A novel that gave me somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand, the description of rural China, with its brutal characters, the infanticide of female daughters as a side effect of the one-child policy and patriarchal traditions, the widespread misogyny; on the other hand, the sometimes too juvenile tone of the narrative, excessive even considering that the two protagonists are in their early twenties. The two protagonists, an American girl and a Chinese boy adopted by Americans when he was still very young, are sent as teachers to a very poor village, and soon discover that many things do not add up, until a local girl is found murdered. Set up as a thriller, the novel narrates in parallel the search for the murderer of the young Nannan and that of the protagonist's sister, the one who, in the orphanage where the two were hospitalised, saved him from starvation by selling herself. What is most convincing is the narration of the agony of Nannan, whom the men of the village repeatedly rape as a form of repayment of her father's debts. This is considered so normal that, when Nannan is murdered, rather than looking for the murderer, they agree to transfer the debt, and its repayment, to her younger sister, little more than a child.

Impressive debut novel! It built suspense and engaged the reader with strong character development. If delving into sex work in future writing, anti-oppressive training advised.

I'm a big fan of mysteries, and I enjoyed this unique novel that takes place in China. Ed and Lorrie are two UNICEF volunteers who want to teach in a small Chinese town for their own secret reasons. The plot is propulsive and I read this in a single setting. My copy was an ARC, which had a good bit of editing left and that made for a few rough patches and the writing is only mediocre and the dialogue sometimes irritating (like Ed's affectation of saying "For serious", which makes you take him, well, not so seriously). But overall, the plot makes it all worthwhile. Solid debut.