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Title: The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton ISBN: 0-7860-1523-3 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.94 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Ms. Diamond in the Rough
Comment: The Jasmine Trade is a multicultural murder mystery ripped right out of an LAPD crime blotter. Eve Diamond, the novel's neo-noir voiced narrator, covers that beat for the Los Angeles Times. When a botched car jacking results in murder, Eve is assigned to file the pro forma story on another senseless death. Sensing more is afoot, she is soon enmeshed in the world of 'parachute kids'; young Asian expatriates exported by wealthy parents to populate California's San Gabriel Valley. While developing a weakness for these footloose homesteaders, Eve goes weak at the knees for Mark Furukawa, the youth counselor of her fancy.
Fueled by compassion, passion and assorted beverages, Ms. Diamond investigates the killing in a succession of restaurants, living rooms and bedrooms. Eve also takes the measure of Pacific Rim race relations and social strictures while pursuing her story. The intricate plot, mapping the ebb and flow of Asian-American society across a wide spectrum, involves youth gangs, corrupt cops and international financiers as well as pan-Pacific sex slavery: the Jasmine trade.
Having worked ten years as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, first time novelist Hamilton knows her turf and displays a deft touch with dialogue:
"They're like us, you know. They're parachute kids. That's why Colin and I became friends. We understand each other."
Her face softened as she spoke of Colin. They were geo-orphans, huddling close for comfort in this grave new world. But who had given Marina safe harbor?
"This diary is important. If the police knew you had it, they might want to take it. They'd want to read it for clues. In case there was any evidence."
"Evidence of what? She was killed by a carjacker. It was random. It could happen to any of us," she said softly.
Funny how quickly immigrants picked up on our awful new vocabulary, I thought.
At times her heroine's sensibilities seem more suburban than Sam Spade, but Hamilton captures the nuances of interracial behavior without squeamishness and navigates Los Angeles' diverse neighborhoods with aplomb. The mystery profits from its social sophistication by never straying into political correctness or academic discourse. The former journalist understands how to drop nuggets of information without slowing the story. Indeed, this mystery is a sex, love and low-fat spring roll page-turner. "The Jasmine Trade" should keep those who don't mind a little lipstick on their hard-boiled aphorisms reading late into the night.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Intelligent and Gripping Debut.....
Comment: Los Angeles Times reporter, Eve Diamond, thought it was just another suburban carjacking gone wrong. Seventeen year old Marina Lu, on her way to order bridesmaid dresses for her upcoming wedding, was now lying dead in the shopping center parking lot, shot in the head. But as Eve looks first into the death, and then the life of this teenager, whose existence was filled with all the advantages that money, status and the upper class provided, she begins to discover that all was not as it seemed. The more she investigates, the deeper she plunges into the desperate lives of rich parachute kids, teenagers left alone in America to fend for themselves while their parents live and run lucrative businesses from Hong Kong, Asian gangs, and the "jasmine trade", smuggled immigrant Asians brought to America, and sold into prostitution. What started as just a sad, local crime story, has now turned into a deadly mission, and Eve vows to find the truth, no matter what the cost..... Turn off the phone and lock the door, Denise Hamilton's debut novel, The Jasime Trade, is about to keep you up reading, all night. This is an intricate thriller that grabs you from page one and never lets go. The plot is tight, tense and compelling, with vivid and riveting scenes that set you on the edge of your seat, and keeps you there. The writing is intelligent, crisp, and spare, and her well drawn characters, original, engaging and very believable. Complex and intriguing, Eve Diamond, is definitely one of the best new leading ladies, or men, to pop up on the mystery/thriller scene this year. It is obvious that Ms Hamilton did her homework, and her indepth knowledge of Los Angeles and the Asian community transports the reader to another world, and adds real credibility to the story. With a stunning climax and satisfying ending that ties up all the loose ends, The Jasmine Trade is hopefully the beginning of a marvelous new series starring a remarkable heroine, that shouldn't be missed. Be sure and put this novel at the top of your "must read" list!
Rating: 2
Summary: Don't buy it.....
Comment: The writing is good, the background is interesting but the main character is an ass. She manages to get almost everyone (and a animal) she comes in contact with beat up, murdered or left as a prostitute, because she can't seem to keep her mouth shut. I hate that. Nothing is resolved and she goes on her merry way without a clue its all her fault. I'll take a pass on the next one.
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Title: Sugar Skull: An Eve Diamond Novel (Eve Diamond Novels) by Denise Hamilton ISBN: 0743482212 Publisher: Pocket Star Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Last Lullaby: An Eve Diamond Novel (Eve Diamond Novels) by Denise Hamilton ISBN: 0743245407 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy ISBN: 0399149783 Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group Pub. Date: 14 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Blue Edge of Midnight (Max Freeman Novels (Paperback)) by Jonathon King ISBN: 0451410785 Publisher: Onyx Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Narrows: A Novel by Michael Connelly ISBN: 0316155306 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 03 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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