Shanghai Station

Rating:
Summary: A Strange and Interesting Time and Place
Review: Shanghai in 1918. A place where refugees from the Russian revolution were gathering. A place where the French, Japanese and Americans were competing for a place in Asia. The Chinese were splitting into two camps, the nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the communists under Mao Tse-tung getting ready for a major war.

This is the background to Bartle Bull's new book where Alexander Karlov arrives as a refugee with a mission of vengeance. This is a setting not seen in many recent novels, but after writing four novels taking place in Africa, why not. It appears to be extensively researched as to the sights, sounds and even the smell of the orient (which is absolutely true). I say appears to be because he writes with a voice of authority that sounds so real. The background is great. The characters fit with fast action and enough mystery to keep you turning pages to the end.