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Year of the Dog

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Det. Jack Yu returns in this crime novel of fraud, murder, and "another tantalizing glimpse of precinct and street life in Manhattan's Chinatown" (Publishers Weekly).

Reassigned to the Ninth District after being wounded in the line of duty, NYPD Det. Jack Yu settles in for a welcome change of pace, away from the memories of his childhood on his last beat. But the past has a way of sneaking up on him.

When a bloody shootout erupts in Chinatown, his old precinct asks Jack for help. Back in his old stomping grounds, he finds himself immersed in all the crimes he thought he'd left behind: murders, gambling, credit card fraud, and tong wars. Navigating the bookies, fraudsters, and gangsters who make up the new face of his old world, Jack is back on the case in the second thrilling installment of a series that offers "a vivid, street-level portrait" of New York's Chinatown (The New York Times).

"An Asian-flavored The Wire . . . A richly atmospheric panorama of New York's immigrant demimonde." —Entertainment Weekly

"Year of the Dog arrived . . . And suddenly my life became an orgy of reading pleasure." —Slate

"This is a dense, moody, and intelligent glimpse at Chinese life in New York as seen through the world-weary eyes of a young man with a foot firmly planted in two cultures." —Booklist

"Chinatown is the hero here. Better say antihero, because while the picture is vivid and often compelling, it's anything but pretty." —Kirkus Reviews

"Chang deftly keeps the action moving as he brings the Chinatown neighborhood alive in all its guises." —Publishers Weekly

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 8, 2008
      Less a conventional mystery than a study in Chinese-American culture, Chang's second novel (after 2006's Chinatown Beat
      ) offers another tantalizing glimpse of precinct and street life in Manhattan's Chinatown. When a prosperous family of four dies in their apartment, NYPD Det. Jack Yu determines it is murder/suicide, probably an effort to save face. Saving face, a powerful motivator in Chinese culture, drives many characters, including Yu's boyhood friend, now gang boss, Tat “Lucky” Louie; young turk Koo Jai, who's trying to pull one over on Lucky; and Sai Go, a dying smalltime bookie who wants to keep his dignity. DA Alexandra Lee-Chow, in contrast, embodies the struggles of ordinary Chinese-Americans who are neither crooks nor celebrities. While some may feel there are too many specifics about Chinese takeout meals and the finale is a bit of a copout, Chang deftly keeps the action moving as he brings the Chinatown neighborhood alive in all its guises.

    • Booklist

      November 15, 2008
      In mid-1990s, NYPD detective Jack Yu is assigned to a new precinct after being wounded in the line of duty, but he is still the go-to guy for all things Chinese. Thats how he picks up the murder-suicide of an upper-middle-class Chinese family whose father asphyxiated his family via carbon monoxide poisoning. The case winds back through a holiday season credit-card scam operated by one of the Chinese gangs and designed to leave real families saddled with debt for stolen merchandise. Yu also apprehends the murderers of a young Chinese delivery boy who was killed so the perps could buy new sneakers. In the midst of the chaos and heartbreak are parallel story lines of gangpower struggles and a terminally ill bookie, who may be in love for the first time. The backdrop for it all is a holiday-season New York ravaged by winter storms but still somehow surprisingly vibrant. This is a dense, moody, and intelligent glimpse at Chinese life in New York as seen through the world-weary eyes of a young man with a foot firmly planted in two cultures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

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  • English

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