Book Review- CITY OF DEVILS
By: Mehr Un Nisa Javed
Tags: Shanghai, Book Review, Nonfiction, 1930, Japanese

The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai

Non-Fiction

1930s Shanghai: A tale of intersecting fates of a Jewish dancer and an escaped American convict

The setting of the book is 1930’s Shanghai and at that time Shanghai was very diverse and an interesting city where drug addicts, gamblers, drinkers, womanizers, profiteering mafia, jazz men, socialites and above all, people who had nowhere to go resided. It is a narrative non-fiction mystery thriller book for which French conducted a lot of interviews and did a lot of research in order to gather information on real life incidents and stories.

During the 1930s, The International Settlements in Shanghai governed themselves which divided the city into sections. One part was run by the Chinese and the other part was run by the French and one was a conglomerate. Each had its own courts, consulate and was subject to its own justice. Later, what makes the story more compelling is that the International settlement in Shanghai became the land of non-man after the occupation by the Japanese in 1937 and the attack on Pearl Harbor. This made the golden days of Shanghai a memory.

There are two significant characters of the book named Jack Riley and Joe Farren. Jack Riley flees prison in San Francisco and gets on a boat which was leading to Shanghai. In Shanghai he starts a new life and tries to leave no fingerprints of his previous life. On the other hand, Farren also flew to Shanghai just like Jack Riley. He started his journey in Shanghai as a dancer and later got a lot of popularity and ended up owning a club. Riley and Joe Farren had multiple commonalities which made them meet at many instances.

There is a lot of action and betrayal in the book and within that there is an element of history which helps in putting all the events in a spellbinding way. After the occupation by the Japanese the entire geography of Shanghai changed which led to the international settlements’ isolation. Both Jack and Riley enjoy this time and rule over Shanghai’s reformed underworld. However, the good days do not last for long and their downfall starts.

A very interesting element of the novel is Vignettes in between the chapters. The Vignettes basically have rumors and myths written between the chapters in a poetic way. An example, of an interesting Vignette I found in the book was,

“People consider these addicts neither dead nor alive, neither real nor illusory. They have ceased to exist except as opium ghosts, with no ambitions, no future cares, no past remembrances” (Paul French, pg 67).

This Vignette basically talks about a big part of the Chinese history: the addicts of opium, the opium war and the horribleness of it.

The novel also has another very interesting feature which is the short excerpts of news reports. This is a very engaging aspect of the book as it has real pages of newspaper mentioning about different important events. Moreover, the glossary and maps at the end of the book are also very useful for the readers who are unfamiliar with Shanghai and its history.

I would like to recommend this book to people interested in China, crime, history, prohibition, the period where the crime period was its peak, rise of power which ultimately led to downfall and how the kings of the city can be surprised by the uncertain plans of the city.

References

French, Paul. City of Devils (p. 67). Picador. Kindle Edition.