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Claiming Susan Chin
Longlisted for the 2022 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
A passenger airliner plummets into the Korean DMZ, killing every person on board but one: Susan Chin, a sixteen-year-old Singaporean girl with Down syndrome. The authorities are quick to dismiss the crash as an accident, but the insurers aren't convinced, not over the girl's questionable account. Claims investigator Jean Wan is called upon to challenge the ruling. She befriends Susan and uncovers an eccentric version of her story laced with magic mushrooms, a dead girl and the unusual bond between Susan and her father. Confronted by the stench of conspiracy, Jean realises she must strike at the heart of it all—the innocence of Susan Chin.
A passenger airliner plummets into the Korean DMZ, killing every person on board but one: Susan Chin, a sixteen-year-old Singaporean girl with Down syndrome. The authorities are quick to dismiss the crash as an accident, but the insurers aren't convinced, not over the girl's questionable account. Claims investigator Jean Wan is called upon to challenge the ruling. She befriends Susan and uncovers an eccentric version of her story laced with magic mushrooms, a dead girl and the unusual bond between Susan and her father. Confronted by the stench of conspiracy, Jean realises she must strike at the heart of it all—the innocence of Susan Chin.
- GenresFiction
352 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2023
35 people want to read
About the author
Tham Cheng-E
3 books8 followersTham Cheng-E writes about the special needs community and maintains a family blog on parenting and Down syndrome. He is the author of Surrogate Protocol, a finalist of the 2016 Epigram Books Fiction Prize, and Band Eight, a novel longlisted for the 2017 Epigram Books Fiction Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 4, 2026
A heart-wrenching book that starts somewhat confusingly and devastates near the end.
Summary: Jean Wan is a claims inspector working in the aviation industry. When Flight 228 goes down over the DPMZ in North Korea, she's tasked to investigate what happened and whether or not any foul play happened; all to see if the Big Five insurance companies need to provide payouts. Only one issue: the only survivor is a 16 year old girl with Down's syndrome, named Susan Chin.
Tham's penchant for using big words slightly annoyed me (like I never had to pull out my dictionary so many times in a book before). The trajectory of the book was also kinda predictable, with Jean going from "surface-level" character to having a deeper meaning in her life because of Susan. Even so, I really liked this book because it ultimately felt like it had a lot of heart.
Tham switches perspectives between Jean as she investigated what happened and put together her report (on top of her fiancee leaving her after cheating and her friend Macy moving in with her), and Susan as she was on the plane in the aftermath of the crash. I felt that was a really effective narrative device to first provoke the questions of what happened, then slowly reveal the answers. And ultimately, I felt like it was a really bold decision to have a central character be developmentally challenged while showing her perspective and how she sees the world. It was fascinating to see how she sees everyday circumstances AND how she reacts to a life-alternating traumatic event like surviving a plane crash.
I also loved that a lot of the characters are very morally grey in this (except Zayn we hate Zayn). There aren't really saints or sinners in this. Even Susan herself is given moments where she lies and lashes out, as opposed to the innocent and "pure" personalities usually imposed onto people with special needs.
Even despite the cast of colourful characters though (like Macy who felt like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl lmao) I felt like the most interesting character in this was actually Susan's father, as it felt like a reflection of what the author fears he's like towards his own child with Down's syndrome. Sue's father is a deeply flawed man who acts (and is capable of acting) very cruelly towards her, but he's also shown to care deeply for her in the course of the plane crash. I really liked that. Jean's connection to Sue was also honestly really sweet, and it felt nice to see a neurotypical person bonding and really understanding a neurodivergent person, even as Tham unflinchingly shows the friction and conflict that comes from such differences.
Some criticism I have is about the ending. I felt that it was a little too sweet and too nicely wrapped up, but it makes sense why the arc would go that way. Maybe my cynical self was expecting a darker ending, but it was nice to see that in this whole crock of pain that Tham puts Susan through, she gets a "happy" ending.
4/5, would recommend!!
Summary: Jean Wan is a claims inspector working in the aviation industry. When Flight 228 goes down over the DPMZ in North Korea, she's tasked to investigate what happened and whether or not any foul play happened; all to see if the Big Five insurance companies need to provide payouts. Only one issue: the only survivor is a 16 year old girl with Down's syndrome, named Susan Chin.
Tham's penchant for using big words slightly annoyed me (like I never had to pull out my dictionary so many times in a book before). The trajectory of the book was also kinda predictable, with Jean going from "surface-level" character to having a deeper meaning in her life because of Susan. Even so, I really liked this book because it ultimately felt like it had a lot of heart.
Tham switches perspectives between Jean as she investigated what happened and put together her report (on top of her fiancee leaving her after cheating and her friend Macy moving in with her), and Susan as she was on the plane in the aftermath of the crash. I felt that was a really effective narrative device to first provoke the questions of what happened, then slowly reveal the answers. And ultimately, I felt like it was a really bold decision to have a central character be developmentally challenged while showing her perspective and how she sees the world. It was fascinating to see how she sees everyday circumstances AND how she reacts to a life-alternating traumatic event like surviving a plane crash.
I also loved that a lot of the characters are very morally grey in this (except Zayn we hate Zayn). There aren't really saints or sinners in this. Even Susan herself is given moments where she lies and lashes out, as opposed to the innocent and "pure" personalities usually imposed onto people with special needs.
Even despite the cast of colourful characters though (like Macy who felt like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl lmao) I felt like the most interesting character in this was actually Susan's father, as it felt like a reflection of what the author fears he's like towards his own child with Down's syndrome. Sue's father is a deeply flawed man who acts (and is capable of acting) very cruelly towards her, but he's also shown to care deeply for her in the course of the plane crash. I really liked that. Jean's connection to Sue was also honestly really sweet, and it felt nice to see a neurotypical person bonding and really understanding a neurodivergent person, even as Tham unflinchingly shows the friction and conflict that comes from such differences.
Some criticism I have is about the ending. I felt that it was a little too sweet and too nicely wrapped up, but it makes sense why the arc would go that way. Maybe my cynical self was expecting a darker ending, but it was nice to see that in this whole crock of pain that Tham puts Susan through, she gets a "happy" ending.
4/5, would recommend!!
August 2, 2023
a book that has a main character with down syndrome...I STAN 😩😩😩 this is really a very interesting story about a 15yo singaporean named susan chin who is the only survivor of a plane crash in the korean demilitarised zone (DMZ). intrigued enough, we start to wonder how did she even do that when NO ONE else was able to survive...
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. as soon as i heard about how the story revolves around a person with disability, i was really excited since im always down to diversify my reads. it was really good until i realized that the chapters started to have flashbacks more often and narratively, im generally not really a fan of novels which jump back and forth in time. 😬 ((unless it didnt interrupt the reading flow)) unfortunately, i found myself going back & forth reading the chapters in order to connect the dots which i felt that i spent quite some time in doing so. mainly bc there were some parts which i felt lost and wished there would be a clearer explanation of what actually happened. 😢
anyways, overall i quite enjoy the story even though the ending was a bit lacklustering too since it was quite predictable. i would still recommend giving it a read as not often we would get a protagonist w/ down syndrome!!!! i think this is my first encounter in fiction actually if i were to be honest so it was definitely refreshing ugh ITS TIME 🥹🥹🥹
also at one point, i start to wonder what inspired the author to include a down syndrome character & i found out that tham cheng-E is actually a father of one boy with down syndrome irl. 🥹 no wonder that the representation felt authentic especially in depicting the challenges of taking care of someone with intellectual disability.
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. as soon as i heard about how the story revolves around a person with disability, i was really excited since im always down to diversify my reads. it was really good until i realized that the chapters started to have flashbacks more often and narratively, im generally not really a fan of novels which jump back and forth in time. 😬 ((unless it didnt interrupt the reading flow)) unfortunately, i found myself going back & forth reading the chapters in order to connect the dots which i felt that i spent quite some time in doing so. mainly bc there were some parts which i felt lost and wished there would be a clearer explanation of what actually happened. 😢
anyways, overall i quite enjoy the story even though the ending was a bit lacklustering too since it was quite predictable. i would still recommend giving it a read as not often we would get a protagonist w/ down syndrome!!!! i think this is my first encounter in fiction actually if i were to be honest so it was definitely refreshing ugh ITS TIME 🥹🥹🥹
also at one point, i start to wonder what inspired the author to include a down syndrome character & i found out that tham cheng-E is actually a father of one boy with down syndrome irl. 🥹 no wonder that the representation felt authentic especially in depicting the challenges of taking care of someone with intellectual disability.
September 22, 2025
wow, this was really a good book. love the different characters, especially the father. and of course the unique journey of susan chin. the author had really managed to stir my emotions up. thumbs up!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews