Stuff
Product Details
Scribner, May 2010
Trade Paperback, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1416596046
ISBN-13: 9781416596042
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
Description
In this "GREASED-LIGHTNING" crime debut (Kirkus Reviews), Simon Lewis has created two unforgettable characters and a critically acclaimed novel that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.
Inspector Jian is a corrupt Chinese cop who thinks he's seen it all. But his search for his missing daughter takes him to the meanest streets he's ever faced—in rural England.
Migrant worker Ding Ming is distressed—his gang master is making demands, he owes a lot of money to the snakeheads, and no one will tell him where his wife has been taken. Maybe England isn't the Gold Mountain he was promised.
Two desperate men, lost in a baffling foreign land, are pitted against a ruthless band of human traffickers in this breath-taking thriller.
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Chapter 1How did you come to write this book?
"An outstanding thriller debut. . . . Bad Traffic is a rabbit-hole that a reader is literally sucked into, its fast pace and staccato style a preliminary enticement to deeper insights into the changing nature of Chinese mores."
-- Sarah Weinman, Los Angeles Times
"An offbeat and delightful novel . . . Lewis's narrative is fast-moving and flawless. . . . A number of exceptionally literate thrillers have arrived this year from abroad. . . . Bad Traffic ranks with the best of them. My advice is to get in on the ground floor."
-- Washington Post
"Simon Lewis shows the plight of desperate refugees and the pure malice of those who exploit them without telling a story so depressing no one would want to visit it. Jam-packed with offbeat humor, [Bad Traffic] is a cultural odyssey in a shrinking world."
-- Rocky Mountain News
"A rip-roaring action tale . . . Lewis doesn't miss a beat."
-- Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“British author Lewis does a splendid job in this compelling thriller. . . . The corrupt and brutal Jian is an intriguing character many readers will want to see again.”
—Publishers Weekly
—Publishers Weekly
“A greased-lightning series debut”
–Kirkus Review
–Kirkus Review
“Lots of action, a couple of interesting twists, and short cliffhanger chapters make this a fast-paced read. A good choice for crime collections.”
-- Booklist
"Lewis is very good at the 'fish out of water' theme, and the non-English-speaking Jian is a force."
-- Sacramento Bee
“Fast paced and completely enthralling, this stranger-in-a-strange-land mystery/thriller should be on everyone’s holiday reading list. Lewis grabs you from the beginning with that fateful voice mail and keeps hold all the way up to the surprising conclusion.” – Becky Lejeune, Bookbitch.com
“A rip-roaring action tale . . . Lewis doesn’t miss a beat.”—Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Examiner.com, April 24, 2009
...Times Book Award: Nina Revoyr, author The Age of Dreaming; Michael Koryta, author of Envy the Night; and Simon Lewis, author of Bad Traffic ...
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 19, 2009
...Here's a review of Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis By Oline H. Cogdill Sun Sentinel Mystery Fiction Columnist Bad Traffic. Simon Lewis. Scribner. $25. 375 pp. The lives of two Chinese men converge in the ...
Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2009
...that sense of 'What happens next?' and that is definitely one of the appeals of a mystery structure.' Simon Lewis' 'Bad Traffic: ' is his first mystery. Now a travel writer who lives in China, the Welsh-born Lewis was brought up in Scotland; ...
Whitehaven News, March 5, 2009
...Emily, a successful young Manhatten lawyer, ends a happy relationship to discover what she wants out of life. Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis. Inspector Jian, a Chinese cop from the Siberian border, thinks he has seen it all until he has to hunt ...
Arizona Daily Star, January 30, 2009
...allows one character's story to ripple through another's in unexpected ways. Colette Bancroft, St. Petersburg Times 'Bad Traffic' By Simon Lewis (Scribner, $25) The lives of two Chinese men converge in the exotic country of England in travel ...
Book Reporter, January 16, 2009
...BAD TRAFFIC, Simon Lewis?s debut novel, is a fish-out-of-water story featuring two fish, similarly situated, who find each other and form an odd, disparate bond. Actually, ?bond? might not be ...
Simon Lewis's Books
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Border RunA fast-paced new crime novel that finds a group of backpackers in deep trouble on the borderlands in Southeast Asia.Read More
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