Impressive and excellent book where we see Uncle developing both his legal and illegal businesses in the beginning of the economic rise of China.
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Published by House of Anansi Press/Spiderline on January 21, 2020 (digitial) and February 4, 2020 (paperback)

Foresight is an enjoyable addition to Ian Hamilton’s engaging look at Chinese triad villains who, villainy notwithstanding, embody traditions of loyalty and honor. Foresight is set in the early 1980s. It focuses on Chow Tung, known to all as Uncle. Fans of Hamilton’s excellent Ava Lee series will recognize Uncle as the mysterious force behind the series heroine.

While Ava Lee books are action novels, the Uncle novels (Foresight is the second, following Fate) are more in the nature of political suspense novels. The political dimensions are both internal, as Hong Kong Triad factions alternate between competing and cooperating, and external, as Uncle begins doing business in a Chinese economic zone, evoking memories of the life he fled as a much younger man. It turns out that, for Uncle, the present might be just as dangerous as the past.

Uncle grew up in Wuhan (long before COVID-19), but after a perilous swim across Shenzhen Bay, Uncle began to pay his dues as a gang member in Hong Kong. He eventually worked his way to the top of the Fanling Triad, holding the position of Mountain Master. His goal is to move the business into avenues that are honest (more or less) and sustainable, a goal that takes on some urgency when Hong Kong permits six legal off-track betting shops to complete with Uncle’s illegal shops. Even when he operates in ways that might transgress the law — other forms of gambling, massage parlors, and night markets — he has made clear to local law enforcement that he will not engage in loansharking or allow drug dealing in Fanling. The police are therefore willing to tolerate him as a semi-respectable businessman.

When China opens economic zones to encourage the production and export of goods, Uncle senses an opportunity. Not an entirely legitimate opportunity, since he’s looking at expanding the market for knockoff Lacoste clothing that the Triad sells in night markets. He invests in the Chinese company from which he buys the fake Lacostes, enlarges the line by adding other designer brands, and moves from there to designer jeans. To spread the bounty, he encourages other Hong Kong Triads to work with other economic zones to produce handbags, shoes, and other counterfeit goods. There is money to be made.

The entrepreneurial story is interesting, but the plot takes off when Uncle — who has naturally greased certain Chinese officials — finds himself used as the pawn in a political war. He is detained on a trip to China and comes to understand that if he wants to make it home to Hong Kong alive, he will need to rat out one of the government officials who has been protecting him. Will Uncle save his own skin or will he die an honorable death?

Uncle might be a criminal, but’s he’s an easy character to like. He still mourns the loss of a woman who, more than twenty years earlier, did not survive the swim to Hong Kong. He has earned the respect of his gang members by listening to them and treating them fairly. He is calm and rational, rarely losing his cool. Even the competing Mountain Masters (or at least most of them) respect his integrity, not to mention his ability to earn profits without making waves. It is hard not to root for such a decent person, unless you are in the chain of command at Lacoste.

The plot is all the more interesting because of its setting. Hamilton delves into modern Chinese political history from the Cultural Revolution to the economic reforms instituted by Deng Xiaoping. Deng even earns a cameo. While a good many crime novels that are set in America seem to be clones of each other, Hamilton gives his stories a fresh taste by steeping them in unfamiliar flavors. The novel is straightforward; Hamilton never tries to position the story as a great literary work. He instead puts likeable characters in challenging situations, introduces a credible degree of suspense, and creates an easy read that is both enlightening and entertaining.

RECOMMENDED

Set in the 1980s, this is the second in the Uncle Chow Tung series - the Uncle in Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee series. From assuming leadership of the Fanling triad in Hong Kong in the first book, this novel sees Uncle expanding business into China as Premier Deng Xiaoping begins to lay the foundation for China’s transformation into an economic powerhouse - a challenge for Uncle on two fronts - business and personal. Under pressure to grow the triad’s might both in size and financially, Uncle looks to China’s economic stimulus focus to expand his business. On the personal front, China is where Uncle escaped from - barely - and at great personal loss. The storyline is solid but didn’t hang together as much as I would have liked, particularly the second half. Uncle is still a great character and I enjoyed his foibles and penchant for food, beer, and cigarettes! This is more of a “let’s while away the time” kind of book, rather than the taut, fast-paced, focused, smart, and action-oriented Ava Lee series. I’d categorize this one in an okay read, hopefully building up to the next book to be on par with Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee series, which is a favorite of mine. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Triad business turns towards the People's Republic of China!

Once more I am dazzled by Hamilton's understandings of historical times in China and Hongkong.
An escapee from China under tragic circumstances has Uncle vowing never to return. But needs must. When Uncle turns his eyes towards Shenzhen there is the worry that even though Uncle has HongKong ID, the People's Republic will not respect that.
I was absorbed by the continuing story of Uncle Chow and the Fanling triad's move into business in the Special Economic Zone in "Shenzhen, next door to Hong Kong and on Fanling’s doorstep." Zones created by Premier Deng Xiaoping as a move towards
transforming "China into an economic superpower." (A happening we are now all familiar with.)
Its 1981 and Uncle and the Fanling triad are in trouble. The Hong Kong Jockey Club has a legal betting monopoly and they have been gathering momentum putting Uncle's operations under increased pressure. Uncle will have nothing to do with "loan-sharking, protection rackets, and drug dealing." This makes him the odd man out with the rest of Hong Kong's triad organizations, and yet to my mind an honorable man with a peculiar sense of right and wrong.
I am glued to how Uncle absorbs losses and as a man of vision continues to creatively develop his fiefdom. I am struck by his sense of integrity and loyalty. Who would think that I'd become so fond of a triad leader. And there you have it! Fond I am of Uncle Chow. Of course his story gives us the background to how Ava Lee and her associates were able to develop their clothing design business.
I am so intrigued, by and appreciative of Uncle's story, that I read this in one sitting!

An Anansi Press ARC via NetGalley