Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Designs in Crime

I will well and faithfully serve Her Majesty and Her Heirs and Successors according to law as a police officer, I will obey, uphold and maintain the laws of the Colony of Hong Kong, I will execute the powers and duties of my office honestly, faithfully and diligently without fear or favour to any person and with malice or ill will towards none, and I will obey without question any lawful orders of those set in authority over me.
"Hong Kong Police Oath"

I myself have also worked on books with titles that aren't straight translations from the original source title, but with slightly different titles, but sometimes, the change in titles of translated versions seems rather... extreme, and there's not even a hint of the original title left. What's even more vexing is when the original title can't even be found on the copyright page....

In the five decades of his life that Superintendent Kwan Chun-dok had dedicated to the Hong Kong Police Force, the man had acquired the reputation of having the best mind in the whole force, with his colleagues referring to him with nicknames like the "Crime-solving machine", "Eye of Heaven" or "Genius Detective". Kwan had seen it all: from the 1967 leftist riots of those who opposed British colonial rule, to the showdown with the two Shek brothers, the most wanted criminals in the late eighties and the uprise of technology and information as weapons used by the underworld in the new millenium. Even after the official end of his career, Kwan Chun-dok remained retained by the Hong Kong Police Force as a consultant, as his analytical gifts were too precious to give up. And even on his death bed, Kwan seems to be invaluable to the Hong Kong Police Force. As Inspector Lok seeks the help of his mentor one last time in what seems to be an unsolvable case, we also turn back in time to see some of Kwan's past exploits in Chan Ho-Kei's 2014 novel 13.67, which has been released in English as The Borrowed.

How susceptible are you for hype? Chan Ho-Kei's 13.67 from Taiwan was published last year in Japanese, and it was extremely well received with both mystery readers and authors, and saw loads of authors like Ayatsuji Yukito heap praise upon the novel. Seeing the title pop up all the time of course piqued my interest, and I learned the book had already been available in English for about two years with the completely different title The Borrowed, while it was also available in various European languages (often with the title Hongkong Noir). It was also then that I realized that I actually already had a book lying around by Chan Ho-Kei, the Hong Kong-born, but Taiwan-located author who also goes by the English name Simon Chan. The Man Who Sold The World (2011) had won the second Soji Shimada Award and my own take on the book was that it was an okay, but not exceptional mystery novel that did had an interesting, not-often seen setting with Hong Kong, so while I was not completely sold on Chan's mysteries, I was still planning to read 13.67/The Borrowed some time. And some time is now.

And to start with the conclusion: this is indeed a great interlinked short story collection! The original title 13.67 refers to the five decades worth of Kwan's adventures the reader is presented with: the first story is set in the year 2013, and each subsequent story jumps back in time, to an earlier period in Kwan's long career, until it ends back in 1967, in the formative years of Kwan as a detective. This plot device of the reverse chronology really gives this book its flavor: the first time we see Kwan, he's in his dying days, but we do learn about his reputation. Each following story jumps back in time and in his career, telling us more about him and his working methods. It's also neat to see characters or references pop up as we go back in time: in the 2013 story for example, we see Inspector Lok as a capable detective who would make his mentor proud, but as we return back in time we see how he was in his rookie days. Or what at first seems to be an off-hand reference to some exploit in Kwan's past career suddenly turns out to be the subject of the next story in real time. As we jump back in time, we also see Hong Kong change of course, and technological advancements are also rewinded, resulting in interesting, differing conditions per story.

What makes The Borrowed really a satisfying read is how it really succeeds in marrying the social school of mystery fiction with the classic puzzle plot. The reverse chronology is a way for Chan to show the tumultuous history of Hong Kong: sociopolitical issues like (Western) British citizens living in Hong Kong, the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong and the aforementioned 1967 Leftist Riots play an integral part in the stories, and they provide unique backgrounds and motives. But while Chan does delve into these unique socio-historical issues to Hong Kong, he doesn't forget to actually plot and clew a proper mystery. While the presentation of these stories are definitely set in the social school's distinct realism, the actual core mystery plots are what you'd expect from classic puzzle plot stories, with ingenious tricks used by criminal masterminds and a great police detective in the form of Kwan who calmly analyzes all the clues available and reasons his way to the solution.

The Borrowed is brimming with variation, as Chan skilfully uses the changing time periods of his stories to write different type of mystery stories. The opening story for example, The Truth Between Black and White, has Superintendent Kwan bed-ridden and in a coma when Inspector Lok gathers all the suspects of what seems to be an-inside-job-made-to-look-like-robbery inside Kwan's hospital room. As Kwan himself can't directly communicate anymore, a special device that can read brain waves is attached to his head, allowing the man to move a cursor to either YES or NO on a display. What follows is a unique kind of armchair detective story, as Kwan has to lead Inspector Lok's investigation while only being able to indicate YES or NO. While the scale of the conclusion of this murder case is a bit big for an opening story I think, it serves as an interesting introduction to the character of Kwan.

And as I said, one thing this book definitely offers is diversity. Prisoner's Honour (set in 2003) for example deals with what might become a gang war between two rivaling triads and the attack on a female pop singer enjoying the patronage of one of the triad bosses. While this might sound like some hardboiled gangster movie story with the police desperately trying to keep things in control, the conclusion provides a surprisingly logical solution to the problem. The fifth story, Borrowed Place (set in 1977) on the other hand deals with the kidnapping of a British child for ransom money, while the finale story deals with some bomb terrorists in the 1967 Leftist Riots. Both stories too are good examples of stories that you wouldn't immediately connect to a properly clewed puzzle plot mystery based on the premise alone, but that do manage to scrath that itchy craving for logical puzzle plots perfectly.

The best stories are the two in the middle: The Longest Day (1997) starts with the escape of the convicted Shek Boon-tim during a hospital visit. It was Kwan who got him in prison years ago, but it seems Shek was intent on sullying Kwan's last day before his retirement. While the Hong Kong Police Force is busy looking for the feared criminal, Kwan's disciple Lok is also busy working on a series of acid attacks in Hong Kong, with an unknown person throwing acid at unsuspecting shoppers from flat building roofs. The deductions of Kwan of how Shek managed to escape his guards and then elude the police chasers are properly clewed, while he also manages to make sense out of Lok's case. The Balance of Themis is set in 1989 and also involves the Shek brothers. In 1989, the (then Royal) Hong Kong Police Force was staking out the Ka Fai Mansions, as they knew younger brother Shek Boon-sing was hiding in a room there with two other accomplices, awaiting the arrival and orders of the gang's mastermind Shek Boon-tim. But somehow the gang found out they were being observed, and in the subsequent shoutout in the building, not only all three criminals were shot dead, but also six innocent bystanders, and policemen were also injured. Not only had the stake-out turned into a total failure, it appears there was a mole within the police, as in the following investigation, a handwritten note was found in the gang's hang-out that warned the criminals to flee at once, turning this into an Internal Affairs matter. The story has some neat "historical" touches (the uses of pagers by the criminals!) and the way Kwan deduces who the mole was and how they were involved with the whole plot is great, leading to more than a few surprises.

So I'm happy to say 13.67/The Borrowed turned out to be a very satisfying read. Chan manages to provide a lot of variety within this volume, both by using the unique setting of Hong Kong throughout various periods to present a stage that probably feels fresh to a lot of people, but also by writing clever puzzle plot mysteries that are firmly set within these changing time periods: the mystery plots not only utilize the time period both as a 'background' for flavor, but also by addressing issues that are unique to the time. The result is a novel that keeps on surprising the reader until the very end. I think the book's also very accessible for a variety of readers: I myself really focused on the puzzle plots, but with its focus on the police force and the Hong Kong underworld, there's also plenty here for people who like police procedural or hardboiled mystery fiction, and the unique background of Hong Kong is certain to entertain people who enjoy the socio-cultural aspects of mystery fiction.

Original Taiwanese title: "13.67"

24 comments :

  1. Based on info I gathered on a Chinese blog, Soji Shimada mentions that he initiated the "Soji Shimada Mystery Award" in Taiwan to foster new orthodox talents among Chinese literature writers. I never got around to reading "13.67" even though it had been name dropped quite a few times in the community. It's cool to see that you give it a review; I just might give it a shot sometime in the future.

    Another book that won the Soji Shimada Mystery Award was from Chinese writer 雷鈞's "黃" (Yellow). Not sure if it was ever translated into other languages, but that one I did read and was fairly impressed by the ending. It had a fairly original take on a technique that Ayatsuji Yukito likes to utilize in his novels; with the "trickery" coming from a completely unexpected direction.

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    1. From what I understand, various publishers from several regions are involved with different iteratons of the award (Taiwan/China/Japan/Malaysia/Thailand/Italy), and the idea's that the winning ttles receive releases from all the involved publishers. The first three are available in Japanese already (I reviewed 遺忘・刑警 and 我是漫畫大王 already, and I do have 虚擬街頭漂流記 somewhere), but I believe there are no Japanese translations yet of the other novels yet, which includes 黃.

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  2. OK, this sounds intriguing and hearing that so much praise has been heaped towards him, I couldn't resist and I picked a copy up!
    It's a beast at ~500 pages but I'll manage!

    Thanks. Finally a book on this blog we can read :)

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    1. Hey, I thought I was doing okay the last two months, I think about 1/3 of the novels discussed were originally English :P

      Hope you'll like this book too :)

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    2. I've read the two first stories so far, I like it. I think the ending of the first story was very far-fetched albeit very smart because it played a lot with the expectations of the reader.

      The second story I found less interesting because it involved around gangs. The ending here was also far-fetched but it was not as well clued as would like.Even so I suppose most seasoned GAD readers will figure out parts of the truth but it's only so because we've seen the a hundred times already :)

      I still want to continue(particularly since you say the best stories are 3 & 4) and it has given me newfound inspiration to read Higashino's Journey Under The Midnight Sun another high-concept detective story which has been sitting for a year at my shelf...

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    3. You're a quick one! I hope you'll like the rest too.

      I think the second story left a good impression on me because it was so different from what came before (a small-scale murder), with its gang wars, and its ties to idols, actors and the entertainment industry etc. It really showed off the book's variety.

      Man, I haven't read a Higashino in years... Really read _a lot_ of them early on, as his writing's perfect for beginning Japanese readers, but I just didn't get to them anymore... oh man, I see that my last Higashino review's from 2014 >_>

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    4. Yeah the stories indeed are very varied indeed. And I like how the author uses the backward narration to hint subsequent stories.

      I've only read Malice from Higashino and it was one of those rare 10/10 books where everything clicked for me. But I've watched Galileo and some other adaptations and I know he's awesome. I was just scared due to its size and I put it aside!

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    5. I see what you meant with Higashino except that he's like this in English as well. I started reading Journey (a 500~ pages book) last night at the airport and I couldn't put it down until I finished it an hour ago. Same thing happened with Malice as well.
      You've read it Ho-ling? I would have swore you had at least a review of the TV/movie but maybe I'm mistaken.

      As for the borrowed, I don't know if you felt the same, but Chan Ho kei's preference for far fetched solutions kinda works against him. Once I realized how he thinks, I knew the direction the stories would take. I still liked it though and if his locked room mystery is ever translated, I m buying it :)

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    6. No, I never read Malice actually ^^'

      I think the 'farfetched' plots are what I liked about the book, I think. They start out all like police procedurals full of social realism, and suddenly crazy stuff happens :P

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    7. I was actually referring to Journey Under The Midnight Sun, but I guess you haven't read that as well. I probably have it confused with some other book(It was my impression from
      2~ ago when I started lurking here) or with some other blog :) Now that I think about it probably the latter, probably I encountered it in some asian-drama friendly blog.

      Haha I see. I like my far fetched better when its served with some nice locked room mysteries :) :)

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  3. Thanks for the review. :) I was initially concerned, given the page count - but then realised that it was a collection of stories. Would you say one needs to read 'Man Who Sold The World' first, before tackling 'Borrowed'? I didn't glean any potential spoilers from your reviews.

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    1. Ah, perhaps I didn't make that clear enough, but the two novels have nothing to do with each other (save for the author of course). So by all means, start with The Borrowed/13.67. It's the far better book anyway.

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  4. Wow, great review, and so happy to have discovered your blog. I love the sound of this short story series interconnected in reverse chronology, how interesting is that? I'm hoping I'll be able to find a copy here, or online.

    I'm really drawn to works translated from the original Chinese and or Japanese, as I was privileged to have lived in Hong Kong for a long time during the 60s!

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    1. I myself have never lived in Hong Kong, but it's cool to read about places you've lived, right? I for example love reading mystery stories set in Fukuoka, Japan, as I lived there for a year ^_^

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    1. If by found online you mean purchased it online I am very grateful, and if by found online you mean the not legal method, I'd feel very insulted you'd come here just to tell me about how you got it.

      I'm not a publisher, so I don't choose the titles. No way saying whether I'll get to work on a Yokomizo work at the moment.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Yes, that link is illegal, so I removed your comment. Please do not post illegal links to copyrighted material again. When you find shady sites that offer materials for free that you usually have to pay for, common sense should tell you that it's probably not legal.

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    2. I only provided that link to bring it to your attention that it is available on the net,so you could take necessary steps against the site.

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  7. There's a rumor going around in the internet media that the identity of the black organisation boss has been revealed in the Detective Conan manga.Is it true?Do you know who it is?Even if you do will you name him in your next Detective Conan Volume review?

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    1. I only read the collected volumes, not the serialized chapters, so I don't know. Perhaps the name was revealed, perhaps not, but the collected volmes are always about six months behind anyway. And if you've read any of my other reviews on the blog, you'll know I always try to reveal as little as possible.

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Arrow: "I was recently researching about Asian Detective Fiction.To my surprise,I found out only India & Japan were the pioneers of Detective Fiction Genre during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.Though India is a country with many states,only one particular state ( Bengal ) took keen interest in this genre.So many Golden Age Detective Fiction Novels In India were written in Bengali.They were heavily inspired by the Conan Doyle,Christie & Chesterton Novels.At the same time in Japan,Detective Fiction Genre was introduced by Ranpo,Yokomizo Seishi & others.They drew their inspiration from Dickson Carr,Queen Novels.So, while Indian Detective Fiction Novels were classical detective stories of whodunnit,Japanese Detective Novels were whodunnit & howdunnit.They gave more emphasis on howdunnit & trick oriented crimes.Sadly after World War 2,the standard of Indian detective Stories declined rapidly whereas the standard of Japanese detective stories grew rapidly.Add to that manga effect which is a culture in Japan,so more writers emerged.At present,Japan is reaping the benefits,whereas Classical Indian Detective Fiction Novels have become extinct.Modern Indian Writers put emphasis on crime thrillers,not detective novels.

      I recommend you to try out 2 Indian Detective Books in particular (translated in English from Bengali ) which was written in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.Then you can have an idea on Indian Detective Fiction which was the first Asian country to succesfully adapt the genre.Here's the link of the 2 books
      *********"

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    2. Same story as for the commenter above: please do not post illegal links to copyrighted material here.

      You might want to read up on the history of pre-WWII Japanese mystery fiction, as while there were attempts at classic puzzle plot mystery (early Rampo, Osaka), they didn't catch on as good as you seem to think they did. It was the pulpy ero-guro-nonsense mode that flourished then, which you can see in Rampo's work, as he moved to "mystery" stories with a distinct horror/erotic tone soon after his debut. Puzzle plot mysteries started to really get off in Japan after WWII.

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