Trail of Blood
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Nobody nails New York like SJ Rozan. Finally, we get to discover American crime writing's best-kept secret. I've loved Lydia Chin and Bill Smith for years and I guarantee you will too. -- Val McDermid
One of my favourite crime writers...S.J. Rozan can write sentences that make my jaw literally drop. She's as good a prose stylist as I've seen in a long, long time...to read S.J. Rozan is to experience the kind of pure pleasure that only a master can deliver --Dennis Lehane
Rozan paints with the full palette of the human heart, using a depth, detail, and nuance of character I haven't seen since Chandler --Robert Crais
Two of my favourite characters in crime fiction --Linda Fairstein
With the Bill Smith and Lydia Chin mysteries, S.J. Rozan has written the most consistently compelling series of detective novels published in this decade... --George Pelecanos
One of my favourite crime writers...S.J. Rozan can write sentences that make my jaw literally drop. She's as good a prose stylist as I've seen in a long, long time...to read S.J. Rozan is to experience the kind of pure pleasure that only a master can deliver --Dennis Lehane
Rozan paints with the full palette of the human heart, using a depth, detail, and nuance of character I haven't seen since Chandler --Robert Crais
Two of my favourite characters in crime fiction --Linda Fairstein
With the Bill Smith and Lydia Chin mysteries, S.J. Rozan has written the most consistently compelling series of detective novels published in this decade... --George Pelecanos
Book Description
Harlen Coben meets Sue Grafton in this smart, savvy, intriguing detective series
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This is part of a series of Lydia Chin/Bill Smith novels so there is a history between them that we do not discover in this book. It opens with the discovery that Lydia and Bill have not spoken to each other for months following a case that had gone badly wrong for Bill. Lydia is brought in to help her former mentor Joel Pilarsky on a case which requires her Chinese language skills.
In Shanghai, a box of jewelery has been discovered on the site of a former WW2 Internment Camp, the local official who was responsible for it has fled to New York with it and Lydia and Joel are hired to find the missing jewelery. When Joel is murdered in his office, Bill and Lydia are reunited to find his killer. They soon found out that it's not as simple as it seems; a fabled jewel "The Shanghai Moon" is believed to have been amongst the stolen jewelry - and it seems that someone will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.
This, for me, was a hugely enjoyable book. The use of letters, diary entries and old WW2 documents brought to life the characters from this time and I began to really care about what happened to them as much as the present day characters. The interplay between Bill and Lydia is perfect - not romantic (although it is suggested that they were once more than colleagues) and very believable. The humour and warmth in the writing and the plot twists kept me entertained to the very end.
A very enjoyable read and I will certainly be looking for more Lydia Chin and Bill Smith novels.
In Shanghai, a box of jewelery has been discovered on the site of a former WW2 Internment Camp, the local official who was responsible for it has fled to New York with it and Lydia and Joel are hired to find the missing jewelery. When Joel is murdered in his office, Bill and Lydia are reunited to find his killer. They soon found out that it's not as simple as it seems; a fabled jewel "The Shanghai Moon" is believed to have been amongst the stolen jewelry - and it seems that someone will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.
This, for me, was a hugely enjoyable book. The use of letters, diary entries and old WW2 documents brought to life the characters from this time and I began to really care about what happened to them as much as the present day characters. The interplay between Bill and Lydia is perfect - not romantic (although it is suggested that they were once more than colleagues) and very believable. The humour and warmth in the writing and the plot twists kept me entertained to the very end.
A very enjoyable read and I will certainly be looking for more Lydia Chin and Bill Smith novels.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
There are so many detective novels around that an original hero/heroine is rare. So Linda Chin and her Chinese heritage provide some welcome variety, as does an original tale which switches between Shanghai and it's refugee Jewish community at the outbreak of WW2 and the present day. The research on this must have been a mammoth task, as Rozan conjures up an engrossing vision of those turbulent times, as well as New York's Chinatown.
Rozan handles the transitions effortlessly. I was particularly impressed by the use of letters as a plot device and Rozan is adroit at both the feelings and the atmosphere of the times as experienced by characters of widely diverging backgrounds. I was less impressed by the pace of the story, particularly early on, and a couple of unlikely coincidences which detracted from the book towards the end.
One other point, this is part of a series, and as a result there are several explainers from the earlier book(s?). These were particularly noticeable and intrusive early on, which may be another reason it took me a while to get into it.
Still, for originality, Rozan deserves praise and if you are a fan of the Genre, this is worth your attention.
Rozan handles the transitions effortlessly. I was particularly impressed by the use of letters as a plot device and Rozan is adroit at both the feelings and the atmosphere of the times as experienced by characters of widely diverging backgrounds. I was less impressed by the pace of the story, particularly early on, and a couple of unlikely coincidences which detracted from the book towards the end.
One other point, this is part of a series, and as a result there are several explainers from the earlier book(s?). These were particularly noticeable and intrusive early on, which may be another reason it took me a while to get into it.
Still, for originality, Rozan deserves praise and if you are a fan of the Genre, this is worth your attention.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
S J Rozan is the pen name for Shira Judith Rosan. This novel is the ninth in her crime-mystery series built around New York private investigators Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, and it was published eight years after the previous one Winter and Night (aka Blood Ties).
Estranged for months from fellow P.I. Bill Smith, Chinese-American private investigator Lydia Chin is brought in by colleague and former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that crosses continents, cultures, and decades. In Shanghai, excavation has unearthed a cache of European jewellery dating back to World War II, when Shanghai was an open city providing safe haven for thousands of Jewish refugees. The jewellery, identifed as having belonged to one such refugee - Rosalie Gilder - was immediately stolen by a Chinese official who fled to New York City. Hired by a lawyer specializing in the recovery of Holocaust assets, Chin and Pilarsky are told to find any and all leads to the missing jewels. However, Lydia soon learns that there is much more to the story than they've been told: The Shanghai Moon, one of the world's most sought after missing jewels, reputed to be worth millions, is believed to have been part of the same stash. Before Lydia can act on this new information, Joel Pilarsky is murdered, Lydia is fired from the case, and Bill Smith finally reappears on the scene. Now Lydia and Bill must unravel the truth about the Shanghai Moon and the events that surrounded its disappearance sixty years ago during the chaos of war and revolution, if they are to stop more killings and uncover the truth of what is going on today.
I struggled to finish this, as it turned out to be rather lighter and more airey-fairy than the kind of crime fiction I like. It's a very 'chatty' story with accordingly rather little in the way of narrative, imagery or in-depth character background. From an early stage I felt as I was watching a 1980s TV crime-soap, there is something distinctly old-fashioned in its flavour and style. Despite there being a murder early on, and the murder of someone dear to one of the central characters, I thought she recovered from the trauma of discovering the body unnaturally quickly and in fact she was laughing and joking with her estranged partner within hours. That seemed totally out of sorts with reality, and nullified the shock altogether. I'm no spring chicken but I found the overall style of writing to be out-of-date and borderline corny. It's not bad, and the underlying story is interesting and unusual, but the execution of the tale and the absence of any dark or sinister situations had me racing towards the conclusion not because I was hungry to find out the truth, but because I wanted to get it over and done with and read something grippier. I have another S J Rozan novel on my to-be-read shelf, on the evidence of Trail of Blood it could remain there for quite a long time.
Estranged for months from fellow P.I. Bill Smith, Chinese-American private investigator Lydia Chin is brought in by colleague and former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that crosses continents, cultures, and decades. In Shanghai, excavation has unearthed a cache of European jewellery dating back to World War II, when Shanghai was an open city providing safe haven for thousands of Jewish refugees. The jewellery, identifed as having belonged to one such refugee - Rosalie Gilder - was immediately stolen by a Chinese official who fled to New York City. Hired by a lawyer specializing in the recovery of Holocaust assets, Chin and Pilarsky are told to find any and all leads to the missing jewels. However, Lydia soon learns that there is much more to the story than they've been told: The Shanghai Moon, one of the world's most sought after missing jewels, reputed to be worth millions, is believed to have been part of the same stash. Before Lydia can act on this new information, Joel Pilarsky is murdered, Lydia is fired from the case, and Bill Smith finally reappears on the scene. Now Lydia and Bill must unravel the truth about the Shanghai Moon and the events that surrounded its disappearance sixty years ago during the chaos of war and revolution, if they are to stop more killings and uncover the truth of what is going on today.
I struggled to finish this, as it turned out to be rather lighter and more airey-fairy than the kind of crime fiction I like. It's a very 'chatty' story with accordingly rather little in the way of narrative, imagery or in-depth character background. From an early stage I felt as I was watching a 1980s TV crime-soap, there is something distinctly old-fashioned in its flavour and style. Despite there being a murder early on, and the murder of someone dear to one of the central characters, I thought she recovered from the trauma of discovering the body unnaturally quickly and in fact she was laughing and joking with her estranged partner within hours. That seemed totally out of sorts with reality, and nullified the shock altogether. I'm no spring chicken but I found the overall style of writing to be out-of-date and borderline corny. It's not bad, and the underlying story is interesting and unusual, but the execution of the tale and the absence of any dark or sinister situations had me racing towards the conclusion not because I was hungry to find out the truth, but because I wanted to get it over and done with and read something grippier. I have another S J Rozan novel on my to-be-read shelf, on the evidence of Trail of Blood it could remain there for quite a long time.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tell me again, how did it end?
I've just finished reading this book and I'll have to go back several pages to work out what actually happened, so convoluted and meandering is the story. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ian Bain
Could have been a lot better.
I gave this book several attempts to impress, but I am afraid to say, that when I got to chapter 5 I gave in and gave up. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Fiona Massey
Pick up the pace, please - but still good
With so many pacy thrillers published these days, it takes guts to write one that doesn't focus too much on a quick story. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Stefan
contains all the key ingredients but lacks pace.
Trail of blood is in part atleast a good book. the story is not necesarily gripping but it contains the essential peices that will keep you reading on until the end. Read more
Published 20 months ago by K. D. Squire
A slow meander to the sea
If this book were a river it would be one that flows slowly, even sluggishly, towards the sea meandering this way and that seeming to go nowhere fast. Read more
Published 21 months ago by J Grainger
Slow going, but worth perservering
I found Trail of Blood a bit slow going to begin with but it did gradually pick up the pace. The main character, Lydia, didn't seem very believable to me - there was something a... Read more
Published 21 months ago by V. Warrington
An interesting mix of modern crimewriting and historical insight
A gripping story from the start, this book managed to successfully blend modern day private investigating, Chinatown gangland, Second World War social insight and a chase for a... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. M. P. Duffy
A classically crafted crime caper
If the plotline of a private gumshoe following a trail of murder in pursuit of a fabulous long-lost jewel sounds familiar, it's because it has been a staple of crime fiction since... Read more
Published 22 months ago by D. Salmon
An unlikely story, badly told
Crime writing pals of SJ Rozan seem to love this author, which makes this the biggest mystery of all having read "Trail of Blood. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Jl Adcock
The Chinese Falcon
I come late to this book review party, and those more on the ball than me have already posted accurate plot summaries of S.J.Rozan's 'Trail Of Blood'. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Peter Haydon
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
