This was my first book by Chris Bohjalian, but I heard great things about this one + his past work (especially the Flight Attendant), so I was eager to pick it up! Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday books for sending this my way to read and review early.

I think my expectations were too high for this one, or I wasn't in the "mood" for it, because it really fell flat for me. I couldn't figure out what genre it was and I had NO idea the plot would be all about Rats. I also didn't connect with any of the main characters except for one, and unfortunately he didn't have a happy ending :(

This book follows a couple that goes to Vietnam for a biking trip and to pay homage to his family who fought in the war. When Austin goes missing and is found dead, his girlfriend (Alexis) immediately knows something is wrong. She's an ER doctor and sees suspicious things on his body when she IDs him at the morgue.

Unable to move on, Alexis looks into his past and uncovers lie after lie. She decides to hire a private investigator to look into what Austin was REALLY up to in Vietnam in order to get some answers. Unfortunately, it appears like their last 7 months together was based on little truth and a lot of mystery.

I don't want to give any spoilers, but I was not expecting the plot to go the way it did. In my opinion, there were SO many characters that it was hard to keep track and connect with them all. I wanted to get to the end to see if it was all worth it, and unfortunately it just made me even more upset because the one character I did love didn't have a great ending to the story. The plot and synopsis was a great idea in theory, but the delivery for me was off.

Oh my goodness-didn’t want to put this one down! Beautifully written, fast paced and just a great story. Although they were very important to the plot, I must admit I wasn’t crazy about all the information about, and descriptions of, rats. But once I got into the story, I didn’t let that stop me from finishing!

Reading the reviews of this book before reading the book made me a bit wary ... would I be bored? Would it be slow? Would the characters be flat?

Answer: No, no, and no. I wonder if we even read the same book? This book was FASCINATING. The whole bio-terrorism thing as a concept is horrifying, I think we can all agree. And the idea of stumbling into a veritable plot to kick-start an arms-by-viral-infection is also horrifying, but Bohjalian absolutely makes it all feel suuuper believable. Also, it doesn't feel like a war-heavy, science-heavy, mystery in any way. And I actually really liked Alexis. She was strong, driven, smart, and used logic and questions to really drill down into what was going on. I will add that there is fairly descriptive self-harm in this book, which I was a bit surprised by, so I think that gets a trigger warning for sure.

There were a couple of places where I thought the character would not have revealed the essential information they *accidentally* let slip and which led to a bunch of other stuff, but whatever. The book on the whole was gripping, suspenseful, full of strong female characters and a gritty-but-lovable PI, and the partial setting in Vietnam was actually really lovely. Add in the historical perspective about the Vietnam War and what happened to soldiers and Vietnamese civilians, and the wildlife and human casualties of the use of Napalm, and you have yourself a fairly masterful, smart, well-written mystery that helps "Us" ("Us" meaning the world of mystery novels today) get OFF of the damn "Gone Girl" merry-go-round.

Thumbs up!

Well paced and moderately engaging. No real surprise twists. I was flying at the time I’d reading so it was the perfect amount of mental engagement. Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC copy

I first want to say thank you Netgalley & Doublebay for an e-arc copy of the Red Lotus in exchange for a review.
A girlfriend left with so many unanswered questions after the disappearance of her boyfriend, Austin. She is relentless with finding out the truth despite others telling her to leave it alone. I admire her detective instincts because it's more than just uncovering what exactly happened to Austin, but as why? and for what?
Little by little the story unravels with different POV of the characters. It feels like a countdown to when she meets her fate. The story was well thought out and quite frankly, ingenious. A good thriller that should be consider as a mini series? I mean I would watch it. I believe the author did a lot of research for this book and I give him props for it. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Chris Bohjalian is a magician! Since I first read one of his books, I have thought he was one of the best writers around. The Red Lotus is an arresting story of two people who find each other; then when one of them disappears, we find that maybe, just maybe, they are not who we thought. It's always amazing to me how he can hide the clues in plain sight and I miss them until the scenes explode! This is not a light read, pay attention to the story. You will be amazed!

It’s always wonderful to read a new novel by Mr. Bohjalian. The books are always totally original, never the same twice, and always engaging. I shall talk this one up happily, and enjoyed it tremendously. Bravo on another bestseller.

Who is telling the truth? Whom can one trust? What begins as a seemingly easy going relationship, turns nasty and dangerous, very quickly turning into an international crisis. Well written and captivating, The Red Lotus is a must read.

When American ER Physician Alexis Remnick embarks on a cycling trip to Vietnam with her boyfriend (of seven months) Austin Harper, she expects the trip to be uneventful. When Austin disappears while on a solo bike ride, Alexis finds her life quickly spiraling out of control. Alexis soon finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew about Austin, their Vietnam trip, and their relationship. While the Vietnamese police and American Embassy launch an official investigation regarding Austin, Alexis conducts one of her own. The closer that Alexis gets to the truth, the more ugliness that is uncovered and the more her life is endangered. This novel plunges the reader into a nefarious underground world of international bio-terrorism. While Chris Bohjalian has crafted a well-written and suspenseful thriller, the focus on rats and disease on a pandemic level may not appeal to all readers.

Read this book while in Vietnam, so I was able to literally see the places mentioned. A few twists and turns so you were kept on your toes not knowing the outcome.

The Red Lotus is a good thriller/mystery/medical-ish drama. I have other Chris Bohjalian books on my To Be Read list, but this is the first one I've been able to read. I enjoyed the science of the mystery and that Alexis was a strong female lead. I also thought to have her relationship with Austin be only 6 months old helped to move the story along. Much longer and I think it would have been more of a stretch for Alexis to distance herself from him in order to get the answers she was seeking. I think this was a solid book and look forward to getting to the other Bohjalian novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors. Each novel he writes introduces me to a new place or concept I’ve never discovered. His storytelling allows me to feel almost as if I become an expert in this new place or topic just from reading the novel.

His latest work The Red Lotus introduced me to Vietnam and the potential dark side of epidemic research. The Red Lotus’ intrigue stems from a missing character introduced early in the novel. It felt as if the crimes piled up as the storyline progressed and the protagonist kept digging herself a deeper hole. I was not heavily invested in any of the characters, but I was deeply invested in discovering the story’s resolution.

The illness at the center of the novel left me turning pages deep into the night especially in light of current events. I teach children in China and at the time of this review many are quarantined due to the Coronavirus. With this in mind, I found The Red Lotus bone chilling. I know that had I read it at another time it may not have been as spooky, but it definitely would have felt just as suspenseful.

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for another excellent read from Bohjalian. Additionally, thank you for an advanced reader’s copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a fan of Chris Bohjalian's work for several years now and loved his storytelling. Midwives and Water WItches are two of my favorite books, and I was looking forward to reading The Red Lotus. While I can typically manage a novel that takes its time easing into the action, I simply could not get on board with these characters. I had learned so little about Austin before his death that I had trouble connecting to Alexis's shock. The story simply didn't provide any development about the relationship between the two characters. Alexis is horrified to find that Austin had lied, but as the reader, I couldn't empathize with that shock because I hadn't gotten to know Austin through the text or through Alexis. While this lack of character development may have gone under the radar in a fast-paced novel, the pacing of this text meant that I was relying on the characters to help me get invested in the story.

The Red Lotus is outstanding, just outstanding from every viewpoint. The story is told in a straightforward manner, the characters are well defined and well developed, the women are intelligent, the story (unfortunately) is all too believable in this day and age.

Bohjalian has written on a wealth of different subjects and this is another stretch for him, but obviously very well researched and explained.

This was not just a “page turner,” but an “all nighter.” I finished about 5:00 a.m.!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Doubleday Books, for an ARC of this terrific new book!

First, the synopsis definitely did not give anything away. How I thought the book would go was definitely not how it actually went. Not to mention, there were a handful of actually surprising twists and surprises in the book. The Red Lotus, for the most part, seemed to be written at a pretty leisurely pace. It wasn't until towards the very end that the pace picked up.

In regards to the characters, I found myself really enjoying Alexis. Her analytical thinking paired with being an ER doctor was really neat. I honestly felt like I learned a few new things. How she mapped things out, as well as her thought processes and her examinations of certain things, was well done. Plus, I loved how driven she was to find out more. The supporting characters also added quite a bit to the story and helped move it along really well. As for Austin, I wish that there would have been a bit more backstory on him. Also, there was one other character - Douglas - that I had a lot of unanswered questions about. I felt that the author could have delved a little deeper into why the characters were they way they were.

Overall I was pretty happy with this story. There was a lot going on to keep the reader intrigued and you could tell that the author put a lot of research into what he was writing about. Some aspects were a little scary because it was easy to see them happening today. I am also curious about other books written by this author!

ER doctor Alexis and her fairly new boyfriend visit Vietnam for a bike tour and vacation. Her suffers a tragic death during their vacation. It’s written off as an accident, but Alexis thinks it’s more and starts investigating. Her investigation leads to her own hospital university lab and projects they may be working on. ⁣
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I loved this book from the beginning to about 70%. It was very interesting and I was looking forward to understanding the plot. Once I figured out what was going on, I started to lose interest. It did get exciting again towards the end, but at that point I had lost interest. ⁣
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I will say that if you are interested in science/technology based thrillers, you’d probably really enjoy this one. If you have a fear of rodents... don’t read this! It’s full of rats! It is the year of the rat after all. ⁣
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“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴? 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦? 𝘞𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘵.”⁣

Great read! I've read several Bohjalian books, and have really enjoyed all of them. This one was especially interesting since I didn't know much about Vietnam or rats and animal testing. There is some really fascinating information in this well researched book.

Alexis and Austin travel to Vietnam on a bike tour and Austin mysteriously disappears while out riding solo. The regional FBI attache and Vietnam police quickly get involved and when Austin’s body is found consider it a hit and run on a mountain road. As we hear Austin’s account of what happens in the first few chapters he is missing we quickly know that there is so much more to the story. As an ER doctor, Alexis puts together signs that this was not an accident and is caught between mourning a man she believed she was falling in love with and finding out he wasn’t who she thought he was at all.

I found The Red Lotus to be a slow burn with a little bit of everything. I didn’t love reading about the rats, but understood their significance to the story line. I was intrigued overall as we watch on the news currently how fast a new disease can spread and it certainly makes you wonder. I did enjoy the book and recommend!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Doubleday Books for this complimentary advanced copy of The Red Lotus in exchange for an honest review. The Red Lotus will be released on March 17.

The Red Lotus is the ideal basis of a script for a crime procedural, or HBO mini series; there's international masterminds, and biological warfare, and secrets, and corruption and the betrayal of love. It should be on the screen, but maybe not on the page.

The Red Lotus was written to be visual, and every page transports you to exactly where the author wants to take you; although the visualization is there in full force, the connection with the charecters is not. Which, may be due to the fact there is so much action and backstabbing that there left little time to develop any attachment to anyone.

If this comes out on screen, watch it. But as a book, you're ok to pass.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the honor of an advanced copy of The Red Lotus in exchange for my honest review.

This book is about secrets, betrayal, loss, cycling, the plague, self-harm, espionage, greed, murder, and the history of rats. This topic is very relevant given today's current events and how quickly transmittable diseases/viruses can be spread.

As with all of his other books, author Chris Bohjalian does a lot of research before he develops a story. The careful research reflects in his writing and I always end up learning fun facts about a bunch of new topics. And, his style of writing keeps me engaged no matter the subject. 

I love the way Bohjalian describes Vietnam. I've never been there, but the description of the beautiful countryside in Vietnam and the Vietnamese people made it a vivid place for me. There were many references to the Vietnam war, and the impacts to the country which I found fascinating.

The plot is layered and complex but a bit of a slow burn, so I had to read carefully to catch all of the clues. It's chock-full of science and I learned many new things about rats, the evolution of rats in different regions, and biological weapons. I learned the history of rats and why they are used for research. This topic is very relevant given today's current events and how quickly transmittable diseases/viruses can be spread.

The characters are very well developed and the POVs switch around so that you really get to know them. There is Alexis, the ER doctor and main character; Ken the Private Detective; Alexis' mom the widow; and Ellie, her vet best friend. Rats are also a central character that was explored in great detail.