If I go to the theatre to watch a crime story I would be disappointed to find a farce on in its place and this was how Shanhai Bandit seemed to me. It was very funny in parts and it was a cleverly complex story but just not for me.

While I was once again entertained by this author's writing, his second book further reinforces his need for anti-oppressive training as he reinforces problematic views about racism here.

I have to hand it to the author. This is a strange book, with a different plot and a cast of colorful characters. I guess most people who liked it looked at it as humorous. I guess I did not. I found the plot way, way beyond belief and the characters funny but also way, way beyond belief. Chin works at a bank that s robbed by a woman and a man, her accomplice. During this robbery, another robbery takes place. This other robber appears to have had a stroke in the middle of the robbery, and Chin volunteers, along with the two original robbers, to take him to the ER. However, they were fooled, and the man, who was obviously playing ill, ditches them, takes the money and runs. Chin, a former decorated Viet Nam vet Major, once an MP in a well-known MP unit in Viet Nam, becomes involved with the two robbers who were as fooled as he was, while acting in a humanitarian fashion. Soon, Chin also is looking at robbing his own bank to get money necessary to buy back his maybe daughter (he is not sure) from a Viet Namese slave master, who has her working in his factory for 15 years, to work off the $10,000 her mother got for her. Can this group of misfits succeed? Will Chin mastermind a robbery of his own bank successfully?

The story moves along at a fast clip. The characters are colorful. However, I failed to find much humor and, in fact, wondered about the open racism throughout. Granted, not all of it was used maliciously, but after a while, I failed to see its purpose. I also do not see any bank robbers acting the way these did. There were some fairly interesting twists and turns, including the ending. Nevertheless, I felt the book ended in sort of a cliff hanger, which is not something I normally like in books. I give the author credit for writing a different, creative book. It just was not to my liking. I guess it would come across as humorous to many, just not to me. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.