The Firemaker

The China Thrillers, Book 1

By: Peter May

Narrated by: Peter Forbes

A burned corpse is a disturbing mystery for Beijing detective Li Yan until he enlists forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell. Having abandoned a broken life in Chicago for her work, she's as determined as Li to ask difficult questions about the man's death. But some questions have answers they'd rather not hear - facts that others are desperate to conceal.

The Firemaker is the first in the acclaimed China series from Peter May, author of Runaway, Entry Island and the internationally best-selling Lewis Trilogy.

©1999 Peter May (P)2015 WF Howes

Critic reviews

"Peter May is an author I'd follow to the ends of the earth." (New York Times)

Sensational rubbish

The highly improbable behaviour of the female protagonist and the the gruesome descriptions of autopsies etc combine to outweigh the positives of this book. This is unfortunate as some of the other characters are very interesting as is the description of modern China with the many vestiges of its past well described. It is as though the author did not have enough confidence in his plot and ability to draw convincing characters and so added sensationalist elements to compensate. The narration was enjoyable with good differentiation of the people.