Fate

Fate (Mystery)

By Ian Hamilton

House of Anansi Press

ISBN #978-1487003869

Price $15.95 (Paperback)

Price $9.99 (Kindle

304 Pages

Rating 3-Stars

“Boring”

This is the story of Chow Tung, known to friends as “Uncle”, a form of respect, though he’s still a fairly young man in his thirties.  His position in the Fanling triads is that of White Paper Fan because he’s good with numbers. It chronicles his escape from communist China to Hong Kong, then jumps ahead a decade when the Mountain Master of the Fanling triads is killed by a hit & run driver, leaving their leadership vacant. Basically the story follows the trouble of electing a new leader. How boring can you get?

Readers of Ian Hamilton have been familiar with Uncle through the Ava Lee series, about a Chinese/Canadian girl who follows the money in crooked deals leaving someone needing her help. One of her cases came to the attention of Uncle, and he uses his power to assist her. The early stories of Ava Lee were topnotch and interesting mysteries. But the last couple of Ava Lee stories were below par for the author, and left the reader less satisfied in her, and for some reason the author has decided to feature Uncle in his own stories. Unfortunately, this first entry was boring. We’re talking triads, and criminal gangs in Hong Kong, so you would think there’d be lots of action. There isn’t.  When there is action, there’s really no tension in the setting. We do learn the command structure of the triads, and even an overly long funeral for one of the leaders. We know from the beginning that Uncle will end up as the new Mountain Master, even though he’s trying to put someone else in the office. It’s Uncle that sees the problems and sets things on the right course, so he’s already performing as their leader. If you’re interested in the structure of the triad gangsters, this book will help you. Although I would suggest you read the early Ava Lee stories for that. If you’re looking for a good action novel, it isn’t here. Again, those early Ava Lee entries are your best bet.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

MIAO-Shan: The Awakening

Chow Lei is a ten-year-old girl on Hong Kong Island in 1896, who sees her parents murdered. This is the beginning of a sequence of events that leads to her becoming, Miao-Shan, the living Goddess of Justice! 'Miao Shan' book 2, 'Justice For All!', is set to be released for Christmas 2019.

MIAO SHAN: The Awakening (Superhero Fiction)

By G. AM Morris

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN #978-0620924330

Price $14.99 (Paperback)

Price $2.99 (Kindle)

346 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

Ten-year-old Chow Lei watched as her parents are murdered by the Celestial Body Society Triads, then she went to live with her grandmother Po Po. She dreams of vengeance against the triads, and joins a local kung fu school in Hong Kong, but her quick learning impresses Master Sung and he suggest she should train at the Shaolin Temple in China. So with heavy heart, her grandmother sends her to China and the Shaolin Temple. There she trains until she’s 18, mastering the 18 kung fu fighting styles. She then returns to Hong Kong only to find that the Celestial Body Society Triads have killed her grandmother. Chow Lei now goes by the name of Miao-Shan, the Goddess Guan Yin. She inherits millions of dollars and becomes one of the richest women in Hong Kong, but she is a master of kung fu and wants revenge against the triads. A student of Master Sung tells her where she can purchase a mighty sword and she meets elderly Wang Deshi, a sword maker, and Shaolin Monk, who tells her she is the one they have waited for to bring compassion and judgment to evil men. She must refrain from killing if possible. Miao Shan becomes a beautiful young woman by day, and a black-clad vengeful goddess by night, offering compassion or death to the triads.

The writing flows well, and keeps the reader entertained. This was a multiple faceted novel, however, the first 150 pages being juvenile, especially the dialogue. Thankfully, the rest of the book moves into comic book superhero prose, and a little more mature dialogue. The mighty sword, Whispering Wind gives her immortality, eternal youth, superhuman speed and strength; in other words, she can now leap tall buildings and is faster than a speeding bullet, and has superhuman strength. It also has some similarities to Warren Murphy’s The Destroyer at this point.  In fact, one of the Triad leaders hires a mysterious personage to protect him that reminds the reader of Chiun from that series. Shen has moves like the Korean assassin and trainer of Remo. Shen does kill all her family and friends, but we know he will lose the fight against Miao-Shan. The juvenile dialogue was hard to read at times, but my main complaint is we don’t see good fight scenes. She goes into a Black Fist stance, then a few seconds later two dozen triad warriors lie dead on the floor. She moves so fast you don’t see her kill her foes. And then she just gives the evil eye to a dozen more and they run off in fear. The author is working on the second volume, and I certainly want to read it when it’s ready, but I hope there is more realistic fight scenes, and better dialogue. As it is, I highly recommend this first novel because it introduces a very interesting character in Miao-Shan.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE BLACK SHADOW

The Imam of Tawi-Tawi

The Imam of Tawi-Tawi (International Intrigue)

By Ian Hamilton

Spiderline

ISBN #978-1487002749

Price $10.97 (Paperback)

Price $9.99 (Kindle)

400 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

Uncle Chang Wang calls Ava asking for a favor. A business he and Tommy Ordonez are in with Senator Ramirez in the Philippines are having trouble in Tawi-Tawi, an area heavy populated with Muslims, and the senator feels the Zagat college is training young men for terrorism. The senator connects Ava with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who will work with her in uncovering the truth. But now that she is no longer in the old business, she no longer has all of her old contacts to access banks. She’s forced to recruit a CIA agent to help here, and this brings American power down on her. She must see the situation through to the end, no matter what the outcome, and her life might even be at stake

I pre-ordered this book, as the synopsis led me to think this would an action-packed adventure with Ava Lee and a CIA agent against a terrorist organization. The writing was still smooth, and the characters interesting, and Ava was very proficient, but I was disappointed in the lack of action. And the Muslims all turned out to be good guys, while the Americans were evil. There is a really big twist at the end, which was nice, but not very logical. The book is called the Triad Years, but this does not include the Triads, though Ava does talk to Xu on the telephone once, so it’s hardly a Triad novel. This is basically Ava Lee and the CIA. Personally, I hope the author brings in more action, if he wants to keep readers following the Ava Lee sagas. She is better than this book shows, in my opinion.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

The Princeling of Nanjing

Ava Lee #8: “The Princeling of Nanjing” by Ian Hamilton. Ava Lee is with May Ling and Amanda, her partners in the Three Sisters business in Shanghai, as they start their clothing business. Their benefactor, Xu is on hand, but he reveals that a powerful Chinese family is forcing him into the drug business, and they won’t take no for an answer. He is truly between a rock and a hard spot. Drugs are a business he doesn’t want in, and if he says no they could destroy him. Although he doesn’t ask Ava for help, she feels obligated to look into the family’s financial dealings. What she finds is proof of bribes and illegal money laundering, something that might look bad within the other Chinese power structures. She begins following the money, and things get more complicated when the head of the family discovers who is doing it.

The writing continues to be smooth and topnotch. The story is character driven, and the characters actually become part of the reader. We feel a kinship to Ava, May Ling, Amanda, Xu, Sonny, Suen, and everyone involved. They are like our own family.

The Couturier of Milan

Ava Lee #9: The Couturier of Milan by Ian Hamilton. Ava Lee and her Three Sisters team are in London promoting their new fashion company, PO, and really bring the house down. Afterwards, The fashion king of Italy, Dominic Ventola, asks Ava and her partners to meet with them in Milan. At the meeting Ventola offers to buy 51 percent interest in the company, taking control of PO, but they refuse. A few days later, Ventola releases a statement to the press that PO is an inferior product, and causes a loss in all their sales and connections to Europe and America. Ava strikes back, stopping VLG’s purchasing and shipments in and out of Asia. Then the battle escalates when Ventola brings in his Mafia partners, and a contract is put out on Ava and May Ling. Ava is left with no other course than to bring Xu, the leader of the Triads in for help.

This was another enjoyable read. However, there is little action in it. Thankfully, the author’s writing kept me involved in the story. Although I wasn’t interested in the fashion industry, the author goes into detail about the fake products and knock-offs being produced in Asia, and then sent to companies in Europe where brand names are placed on the product, offering cheap imitations of the brand names. It was fascinating watching Ava work her magic in bringing the large Italian corporation and Mafia to her way of thinking, and the characters are truly memorable, but the story could have used more action this time.

Disciple of Las Vegas

Ava Lee #2: The Disciple of Las Vegas by Ian Hamilton. Ava Lee lives in Canada, and is a forensic accountant and detective. She has teemed with an older Chinese man in Hong Kong, she calls Uncle. Uncle has the contacts, and Ava has the investigative ability to run crooks down. They hire out to clients who have lost great sums of money, and Ava knows how to get the money back for them, and their percentage is taken from the amount she recovers. A martial artist, she is often called upon her ability to defend herself against some violent people.

In this second story, and I might say there is some confusion to the numbering system of the series, Tommy Ordonez, of the Philippines Chinese organization, has lost sixty million dollars due to his brother’s gambling problems. Ava discovers that an online gambling group cheated the brother. Connections lead her to Las Vegas and London. As she follows the leads, she is also alert to a death-contract placed on her by man from a previous case.

The case moves slowly, and everything seems to fall into her grasp with little effort, though the story is interesting and keeps the reader turning the pages. Ava is not timid in the use of torture to gets what she wants. She will ask nicely, but if they refuse to cooperate, she will result to torture, and it isn’t pretty.  Overall, I found the story and characters highly interested. Although the main character is gay, there are no sexual scenes in the story. Highly recommended, just be aware of some torture scenes.