The Red Lotus

January 20, 2020
A bicycling tour of Vietnam takes a dark turn when Manhattan ER doctor Alexis Remnick’s boyfriend, Austin Harper, disappears in this intricately plotted thriller from Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant). Austin, an experienced cyclist, fails to return to the couple’s hotel after a long solo ride, during which he planned to pay his respects to his father and uncle, who were American soldiers in the Vietnam War. His uncle was killed, and his father was wounded. As the hours pass, Alexis, worried for Austin’s safety, contacts the authorities, and learns that Austin lied about his father and uncle. When Austin’s body is found, it’s suspected that he was a victim of a hit and run. But after identifying his body, Alexis has reason to suspect foul play. Back home, Alexis hires a PI to unearth the truth behind Austin’s lies. Austin may have been enmeshed in a scheme with global implications, and Alexis is drawn into a diabolical plot reminiscent of a Robin Cook thriller. Each character, including secondary players, is carefully drawn, and Bohjalian keeps the tension high all the way to the surprising finale. Bohjalian’s many fans and newcomers alike will be satisfied. Author tour.

January 15, 2020
In Bohjalian's (The Flight Attendant, 2018, etc.) breathless thriller, the death of an American bicyclist in Vietnam sets off a race to avert further catastrophe. Alexis, a doctor at an unnamed university hospital in Manhattan, met Austin six months ago when he came into her ER with a bullet in his arm, fired by a junkie in a bar where Austin and a chance acquaintance, Douglas, were playing darts. Austin works as a fundraiser at the same hospital. In fact, his office, significantly as we will learn, is near a rodent research lab. The present action takes place over a countdown clock of 10 days, beginning in Vietnam, where the new couple is on a bike tour. Austin goes for a solo ride, telling Alexis he wants to pay respects by visiting the locations where his uncle was killed and his father wounded during the war. When he doesn't return, Alexis goes out looking for him, finding a few packets of energy gel that we already know Austin dropped on the road while being abducted--by Douglas. Pressing Austin for information, Douglas drives a dart into Austin's hand. Vietnamese police discover Austin's body and a post-mortem concludes that he was killed in a hit-and-run collision. While identifying the body, though, Alexis notices the wound on Austin's hand and suspects foul play. Back in New York, she hires Ken, a PI, to investigate. Quang, a Vietnamese police captain, suspects that Austin was a smuggler, but of what? Alexis soon learns that Austin had lied about many things, not least his true mission in Vietnam. What characters learn, and when, is critical. Abetted by shifting points of view, seemingly disparate elements eventually converge to create a burgeoning sense of dread. Italicized, anonymous first-person comments, interspersed throughout, cite the long history of rats as quickly evolving plague carriers--most recently, of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Among many tantalizing questions: Austin's former boss Sally is Douglas' lover--where do her loyalties lie? In fact, whose side is Douglas on? And what is in those packets? Bohjalian manages to keep us guessing and turning pages until the very end.

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January 1, 2020
While they're on an ambitious vacation biking through the verdant landscape of Vietnam, Alexis Remnick's boyfriend of six months, Austin Harper, goes missing. On a mission to pay homage to his father and deceased uncle, who both served in the Vietnam War, Austin had embarked on a solo ride to view the spot where his uncle died and his father was wounded. He never returns to their hotel, and Alexis is catapulted into a nightmarish quest to discover why. When his mangled body is recovered, the police initially surmise he was the victim of a hit-and-run, but suddenly the stories he told Alexis about his family's past turn out to be just that, stories, and Alexis' mission broadens to uncover the true identity of the man she thought she loved. In this tightly drawn, steadily hair-raising thriller, Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant, 2018) once again demonstrates his keen affinity for strong, capable female protagonists, while his masterful merging of setting and plot delivers a cerebral and dramatic dive into what happens when love turns to agony.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2020

Alexis and Austin have been dating for months when he suggests they go on a bike tour in Vietnam. Austin is not only a cycling enthusiast, he also wants to visit the site where his uncle was killed in the war. After days of being with the tour group, Austin sets off for his solo journey on the Hai Van Pass. When he doesn't return to the hotel, Alexis knows something dire has happened. What at first appears to be a tragic hit-and-run case slowly descends into something much more wicked and far-reaching. As more of Austin's lies are exposed, Alexis wonders what his true purpose was for coming to Vietnam. And instead of grieving a lost lover, she goes all in, even hiring a private detective (himself a Vietnam veteran) to investigate Austin's death. VERDICT Best-selling author Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant) paints a bleak picture of pharmaceutical espionage, worldwide pandemics, and the breathtaking adaptability of the rat. Alternating action between Vietnam and New York, along with the dynamic pace, will please suspense fans. [See Prepub Alert, 8/25/19.]--Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2019

Bohjalian reinvents himself with each new novel, and after 2018's The Flight Attendant, which is in development for a limited HBO series, he's at it again. Here, ER doctor Alexis falls for Austin after cleaning up a bullet wound in his arm, and six months later they're taking a bicycle trip through Vietnam, where cycling fanatic Austin intends to honor a father and uncle who fought in the war. Then he vanishes, leaving Alexis wondering how much danger she's in. With a national tour.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.