Review: Right before your very eyes.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 18, 2011
This was a good angle for the Inspector Zhang series. Inspector Zhang a native of Singapore is placed in Thailand, well almost. He makes it to the airport. These are two very close countries yet the yare worlds apart! The team of Zhang and Lee really works well. If you're not familiar. Lee is young and by the book and Zhang the more creative street smart type of detective. My favorite part about Dr. Zhang is he is a detective who loves detectives. He enjoys the art of his occupation. It's not just that he enjoys the art of his occupation even, but rather he appreciates the art of life itself.Unlike police novels where action is the focus, a good mystery novel has a quirky and intriguing detective. Zhang is certainly that.The story is also clever as it alters the point and purpose of Zhang's visit to Thailand. I also like how in this series Stephen increases the challenge of pulling off a crime by limiting the space the killer can flee to through various plot devices. Stephen's familiarity with Southeast Asia helps enhance the realism of the contrast between these two cultures which come face to face in this story in subtle ways.The story set on a plane has an intriguing cast of characters. It's a risk to have such a limited setting in a story, but it works here due to the intriguing cast.I also enjoy that Inspector Zhang is put in situations where deductive reasoning is required and forensics can't be used. In a way forensics are often a crutch a device used to avoid digging into the more challenging, but intriguing elements of a murder mystery revolving around psychology. There is a place for forensics, but it tends to be overused. I also liked that all the facts were put on the table and the reader could have solved this mystery themselves with the clues in this story. If author fails to give the reader all the information to solve the case then it's not a fair game, but in this story everything was there, right under my nose. Yet the end took me by surprise.