I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley.

This cop-thriller story started a bit slowly, but laid some necessary groundwork for the story that emanated from that beginning. The layers of corruption and back-door dealings that are revealed through the storytelling are unfortunately all-too-believable. I appreciated Chien's gray morals as a matter of how one does business in this story, and he actually appears much less gray in comparison to the other characters he interacts with as he tries to get to the bottom of the case he's working.

I love the worldbuilding, the setting, and the problems Chien faces. I recommend this book to those who love looking at morally gray characters and trying to solve crimes.

Chien Marc is a beat cop in one of the toughest precincts in the city of Ji’an, nicknamed the Mígōng (the “Maze”). Half-Chinese and half-white, he's an outsider in his own world. One raw, rainy night Chien comes across the body of an old friend, with a beautiful young woman standing over it. She was only trying to help him, she claims —then vanishes into the thundering darkness. So begins a dizzying spiral of intrigue and treachery as he tracks her through the Maze and finds himself plunged into a stew of corruption, international intrigue and unexpected romance.
Recommend

This book is a hard one for me to rate, as I have a hard time figuring out what about it didn't work for me. Ultimately I ended up giving it a 2 star, because it took me almost 2 months to read and ultimately I didn't really enjoy it. This is isn't a bad book by any means and I think the author has potential but I think this book just isn't for me. I would recommend this to someone who is a bit closer in age to the main character (mid 30-ish I believe?) and for someone who's not looking for a super fast paced book.

The main character was likeable enough but the narration style felt very distant and I feel like I almost never knew what he was thinking. I was just following his actions without any insight into why he was making the decisions he was making. I also liked the female main character but she felt like a shell of a person too. The other characters didn't evoke any emotion within me, as they were very distant and I kept mixing them up with each other because I wasn't used to the chinese names.

The plot was also pretty boring for a mystery/thriller and I never really figured out what was supposed to be the mysterious/thrilling part about this book. I believe this is going to be a series, so I guess that explains a part of it?

Interesting but somewhat not really my cup of tea. A mystery thriller crime with romance. Well written. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Would like to thank Netgalley for the copy.
I enjoyed reading this book. It involves cop -thriller, conspiracies, drugs and murders. The beginning was a bit slow and it tried to give a better picture of the protagonist Chien's life by describing his daily life and the people around him. Gradually the plot builds up and leaves you in a who-dunnit place. It seems well researched. Will definitely recommend!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Sixth Door of Happiness by Gerri Garibaldi.. It's well written and the character development, especially for the main character, Chien, was fairly thorough. As well as the development of the supporting characters. It did start off a bit slow but I believe that was due to the thoroughness of the character development. So, not a bad thing. It also helped me to understand a bit about Chien's daily life and his city. Once the book picked up, about a quarter of the way through, I didn't want to put it down. This is a great book for anyone who loves mysteries and/or learning about different cultures.