CITY ON FIRE

A maverick Hong Kong cop blows through numerous obstacles to unravel the mystery surrounding a dismembered corpse.

Superintendent Killian Tong is recently out of the hospital and on administrative leave when pompous Senior Superintendent Pang calls him back into service to examine a butchered body found in a landfill. The details of Tong’s sidelining are revealed piecemeal in Elegant’s razor-sharp procedural, hypercharged by its dialogue and wry humor. He’s partnered with the eager but inexperienced sidekick Choi. When he testily instructs her to stop calling him “sir,” she requests that he call her “Blue.” More questionable help comes from bumbling cops Lin and Yeong. Layers of bureaucracy and corruption hamper Tong’s probe. Competing for attention with the murder investigation is the turmoil in Tong’s family caused by the perilous involvement of his much younger sister, Jun, in protests against Chinese crackdowns. Significantly, his own removal from active duty stems from a violent incident at a protest that fuels Jun’s belligerence. The author’s experience as a journalist richly informs his depiction of recent protest movement in Hong Kong and telling details of everyday life there. The result is reminiscent of vintage Chandler, with its complicated plot, jaded and righteous hero, and terse noir dialogue.

A brisk noir with roots in contemporary politics.