Shanghai

Starred review from April 8, 2024
In this superbly written WWII espionage thriller, Edgar winner Kanon (The Berlin Exchange) introduces Daniel Lohr, a German Jew who escapes 1938 Berlin for Shanghai, the only port city that doesn’t require an entry visa. On the journey there, Daniel’s unexpected liaison with fellow passenger Leah Auerbach is overshadowed by a close call with Colonel Yamada, an officer in the dreaded Japanese military police and a close ally of the Nazis. When Daniel arrives in Shanghai, he takes refuge with his uncle, Nathan, who operates a casino and a jazz club while steadily expanding his partnership with Chinese mob bosses across the city. After surviving a gang-related ambush that nearly kills Nathan, Daniel rises to prominence in Shanghai’s criminal underworld. However, his obsession with Leah and hatred of Yamada threaten to undermine him as he navigates the combined perils of Shanghai’s German-allied Japanese occupation, the city’s ballooning gang violence, and the psychological pressures of his own refugee status. From the opening paragraph, it’s clear readers are in expert hands: Kanon writes with a master’s touch, flexing his gift for atmosphere and crafting characters who seem capable of walking off the page and taking a seat next to the reader. With pulse-pounding suspense, top-shelf dialogue, and a palpable evocation of its period setting, this is as good as crime fiction gets. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM Partners.

Starred review from May 15, 2024
It's 1939, and Daniel Lohr escapes Trieste by the skin of his teeth; the SS has already captured several operatives from his resistance cell. Using a false identity, Daniel snags a stateroom aboard a luxury ship bound for his Uncle Nathan's underworld stronghold in Shanghai. Lulled into security by the ship's last-hurrah atmosphere, Daniel unknowingly charts a dangerous course for his new life as he falls for Leah Auerbach and catches the attention of Shanghai's Kempeitei (military police) Colonel Yamada. The evolving power structure in Shanghai is a treacherous swirl of expats fleeing the Nazis or chasing wealth, Chinese underworld bosses, and Japanese secret police seeking to extend control beyond Manchuria. There, Daniel manages operations of his uncle's casinos and nightclubs, while Leah attempts to find safety as Yamada's mistress. But security in wartime Shanghai proves to be a dangerous illusion. Nathan's Chinese gangland partners ignite an underworld war, Daniel's past allegiances to his fellow resistance operatives drag him into intrigue, and his connection to Leah pits him against Yamada. Edgar-winning Kanon (The Berlin Exchange, 2022) plays global and personal intrigues to perfection here, using Daniel's conscience-driven subterfuge as a foil for power grabs. Fans of historical thrillers will appreciate Kanon's ability to cloak betrayals with the period's looming uncertainty and evoke Shanghai's particular vitality.

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Starred review from May 15, 2024
In the aftermath of Kristallnacht, German resistance fighter Daniel Lohr escapes to Shanghai only to be surrounded by a different brand of violence. Daniel, who's half-Jewish, is among a shipload of European Jews who jump at the chance to relocate to Shanghai, even if it means surrendering all their money and worldly goods to the Nazis. As unlikely a destination as it is, it's the only port that doesn't require an entrance visa. Daniel, whose Jewish father was killed by the Nazis, goes to work for his uncle Nathan, who runs a successful casino in a dangerous part of Shanghai in advance of the anticipated Japanese occupation. Daniel is quickly indoctrinated into the Chinese gang warfare being waged over control of the clubs when Nathan is shot and wounded. Soon enough, Daniel is as enmeshed in the killing culture as anyone, committing bad acts when not diplomatically making nice to bad sorts--chief among them Colonel Yamada, slimy head of Kempeitai, the Japanese gestapo. When Daniel sees Leah, his shipboard romance, in the forced company of Yamada, you know a violent reckoning awaits. As in his spy novels (The Berlin Exchange, 2022; Istanbul Passage, 2012), Kanon demonstrates a mastery of closed-in drama. Such is the jabbing understatement of the dialogue--what's withheld matters more than what's said--that it holds you in suspense as much as any action scene. Though the author's use of the Holocaust as a mere backdrop to the story may leave some readers uneasy, the contrast between his impeccable control and the nightmarish chaos of this time and place gives things a powerful edge. Kanon goes to China with stirring results.

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