Hulan, an inspector for the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing teams up with her American counterpart and former lover, David Stark, to get to the bottom of two unusual deaths. The American ambassador's son has been found frozen in a lake just outside the Forbidden City; meanwhile, the corpse of a prominent Chinese businessman's son is found floating in a boat off the California coast. It's up to Hulan and David to unravel the tangled skein of circumstance that connects the two murders. Though David Stark may come off a tad stereotypical, Liu Hulan is a fascinating character--a woman who embodies both East and West and who has learned to keep her thoughts to herself as she navigates the treacherous waters of Chinese politics. And See's evocation of Beijing, right down to its old neighbourhoods and the smell in the air, is an added delight, making The Flower Net an exotic distraction for a wintry afternoon.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Wonderfully well written book. Exciting, full of action and crime but with a background of chinese culture and history. Not just an interesting crime book but an insight into how varied different cultures can be.
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed this book so much so that I have bought the author's second novel "The Interior". Good plot, believable characters and plenty of insight into Chinese culture and customs. The fact that one main character is Chinese and the other is American seems to work, along with the story, which goes from one side of the world to the other with plenty of subtle hints showing the multitude of differences between the two cultures.
Anyone who likes books set in the Far East will enjoy this novel.
Anyone who likes books set in the Far East will enjoy this novel.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
36 reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Unusual setting and interesting heroine
20 April 2001
Format:Audio Cassette
Those who read mysteries by the dozen can get pretty bored with the same old settings, stereotypical investigators and cookie-cutter crooks. The main virtue of "The Flower Net" is a nice change of pace on all three counts. Despite the opening of China, it's still a pretty rare setting for fiction, mystery fiction in particular. Likewise, the featuring of a female Chinese investigator was refreshing in concept. Even better is that she's a nicely complicated yet empathetic protagonist. Her American counterpart, David, isn't nearly as interesting. While the villians aren't surprising in the long haul, they aren't just the usual Triad types either.
If the book has a weakness, it's the revived romance between Liu and David. It seemed irrelevant to be crime solving and not very interesting.
This review is based on the six-hour abridged tape version. I found that the plot followed pretty well. The narrator, an American-Chinese woman was a mixed blessing. Certainly there were aspects of the story where her underlying speach patterns were perfect but sometimes her tone was a bit awkward.
Bottom-line: A nice change of pace from mysteries set in the US or England. Not great literature but I learned some new things and like Liu enough to want to read a sequel.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Murder and mystery in China
27 May 2008
Format:Paperback
It's not often that a novel gives the reader an insight into a secretive foreign country, but this excellent book actually does that for China. In addition to the murders and the mysteries, there is a running font of information about life in China around 1996 or so. It is very instructive to a Westerner to learn how everyday life is regimented to an almost unreal degree, down to even folks whe can come into your home and check your refrigerator! The writing is first-rate, and the plot moves along quite well. The mystery remains so almost until the end, and it leaves the reader wanting more. Fortunately, the author has written two subsequent books in this series, and I look forward very much to reading them!
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Unique Thriller
13 Nov 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It took me FOREVER to get into Lisa See's book "Flower Net". It seems like the book just sat on my nightstand for 3 weeks with the bookmark protruding from the creases of Chapter One. And then when I actually made an effort to read the book, it was finished in a day.
Lisa See has succeeded in creating a unique and gripping thriller. When the son of a American Ambassador and the son of one of Beijing's political elite both turn up dead under mysterious circumstances, U.S. Attorney David Stark is reunited with an old flame, Liu Hulan, to solve the case. Following leads, the case unravels a trail of clues from China to the United States, leaving David and Hulan to find the connection.
Lisa See has developed a very intriguing read, especially to people interested in Chinese culture. I did struggle in a few parts, making me wish that I had more solid knowledge of Chinese History. It was a relief for me at the end of "Flower Net" when I discovered that most of my confusion (in reference to historical facts) had been resolved. I found See's inclusion of Chinese Herbal Medicine to be especially interesting. I do agree with some of the reviewers that some of the plot twists seemed very forced or convenient (and yet somehow you could still see them coming a mile away).
My least favorite part about this book are the characters. It seemes to me that the background characters in "Flower Net" were more interesting and appealing than David Stark and Liu Hulan were. In fact, I found both the main characters to be dreadfully dull and pretty one-dimensional.
I would recommend this book as a quick weekend read for fans of thrillers and especially to anyone interested in Chinese history and culture. Aside from that, I think it might make an interesting movie, and I enjoyed "Flower Net" enough to convince myself to check out the sequel.
Hope this helps! :)
Lisa See has succeeded in creating a unique and gripping thriller. When the son of a American Ambassador and the son of one of Beijing's political elite both turn up dead under mysterious circumstances, U.S. Attorney David Stark is reunited with an old flame, Liu Hulan, to solve the case. Following leads, the case unravels a trail of clues from China to the United States, leaving David and Hulan to find the connection.
Lisa See has developed a very intriguing read, especially to people interested in Chinese culture. I did struggle in a few parts, making me wish that I had more solid knowledge of Chinese History. It was a relief for me at the end of "Flower Net" when I discovered that most of my confusion (in reference to historical facts) had been resolved. I found See's inclusion of Chinese Herbal Medicine to be especially interesting. I do agree with some of the reviewers that some of the plot twists seemed very forced or convenient (and yet somehow you could still see them coming a mile away).
My least favorite part about this book are the characters. It seemes to me that the background characters in "Flower Net" were more interesting and appealing than David Stark and Liu Hulan were. In fact, I found both the main characters to be dreadfully dull and pretty one-dimensional.
I would recommend this book as a quick weekend read for fans of thrillers and especially to anyone interested in Chinese history and culture. Aside from that, I think it might make an interesting movie, and I enjoyed "Flower Net" enough to convince myself to check out the sequel.
Hope this helps! :)
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