Thief of Souls

Inspector Lu Fei Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Brian Klingborg

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

In Brian Klingborg's Thief of Souls, a brutal murder in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing - but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, exiled to this tiny town, is interested in finding justice for the murdered village girl....

©2021 Brian Klingborg (P)2021 Tantor

Interesting cultural perspective. 

Well written, with a cool, if predictable climax. A standard thriller, but written with a Chinese cultural context. If you like experiencing other cultures, this is worth a read.

Surprise! Murder in Modern China

I randomly picked this book due to China content, in hope of learning about the culture beyond The Ming Dynasty tv series. I can't speak to its accuracy as to Chinese murder investigations, but overall, the story seems to ring true. The characters are as one might imagine, living under the communist regime. The killer is not stereotyped despite some psychological meanderings. Early on I suspected his last victim, but aside from that the story flows well. I did not think much of this story--lots of profanity. Twists and turns are not very surprising, thrilling, perhaps because there's not a lot there, just a detective following leads, instincts. I've read better, but yet ended up being drawn in. Romantically, there is not exactly a happy ending, with the hero in the hospital and his love interest just visiting--so no conclusion there. Or, being Chinese, are we to infer that they *are* having a happy ending, even without pink or blue porn? I suspect I might read the next books in the series.

Mixed

The narration was great. The quotes from Mao, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Confucius were great! Immersion into Chinese communism was fascinating. But it became dark, gross, and gratuitously evil. Sadly, it could have been a masterpiece, but instead it was a perversion too often.

Great Story.fascinating culture

A detective, university, educated, and martial arts specialist lives in a old town in an obscure part of China. A serial killer infest the population. Inspector Lou deals with politics, corruption, unique characters, thugs, disabled veterans, illiterate, farmers, and beautiful women at risk of being murdered, spiced by the poetry of China’s greatest poets and enhanced by quotations from allowed to Confucius and others, this is a Rich story and a detective story at that.