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Snakehead

Peter May

Hodder & Stoughton £18.99

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Reviewed by John Orum


Pathologist Margaret Campbell, returned from China, thinks she has put the past behind her. Notably her love affair with the Chines detective, Li Yan. Nothing is that simple. almost a hundred Chinese illegal immigrants are found dead in a container lorry. Re-enter Li Yan, now on secondment to the embassy in Washington. Although the immigrants died from asphyxiation, at the post mortem it is discovered that they are carriers of a lethal form of the flu virus for which there is no cure. The search then begins for the apprehension of other illegal immigrants, the head of the smuggling ring, and the creator of the virus. When one of the medics dies after a cut during an autopsy, things take a tragic turn. Li Yan and Margaret Campbell have to join forces again aided and abetted by a bigoted agent who hates the Chinese. The plot twists and turns like the tail of a Chinese dragon. A cracking good read, written by an author who has a wonderful understanding of the Chinese, and is an honorary member of the Chinese crime fiction association. Highly recommended.
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