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The China Thrillers #3
The Killing Room
Peter May’s thrilling new China novel brings together Beijing detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell for the third time.
When the mutilated and dismembered bodies of eighteen women are discovered in a mass grave in Shanghai, Li is sent to establish if the corpses are related to an unsolved murder in Beijing, and he finds the most horrifying catalog of killings ever uncovered in the Middle Kingdom.
Once more, Margaret is unsure of her mercurial relationship with Li, and if it will threaten their professional collaboration. Having just suffered the heartbreak of burying her father, she arrives in Shanghai to find any partnership with Li threatened by another woman named Mei-Ling. Born in the Year of the Tiger, Mei-Ling seems to have her claws firmly fixed in Li. How can Margaret, a mere “foreign devil,” compete with Mei-Ling, the deputy head of Shanghai’s serious crime squad?
Faced with the grisly proposition that the murdered women have been subjected to “live” autopsies, the three soon realize they are tracking a monster of inhuman capacity. The closer they get to this ruthlessly cold-blooded killer, the closer they come to realizing their own personal nightmares.
Peter May combines edge-of-the-seat suspense and a brilliantly evoked picture of modern China to create an unstoppable thriller.
When the mutilated and dismembered bodies of eighteen women are discovered in a mass grave in Shanghai, Li is sent to establish if the corpses are related to an unsolved murder in Beijing, and he finds the most horrifying catalog of killings ever uncovered in the Middle Kingdom.
Once more, Margaret is unsure of her mercurial relationship with Li, and if it will threaten their professional collaboration. Having just suffered the heartbreak of burying her father, she arrives in Shanghai to find any partnership with Li threatened by another woman named Mei-Ling. Born in the Year of the Tiger, Mei-Ling seems to have her claws firmly fixed in Li. How can Margaret, a mere “foreign devil,” compete with Mei-Ling, the deputy head of Shanghai’s serious crime squad?
Faced with the grisly proposition that the murdered women have been subjected to “live” autopsies, the three soon realize they are tracking a monster of inhuman capacity. The closer they get to this ruthlessly cold-blooded killer, the closer they come to realizing their own personal nightmares.
Peter May combines edge-of-the-seat suspense and a brilliantly evoked picture of modern China to create an unstoppable thriller.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
249 people are currently reading
1118 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 248 reviews
July 28, 2016
This is the 3rd book in the 'China Thrillers' by Peter May.
I am a great admirer of Peter May's novels and enjoyed the first two books in this series so it was no big surprise to me that I enjoyed this one also. I especially enjoy book series as it gives the characters plenty of time to develop and allows for sub plots to be carried over to the next book. This series is steadily improving and the two main characters Beijing detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell are becoming more familiar with every page.
In this book Li Yan is working on a case where a woman’s body has been found and it appears the victim had undergone an autopsy while alive, organs removed and her body cut into pieces. Yan is sent to Shanghai to oversee the investigation instigated by a mass grave being found there with the similar remains of 18 women. There is plenty of relationship issues with Yan receiving the attentions of his female counterpart in Shanghai and also the on -going love interest from former lover Margaret Campbell.
Another great mix of relationships and crime which is a must for all Peter May followers.
I am a great admirer of Peter May's novels and enjoyed the first two books in this series so it was no big surprise to me that I enjoyed this one also. I especially enjoy book series as it gives the characters plenty of time to develop and allows for sub plots to be carried over to the next book. This series is steadily improving and the two main characters Beijing detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell are becoming more familiar with every page.
In this book Li Yan is working on a case where a woman’s body has been found and it appears the victim had undergone an autopsy while alive, organs removed and her body cut into pieces. Yan is sent to Shanghai to oversee the investigation instigated by a mass grave being found there with the similar remains of 18 women. There is plenty of relationship issues with Yan receiving the attentions of his female counterpart in Shanghai and also the on -going love interest from former lover Margaret Campbell.
Another great mix of relationships and crime which is a must for all Peter May followers.
September 1, 2011
A wonderful taste of China, a nice, tightly plotted mystery, but a truly annoying female protagonist. After all, if you're going to live in China, how bright is it to deliberately antagonize public officials? Doing everything you can to alienate people isn't feisty, or independent, it's aggressive, annoying, and in a foreign country where you haven't bothered to learn even the simplest of phrases in the language, it's criminally stupid.
This is one of those books where the reader is screaming at the characters the entire way through the book, because it's inconceivable that a person with an I.Q. above room temperature would not see the shit storm they're bringing down on themselves. While it's true that some brilliant people have blind spots where most people have common sense, the author needed to show that in other areas to have it be a legitimate explanation for Margaret's woeful lack of insight in dealing with the Chinese. Margaret is an awful lot like the heroines in those B rated slasher movies who know there's a serial killer lurking somewhere, so they gear up with a flashlight that has failing batteries to explore the basement.
This is one of those books where the reader is screaming at the characters the entire way through the book, because it's inconceivable that a person with an I.Q. above room temperature would not see the shit storm they're bringing down on themselves. While it's true that some brilliant people have blind spots where most people have common sense, the author needed to show that in other areas to have it be a legitimate explanation for Margaret's woeful lack of insight in dealing with the Chinese. Margaret is an awful lot like the heroines in those B rated slasher movies who know there's a serial killer lurking somewhere, so they gear up with a flashlight that has failing batteries to explore the basement.
August 16, 2016
Book #3 of the China Thrillers by Peter May and featuring Dr. Margaret Campbell and Deputy Section Chief Li Yan. I have to give a shout-out to Gary for recommending the first book to me and now I am hooked into reading about these characters.
In this edition Dr. Campbell is back in the United States. In China, specifically Shanghei, 18 bodies are uncovered at a construction site and Deputy Section Chief Li Yan is brought into the case from Bejing to help his counterpart in Shanghei, Nien Mei-Ling. Chief Li Yan asks to have Dr. Campbell brought back to China to assist in identifying the bodies. And so begins the case and the relationship issues as Margaret Campbell and Li Yan have an off-again-on-again romance with Nien Mei-Ling - Shanghei's Deputy Section Chief - also showing interest in Li Yan.
Who are the recovered bodies? And why were they killed? What is the common factor between them or is this a random serial killer?
A terrific series that I have very much enjoyed. Highly recommend.
In this edition Dr. Campbell is back in the United States. In China, specifically Shanghei, 18 bodies are uncovered at a construction site and Deputy Section Chief Li Yan is brought into the case from Bejing to help his counterpart in Shanghei, Nien Mei-Ling. Chief Li Yan asks to have Dr. Campbell brought back to China to assist in identifying the bodies. And so begins the case and the relationship issues as Margaret Campbell and Li Yan have an off-again-on-again romance with Nien Mei-Ling - Shanghei's Deputy Section Chief - also showing interest in Li Yan.
Who are the recovered bodies? And why were they killed? What is the common factor between them or is this a random serial killer?
A terrific series that I have very much enjoyed. Highly recommend.
March 23, 2016
V předchozích dílech Pán ohně a Čtvrtá oběť byla detektivní zápletka dost průhledná. Tentokrát ale Peter May přinesl komplikovaný případ masových vražd. Některé motivy a vztahy na pozadí jsem sice uhodla, ale až daleko v druhé polovině knihy – a toho, kdo je za ty strašlivé zločiny zodpovědný a proč vlastně někdo pitval nevinné ženy zaživa, jsem nepřišla. Nezbývá tudíž než potvrdit, že Peter May zraje jako víno a Sál smrti je zatím nejlepším a nejpropracovanějším dílem ze série Čínských thrillerů.
Celou recenzi si můžete přečíst zde: http://www.suzannesworldofbooks.cz/cl...
Celou recenzi si můžete přečíst zde: http://www.suzannesworldofbooks.cz/cl...
March 22, 2014
A promising start mauled by stupid relationship drama and an anti-abortion agenda.
I really like Li Yan as a character and I really like the setting, so I've kept reading the China Thrillers even though I don't really like Margaret Campbell or the ridiculous back-and-forth misunderstandings between Li Yan and Margaret. Seriously, I feel like I was better at relationships than these two when I was in high school and I was CRAP at relationships in high school and still am. It's like the same three misunderstandings crop up between them time and time again and they don't even make any sense. Yes, there is a culture clash, yes they're both emotionally fragile, we GET IT Peter May, now GET ON WITH IT. The whole thing is tedious, and it gets in the way of the murder mystery.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there. This book started out really promising with a particularly gruesome mystery at the heart of it. It got off-track early on when we spent too much time with Margaret and her equally unlikeable mother and even more repugnant ex-boyfriend (seriously, it wasn't even an INTERESTING group of unlikeable characters, and I found myself rolling my eyes through the entire chapter.) But it briefly recovered, although Peter May then decided to insert a ridiculous pissing match between Mei-Ling and Margaret over who gets to have Li Yan even though Mei-Ling had just freaking met him, and seriously no woman I have ever known has done shit like this and holy hell this subplot was so clearly written by a DUDE. Also, Mei-Ling was not likeable, and the ridiculous relationship BS that this whole thing ratcheted up between Li Yan and Margaret made Li Yan completely unlikeable. So, by about the end of the first third of the book, May had managed to turn the only likeable character in to a blithering idiot, while somehow making Margaret even more odious.
And then we get to the agenda part. Look, I recognise that the abortion-thing is a really controversial issue, and its tie-in with the One Child policy in China is an area of moral contention for people. I'm not trying to convert anyone to one side or the other, and I am perfectly capable of enjoying literary works that take the opposing side on a controversial issue, really I am, but I expect at the very least that you get the facts right. Peter May is so wrapped up in the anti-abortion side of it that suddenly ALL ABORTIONS will scar you for life and it is men who force women to get abortions like all of the time, and you will never be able to have children and HOLY HELL, THIS SUBPLOT WAS SO CLEARLY WRITTEN BY A DUDE.
Anyway, I won't give away the ending, though I figured out the whodunnit like 50 pages in and it took the characters for-freaking-ever to manage it. Also, somehow this book made Margaret MORE annoying which I didn't even believe was possible. I am an obsessive, so I will probably read the other entries in the series, but honestly, this is definitely the worst of the first three.
I really like Li Yan as a character and I really like the setting, so I've kept reading the China Thrillers even though I don't really like Margaret Campbell or the ridiculous back-and-forth misunderstandings between Li Yan and Margaret. Seriously, I feel like I was better at relationships than these two when I was in high school and I was CRAP at relationships in high school and still am. It's like the same three misunderstandings crop up between them time and time again and they don't even make any sense. Yes, there is a culture clash, yes they're both emotionally fragile, we GET IT Peter May, now GET ON WITH IT. The whole thing is tedious, and it gets in the way of the murder mystery.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there. This book started out really promising with a particularly gruesome mystery at the heart of it. It got off-track early on when we spent too much time with Margaret and her equally unlikeable mother and even more repugnant ex-boyfriend (seriously, it wasn't even an INTERESTING group of unlikeable characters, and I found myself rolling my eyes through the entire chapter.) But it briefly recovered, although Peter May then decided to insert a ridiculous pissing match between Mei-Ling and Margaret over who gets to have Li Yan even though Mei-Ling had just freaking met him, and seriously no woman I have ever known has done shit like this and holy hell this subplot was so clearly written by a DUDE. Also, Mei-Ling was not likeable, and the ridiculous relationship BS that this whole thing ratcheted up between Li Yan and Margaret made Li Yan completely unlikeable. So, by about the end of the first third of the book, May had managed to turn the only likeable character in to a blithering idiot, while somehow making Margaret even more odious.
And then we get to the agenda part. Look, I recognise that the abortion-thing is a really controversial issue, and its tie-in with the One Child policy in China is an area of moral contention for people. I'm not trying to convert anyone to one side or the other, and I am perfectly capable of enjoying literary works that take the opposing side on a controversial issue, really I am, but I expect at the very least that you get the facts right. Peter May is so wrapped up in the anti-abortion side of it that suddenly ALL ABORTIONS will scar you for life and it is men who force women to get abortions like all of the time, and you will never be able to have children and HOLY HELL, THIS SUBPLOT WAS SO CLEARLY WRITTEN BY A DUDE.
Anyway, I won't give away the ending, though I figured out the whodunnit like 50 pages in and it took the characters for-freaking-ever to manage it. Also, somehow this book made Margaret MORE annoying which I didn't even believe was possible. I am an obsessive, so I will probably read the other entries in the series, but honestly, this is definitely the worst of the first three.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2019
I’m a big Peter May fan and will happily dive into his thrillers knowing I will be hooked throughout. Since my first Peter May book, I’ve been happy to come back for more, and after a bit of a gap I’m finally diving back into the China Thrillers.
As it’s been a while since I read the second book in the series, it took me a while to get into this one. The story did not start in line with what I’d been expecting after the ending of book two, and it took me a while to get into the way things were playing out. Once I was sucked in, though, Peter May did his usual trick and had me hooked throughout.
I will be honest and say The Killing Room is my least favourite in the series thus far. It was enjoyable, yes, but it didn’t quite wow me in the way the two prior books did. Things were a bit on the predictable side – with both the way the relationship developed between the characters and the way the crime played out – and I found myself working things out well before they came to be. Despite this, I still had a lot of fun. There was plenty to enjoy throughout, and the book is extremely difficult to put down.
Without a doubt, I’ll be diving into book four soon.
As it’s been a while since I read the second book in the series, it took me a while to get into this one. The story did not start in line with what I’d been expecting after the ending of book two, and it took me a while to get into the way things were playing out. Once I was sucked in, though, Peter May did his usual trick and had me hooked throughout.
I will be honest and say The Killing Room is my least favourite in the series thus far. It was enjoyable, yes, but it didn’t quite wow me in the way the two prior books did. Things were a bit on the predictable side – with both the way the relationship developed between the characters and the way the crime played out – and I found myself working things out well before they came to be. Despite this, I still had a lot of fun. There was plenty to enjoy throughout, and the book is extremely difficult to put down.
Without a doubt, I’ll be diving into book four soon.
August 24, 2015
The only thing remotely likable about this book is the Shanghai setting and the descriptions of the city.
Margaret is truly annoying with her jealousy, bad temper and self pity. Li used to be sort of likeable, but becomes less so with each chapter. Margaret's relationship with Li and the contest between her and Mei-Ling for Li's affection is sophomoric and cliched. The whole abortion subtheme that is woven unsubtly throughout the story is distasteful and intrusive.
If the book were just the descriptions of the city without any of the awful characters or the flimsy plot, I might have given it another star or two.
Margaret is truly annoying with her jealousy, bad temper and self pity. Li used to be sort of likeable, but becomes less so with each chapter. Margaret's relationship with Li and the contest between her and Mei-Ling for Li's affection is sophomoric and cliched. The whole abortion subtheme that is woven unsubtly throughout the story is distasteful and intrusive.
If the book were just the descriptions of the city without any of the awful characters or the flimsy plot, I might have given it another star or two.
August 21, 2023
Peter May’s writing is so detailed and immersive. If I ever go to Shanghai, I now have a big list of places to visit. I just wish there was more romance between Li and Margaret like the first book. Also, Margaret’s experience with abortion felt like a clunky insert to match the themes of this book, I don’t think it was necessary.
September 26, 2016
I am mostly enjoying this series, although I am growing very weary of the constant romantic tension between the two main characters. Hopefully this will be scaled back in the next book, although I have my doubts.
July 27, 2022
A bit gruesome in places - but an excellent thriller.
December 30, 2023
I've enjoyed Peter May's China Thrillers so far, but this one was the weakest so far. I get that starting the novel with Margaret and Li hating each other and end it with them loving each other is good drama, but for three books in a row it gets a little bit too much. The case that brings them together once again is fine (and quite horrific), but nothing exceptional. Here's hoping the next in the series is better.
April 27, 2021
The Killing Room is the third in Peter May's China Thrillers series. Published in the late 90's, early 2000's these books reflect an era that saw the rapid acceleration of economic development as capitalism begins to erode traditional government managed organizations.
The discovery of multiple bodies at a construction site in Shanghai is horrific. The mutilation of these bodies closely resembles a body found in Beijing and Detective Section Chief Li Yan is sent to Shanghai to collaborate on the investigation. Autopsies are required and Li Yan's off again on again lover, pathologist Dr. Margaret Campbell, returns from the United States to lend her expertise. This is a complicated case and the investigation is impeded by political interference.
I very much enjoyed another trip to China and the well constructed mystery at the heart of this story. But aaargh, the ongoing angst between Margaret and Li Yan is off putting. There is too much drama surrounding an adolescent-like relationship between two seasoned professionals, most of which could be resolved through an honest conversation. 3 stars for this outing and I hope to see some character growth in the next entry. Perhaps Margaret who considers Beijing her home now could learn to speak Mandarin?
The discovery of multiple bodies at a construction site in Shanghai is horrific. The mutilation of these bodies closely resembles a body found in Beijing and Detective Section Chief Li Yan is sent to Shanghai to collaborate on the investigation. Autopsies are required and Li Yan's off again on again lover, pathologist Dr. Margaret Campbell, returns from the United States to lend her expertise. This is a complicated case and the investigation is impeded by political interference.
I very much enjoyed another trip to China and the well constructed mystery at the heart of this story. But aaargh, the ongoing angst between Margaret and Li Yan is off putting. There is too much drama surrounding an adolescent-like relationship between two seasoned professionals, most of which could be resolved through an honest conversation. 3 stars for this outing and I hope to see some character growth in the next entry. Perhaps Margaret who considers Beijing her home now could learn to speak Mandarin?
April 19, 2021
I'm just not certain about this series. At first, I was unable to get into the story but Peter May's fluid writing style carried me into the final third of the book. Once Margarets relationship issues became slightly less important the action did take over and Li Yan was able to focus on the dismembered bodies found on a building site the story took a better turn.
Lots of relationship issues, corruption, greed and the eternal pursuit of money are the factors high on the agenda. The Chinese one-child policy also comes in for scrutiny. Some good reading and it makes 3 stars from me.
Lots of relationship issues, corruption, greed and the eternal pursuit of money are the factors high on the agenda. The Chinese one-child policy also comes in for scrutiny. Some good reading and it makes 3 stars from me.
May 31, 2025
I haven’t read a book set in China in quite a while. This is one of a series of criminal mysteries. This one is set mostly in Shanghai.
May 13, 2018
4.5 stars!
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June 25, 2016Třetí díl Čínských thrillerů ještě více klade důraz na vztahy mezi oběma hlavními hrdiny a slušně přitvrzuje, co se detailů vražd týká. Násilí se také dostává až přímo do života hlavních hrdinů. nepřipomíná vám to sérii s jakýmsi Cormoranem Strikem?
Opět se dočkáme nadprůměrného příběhu (i když geniality Lewiské trilogie nedosáhne), exotických realit, čínské politiky jako v předcházejících dvou dílech. Jen těch mrtvol je zde jak u Kulhánka a policie nejdříve nezná jejich totožnost. Příjemnou změnou je i to, že se příběh přesouvá z "komunistického a tradičního" Pekingu do "kapitalistické a supermoderní" Šangaje.
Jak toho napsat více a nespojlovat? Tak jen telegraficky: přibude zcela nová postava Mej-Ling, sexy čínské policejní důstojnice, což logicky vede k "dívčí" válce, opět je zde jeden bílý cizinec, se kterým si Margaret začne rozumět, politika a tlak nadřízených nesmí chybět.
Pokud jste útlocitnější povahy, tak rozhodně nečtěte tuto knihu před jídlem a ani bezprostředně po něm. Jednak je tam spousta nepříjemných detailů z různých pitev a druhak jsou tam barvitě líčeny detaily čínské kuchyně, které jsou hodně daleko chutím běžného Evropana. Jo a pokud nedáváte příběhy, kde je ubližováno dětem, tak si čtení tohoto dílu rozmyslete. Ale každopádně je to Peter May. Ten píše jen povedené a geniální knihy.
Opět se dočkáme nadprůměrného příběhu (i když geniality Lewiské trilogie nedosáhne), exotických realit, čínské politiky jako v předcházejících dvou dílech. Jen těch mrtvol je zde jak u Kulhánka a policie nejdříve nezná jejich totožnost. Příjemnou změnou je i to, že se příběh přesouvá z "komunistického a tradičního" Pekingu do "kapitalistické a supermoderní" Šangaje.
Jak toho napsat více a nespojlovat? Tak jen telegraficky: přibude zcela nová postava Mej-Ling, sexy čínské policejní důstojnice, což logicky vede k "dívčí" válce, opět je zde jeden bílý cizinec, se kterým si Margaret začne rozumět, politika a tlak nadřízených nesmí chybět.
Pokud jste útlocitnější povahy, tak rozhodně nečtěte tuto knihu před jídlem a ani bezprostředně po něm. Jednak je tam spousta nepříjemných detailů z různých pitev a druhak jsou tam barvitě líčeny detaily čínské kuchyně, které jsou hodně daleko chutím běžného Evropana. Jo a pokud nedáváte příběhy, kde je ubližováno dětem, tak si čtení tohoto dílu rozmyslete. Ale každopádně je to Peter May. Ten píše jen povedené a geniální knihy.
June 5, 2018
I mulled over continuing to listen to this book, which in reality it was so far fetched: finding the bodies, hiring the detective from another town, a flirty female senior police officer in China?, her weird family who cook really odd stuff, an American woman flown in for autopsies. The analogies go on and on.
Obviously Peter MAY can use words well to write a novel, but really this was so out of left and right field, it was ridiculous. And as for it being set in China made it more unbelievable.
Obviously Peter MAY can use words well to write a novel, but really this was so out of left and right field, it was ridiculous. And as for it being set in China made it more unbelievable.
July 25, 2017
Byla zlevněná, tak jsem ji koupila. Tuhle Mayovu řadu jsem pořád odkládala, nechtělo se mi číst nic, co se odehrává v Číně. A opět chyba. Sice jsem začala zprostřed řady, ale vůbec to nevadilo. Už začátek byl napínavý. A napětí nezmizelo až do konce. Hromadný hrob, vyšinutý medik, čínská kultura, politika jednoho dítěte, ... Vlastně, jednu chybku to možná mělo. Český překlad a skloňování jména Li. Myslím, že by se mělo říkat Liovi a ne Limu, například. To mě při četbě trochu rušilo.
June 25, 2019
The third book in his Chinese series and the drama switches from Beijing to Shanghai.
After returning 'home' for the funeral of her father , to her nagging and scheming mother, pathologist Margaret Campbell gets the call from Deputy Section Chief Li to fly to Shanghai to help him with a 'poison chalice' of a case.
Little does she anticipate that Li's opposite number in Shanghai is a very attractive female officer who has serious intentions on him. The previous will they/wont they scenario is further clouded by this third party as Margaret seems to do everything to push them together.
However, this is only the backdrop to the main business . The burial of many body parts which is uncovered in a quasi comedic way.
The author keeps the level of interest high and the excitment bubbling through discovery and development. Peter May treets the goryiness of the story much to my satisfaction and whereas I will reduce my score for gratuitious violence, here I felt no need.
Looking forward to the next.
After returning 'home' for the funeral of her father , to her nagging and scheming mother, pathologist Margaret Campbell gets the call from Deputy Section Chief Li to fly to Shanghai to help him with a 'poison chalice' of a case.
Little does she anticipate that Li's opposite number in Shanghai is a very attractive female officer who has serious intentions on him. The previous will they/wont they scenario is further clouded by this third party as Margaret seems to do everything to push them together.
However, this is only the backdrop to the main business . The burial of many body parts which is uncovered in a quasi comedic way.
The author keeps the level of interest high and the excitment bubbling through discovery and development. Peter May treets the goryiness of the story much to my satisfaction and whereas I will reduce my score for gratuitious violence, here I felt no need.
Looking forward to the next.
June 7, 2017
séria čínskych trilerov od Petra Maya je skvelá... Sál smrti je proste super... milujem na tejto sérii čínske prostredie, zaujímavé kultúrne odlišnosti, v Sále smrti je skvelá detektívna zápletka, napätie a zároveň aj osobné vzťahy medzi hlavnými postavami... proste skvelý mix všetkého, správne nadávkovaný a ešte k tomu s absolútne nádhernými obálkami :)
January 18, 2019
Tak toto je pecka. Na petra Maya som pocuvala ody uz dlhu dobu. Teraz moc citat nestiham ale zvolila som si tieto knihy ako audioknihy a je to TOP. Odporucam vsetkymi desiatimi je to super spracovane a neviem sa od toho odtrhnut.
June 17, 2024
polar au cœur de la Chine urbaine et association d’un chinois et d’une américaine pour résoudre les meurtres de nombreuses jeunes femmes … et gérer leur relation de couple ! Toujours un plaisir de lire cet auteur.
April 24, 2022
I am in love with Peter May’s writing. It is just so evocative , skilfully crafted and genuinely brilliant. The sheer research that goes into each story is awesome. This is no 3 in the China series. ( which I am reading in sequence but interspersed with another book each time) . The story tells of the developing love/ hate relationship of section Chief Li and American pathologist Margaret. This time in Shanghai - and we feel all the difference between this city and Li’s native Beijing. Descriptive prowess at its height. The theme is murder ( obviously) this time mass murder of females … all cut up, found in a mass grave. The plot is who are they, what links them, why and finally who. Of course the dramatic duo are successful and live to tell another tale. But what a read!
September 15, 2019
Asi mám nějakou orientální horečku, ale Mayovy činské thrillery poslední dobou doslova hltám. V pořadí už třetí díl série, Sál Smrti, jsem slupla jaka malinu. Další případ vražd pro americko-čínské duo. Milostná část mezi Lim a Margaret je tentokrát zastoupena jen okrajově a Peter May se víc věnuje případu samotnému a hlavně pak tomu, co mu jde tak úžasně dobře - popisy prostředí. V Pekingu se tentokrát ocitáme jen okrajově a většina děje se odehrává v Šanghaji, kde bylo objeveno 18 rozčtvrcených ženských těl. K případu jsou povoláni jak Li Jen tak Margaret. Na pozadí vyšetřování Peter May okrajově nastiňuje i téma politiky jednoho dítěte. Napínavé, dobře napsané. Určitě doporučuji.
May 16, 2021
Jako kdyby mě Peter May slyšel:) - tato knížka už byla mnohem lepší, i když by pořád nemuselo být tolik analýzy vztahů.
January 20, 2025
Zapletka zajimava a tezce morbidni. Cast jsem odhadla, takze jsem pysna.. Ale trochu se bojim, ze takhle to mozna funguje i v realnym svete? Nekde?
A nevim teda, kdo bude vystupovat v dalsim dile, kdyz uz ted jsou vsichni mrtvi..
A nevim teda, kdo bude vystupovat v dalsim dile, kdyz uz ted jsou vsichni mrtvi..
November 7, 2020
Prvá veta: Déšť rozmazává pohled ze zadního sedadla jeho limuzíny jako slzy.
Posledná veta: „Tu potřebujeme všichni,“ řekl. „Tu potřebujeme všichni.“
Goodreads Challenge 2020: 69. kniha
Posledná veta: „Tu potřebujeme všichni,“ řekl. „Tu potřebujeme všichni.“
Goodreads Challenge 2020: 69. kniha
October 3, 2023
I enjoyed the book, but wow, what a lot of detail!
April 7, 2018
Now then...this was a great read!!
Anyone who likes detailed gore this is a MUST for you.
Its not all gore...but when it comes down to it...its really really gross. In a good way 😉.
So a quick summary of the story...
Set in China (mostly Shanghai) an american pathologist helps out her chinese detective lover in solving a mass murdering when a grave of 18 women is found!
Margaret and Li Yan find themselves questioning their personal feelings and lives within this investigation...i particularly found one part quite amusing where they had a heated discussion about their love life whilst a body was having a post mortem...this scene made me chuckle and then made me feel really guilty!! Whoever reads this...you will know what i mean!!🙈
Iv learnt a lot about China and its quirky way of life during my reading of this book. Love the writing style as it is detailed in the perfect way. I love the way the author captures a beautiful sounding country...but with a background of horror and fright.
Anyone who likes detailed gore this is a MUST for you.
Its not all gore...but when it comes down to it...its really really gross. In a good way 😉.
So a quick summary of the story...
Set in China (mostly Shanghai) an american pathologist helps out her chinese detective lover in solving a mass murdering when a grave of 18 women is found!
Margaret and Li Yan find themselves questioning their personal feelings and lives within this investigation...i particularly found one part quite amusing where they had a heated discussion about their love life whilst a body was having a post mortem...this scene made me chuckle and then made me feel really guilty!! Whoever reads this...you will know what i mean!!🙈
Iv learnt a lot about China and its quirky way of life during my reading of this book. Love the writing style as it is detailed in the perfect way. I love the way the author captures a beautiful sounding country...but with a background of horror and fright.
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