Peter may does it again . He is one of my favorite writers.
This book is fast paced and rich with detail and features crusty characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Peter May has been on a roll in the past few years following the publication of "The Black House" in 2013. This makes his back catalog valuable.

"Snakehead" was first published in 2002 and frankly I don’t think it is very good. It's a bioterror thriller with characters that in addition to being stereotypical are also two dimensional. I read for a while and then stopped because I did not like anybody.

While I am in the midst of a project with a Goodreads friend, reading virtually anything and everything Peter May has written, Quercus US, the publisher, has been re-releasing some of his early titles including Snakehead, the 4th in his China series, re-released just this month. Because I wanted to read this book now, I skipped over books 2 and 3 in the series. I will definitely return to them very soon.

Unlike the action of Firemaker, book 1, Snakehead is set entirely in the United States. Margaret Campbell has returned home to the U.S. after a few years in China, having found life as an American in China remained difficult and her relationship with Li Yan did not appear to be realistic. She has been home for some eighteen months and now works as a forensics chief in Houston. So she is front and center when an abandoned tractor trailer is found in a parking lot nearby with almost 100 illegal immigrants inside. They are all Chinese and all dead. This leads to a massive multi-agency investigation which also ropes in Li Yan who, coincidentally, now is attached to the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C.

Yes there are coincidences, as there are in virtually any mystery but they advance the story and relationships. And in this book, I have come to see that the relationship between Margaret and Li is central and important to furthering the action.

One detail that can be a touch disorienting at times is that this novel is not set in the present. (It was the present when it was written of course.) George Bush is President and some aspects of life just feel a bit different though issues related to immigration are very current. Interesting that life can seem to change so much in 20 years.

Overall, while I liked Snakehead, I prefer Firemaker with its inclusion of so much information on China and the Chinese people. Snakehead does have its share of action scenes and a lot happening. It also presents a lot of science on various illnesses. Peter May does enjoy educating his readers and he does it well. There were surprises along the way for the characters and me, as reader.

3.5* rounded to 4*

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

“Snakehead” by Peter May opens with the recovery of a submarine from the icy waters. “The Seadragon” looms overhead the carcass of some giant beached whale as observers wonder how it was possible that twenty-two men had once lived and died aboard her. The scene quickly shifts to Texas as Deputy J. J. Jackson follows the bumpy road up to the parking lot on a big empty stretch of dusty tarmac. A large refrigerated food tractor-trailer sits unattended, its back doors slightly ajar. Jackson approaches with caution, his gun drawn. Inside he finds produce scattered around and something else, bodies, ghostly pale Asian faces. Margaret Campbell receives the call from the sheriff’s office in Walker County. They need her help with ninety people dead in a truck. Campbell teams with past “associate” Detective Li Yan, and they soon find that the crime scene hides another secret, a biological time bomb, the flu, and a particularly nasty form of flu.
The plot is fast-paced and engaging as the team races against time to solve the crime, uncover human traffickers, and decode the medical time bomb, thus averting a widespread bio-terrorist attack. The book is chilling, disquieting, and filled with surprising twists, but discerning readers might pick up a few clues along the way. The characters are multi-faceted and believable as they struggle with personal emotions as well as international politics. They are resilient, and yet at times vulnerable and human.
May also paints a vibrant picture of the setting of all this terror and potential destruction.
“The sky was a clear, pale blue. Dew lay white on the grass of Sam Houston Park. The long shadows of downtown skyscrapers reached across the tiny patch of parkland like dark protective fingers. The sun peeped between the glass and concrete structures, flashing off windows, lying in long yellow strips. A mist rose off the pond like smoke, sunlight playing in the water of the fountain.”
Even though “Snakehead” is not set in China, May still weaves lots of culture and international maneuvering into the plot line. I am a huge fan of May’s other books, and find the China Thriller Series to be just as compelling. I was given a copy of the release of “Snakehead” by Peter May, Quercus, and NetGalley. Readers will not put down this thrilling, compelling book until finished. As a coffee-lover, I looked twice at my cup.

Another great thriller from the great Peter May! I've enjoyed every book in the China thriller. It was entertaining to see American pathologist Margaret Campbell finds herself back on home soil and Beijing detective Li Yan, now based at the Chinese embassy in Washington work a case in this United States.

A truck full of dead Chinese kicks off this taut crime thriller written with Peter May's usual gift for intrigue and suspense.

It was a enjoyable book that reminded me of Rush Hour. Rush Hour focused on the relationship between a American cop and Chinese one. The plot was timely because it focused on illegal immigrants and terrorism . I would like to thank netgalley for letting me review this book

Peter May has written a fascinating series featuring American pathologist Margaret Campbell and Li Yuan, a detective in/from Beijing. These novels provide intriguing insight into China. This installment, however, is set in the US which made it less interesting in some ways. However, given that this was originally published in 2002 it's prescient about a number of things. The interaction between Margaret and Li Yuan is, as always, well done. Thanks to Netgalley for the DRC of this new edition. I read these when they were originally published; they've stood the test of time.

All you need fo know is that this book is written by Peter May and you should buy it immediately and go read it. I love his characters Margaret Campbell and Li Yan. Fantastic book that I will be adding to my Peter May library. He never disappoints

Snakehead by Peter May is the 4th book in his China series. Having enjoyed The Lewis Trilogy set in Scotland on the Isle of Lewis, I was expecting to like this more than I actually did.

Description: The macabre discovery of a truck full of dead Chinese in southern Texas brings together again the American pathologist Margaret Campbell with Li Yan, the Beijing detective with whom she once shared a turbulent personal and professional relationship. Forced back into an uneasy partnership, they set out to identify the Snakehead who is behind the 100-million-dollar trade in illegal Chinese immigrants which led to the tragedy in Texas - only to discover that the victims were also unwitting carriers of a deadly cargo. Li and Margaret have a biological time-bomb of unimaginable proportions on their hands, and an indiscriminate killer who threatens the future of humankind.

I found the main characters a bit difficult to care about, not that I disliked them, I just wasn't really taken with them. The basic idea of the plot is a good one, but the way the virus was to be triggered was weird. Human trafficking is despicable, and obviously there is much more of it than I was aware of for most of my life; however, the fact that Li arrives from China to find the case involves his sister who has been trafficked for the sex trade is quite the coincidence.

Read in Oct.

NetGalley/Quercus
Mystery/Thriller. Jan. 8, 2019. Print length: 416 pages.

I'd heard good things about this series and author, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. The story involves a devious attempt to create a deadly pandemic like the 1918 Spanish influenza by injecting Chinese immigrants being smuggled into the US across the Mexico border. (It was published in the UK some years ago, before the latest decline in immigrant crossings and current extremist policies, so it seems less plausible today.) I don't really fancy we're-all-going-to-die-unless thrillers. The premise was sort of interesting but some of the author's ticks - describing places in detail, street by street, and using far too many adjectives - were a bit irritating to me. Some of the secondary characters were fairly stock, too - the almost cartoonish racist with a heart of gold, the overweight Chinese businessman who says "mistah" like a Charlie Chang movie. I don't think it's aged well, both in terms of portraying immigration to the US or US/China relationships. Those who have followed the series may enjoy the development of the characters and their complicated relationships. .

This is an interesting book. Starting with a horrific murder of many, a combination of law enforcement agencies must cooperate. As the investigation proceeds, the introduction of a potentially lethal virus the victims carry makes the chase more urgent.
As usual, high level corruption and betrayal put so many at risk and in danger chasing a huge payoff.

The story has an unfortunate ring of truth about the exploitation of people escaping oppression and their willingness to take huge risks to do so.

It's a nice read, I enjoyed the story and resolution and I look forward to the next one.

Scary novel from May. Book is about bio engineered world killer virus. I could not put book down. Really enjoyed. Book has twists and turns throughout.

I had never read any books by Peter May, but the plot of 'Snakehead' sounded fascinating. As a result, I was happy to get an advance reading copy. The premise is indeed a good one. Unfortunately, the book drowns under the weight of unlikable characters, a forced romantic sub-plot, and needless snide political comments from some of the characters. There are some plot twists, but they can't overcome the previous mentioned shortcomings. #Snakehead #NetGalley

I liked May’s Lewis Trilogy, set in the Hebrides, so I thought I’d try Snakehead, one of his China Thrillers. (Snakehead refers to a person who smuggles immigrants out of China.) A trailer full of Chinese immigrants is found dead, injected with a substance, activated under certain specific circumstances, which is found to be part of a bioterrorist plot. Although I’d previously enjoyed Peter May’s work, a plot that manages to be both intensely grim and tiresome, and unlikable characters, particularly one racist, made this a series I probably won’t visit again.

Peter May is top of form with Snakehead. It's an excellent thriller that will keep you spell bound until the final page.

3 stars

Doctor Margaret Campbell is a chief medical examiner and forensic pathologist in the Houston area and also lectures at the local university. Detective Li Yan is from China and has now been stationed in Washington, DC for about a year. He is the attaché to the embassy there and investigates crimes having to do with Chinese citizens and illegal aliens.

Li and Dr. Campbell are reunited in this boo k to investigate the ninety-eight dead Chinese illegal immigrants found abandoned in a parking lot in Texas in a refrigerated semi.

Dr. Campbell has gathered a huge team and with the assistance of an Air Force pathologist, the FBI and Immigration they begin the autopsies. They discover that the people were suffocated, but also they all have an injection site on the buttocks. Li translates a diary that was found and learns that the injection was for “West Nile Virus.” Since West Nile is not a problem in Texas, the pathologists suspect that the injection was really something else. The thing Li learns is that the writer of the diary was a police officer with the Beijing police and that Li was the one who gave him this assignment to infiltrate a people-smuggling operation. The leader of the operation, also known as the “snakehead” is someone named “Kat.”

Further investigation into the dead Chinese lead to the conclusion that the injection given the people was not West Nile, but something far more deadly. The bomb is dropped when the pathology team learns that a biological attack on the United States is immanent.

Frankly, by the time it came to identifying the snakehead, I really couldn’t have cared less. There was too much sex in the guise of intimacy in this book. I didn’t like Margaret - at all. Her cold, brusque manner alternating with something akin to humanness was off putting. The on-again/off-again relationship with Li was tiring at best. This is definitely not Peter May’s best. I suppose the novels set in China at least have the interest of the Chinese culture to support the story line. This is my first foray into Mr. May’s China series and I am afraid to admit it will be my last. I truly enjoy Peter May’s writing. I just don’t know what happened here. I am sorry to have to give the book a resounding 3 stars.

I want to thank NetGalley and Quercus US/Quercus for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read and review.