The Master of Rain - Hardcover

Bradby, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385503970 ISBN 13: 9780385503976

Publisher: Doubleday, 2002

Synopsis

The brutal murder of a Russian woman in Shanghai drags Richard Field, a young English policeman, deep into the bowels of this tumultuous, corruption-ridden city in 1926 as he investigates Shanghai's opulent expatriate community and finds himself increasingly attracted to the dead woman's neighbor, Natasha Medvedev, who could hold a key to the crime. A first novel.

About this title

Review

Every once in a while a book comes along that combines larger-than-life epic adventure; idiomatic, pungent historical detail and genuine storytelling panache. Tom Bradby’s The Master of Rain is such a book, carrying the reader headlong into a breathless tale of double-dealing and murder in 1920s Shanghai. What’s more, Bradby never allows his sprawling canvas to overwhelm his beleaguered characters who always remain in keen focus.

Richard Field, Bradby’s resourceful protagonist, has been seconded to the police force in the turbulent city of Shanghai. He finds a jostling mélange of British Imperial civil servants, American gunrunners and vicious Chinese gangsters. The grisly case he is landed with involves the mutilated body of a young White Russian woman and Field discovers that her neighbour, Natasha Medvedev, is somehow crucial to the investigation. But Natasha’s only agenda is self-preservation and Field finds himself unwisely falling in love with her. Can he crack the mystery before the next victim falls--particularly as the signs are that it is to be Natasha?

This is splendidly evocative writing from the author of the first-rate Shadow Dancer. Masterly in its depiction of a beautiful, dirty and corrupt city and a population in thrall to the imperatives of the market: human life, like everything else in Shanghai, has its price. Field is the perfect conduit for the reader through the glittering decay of the city and his relationships (both with the beguiling Natasha and the panoply of quirky, dangerous characters he encounters) are adroitly handled by Bradby. The book is nearly 500 pages long but the reader will find that it has the pace and compulsiveness of a short story. --Barry Forshaw

Review

'A brilliant evocation of one of the world's most fascinating cities...will make you go in search of old Shanghai' -- South China Morning Post

'An immensely atmospheric, gripping detective story with just the right mixture of exoticism, violence and romance' -- The Times, 4 January 2001

'Does for Shanghai what Raymond Chandler did for Los Angeles-created a stylish and cool genre-fiction tapestry...debauchery at its most elegant' -- TIME magazine

'Nigh on impossible to put down...This intelligent thriller brings Shanghai to life as Gorky Park did for Moscow.' -- Time Out

'The atmosphere and menace of Twenties Shanghai are brought to vivid life as the backdrop to this gripping tale' -- Daily Mail, 18 January 2002

Master of Rain is that rare thing: a truly epic crime novel, brilliantly researched and superbly executed. -- John Connelly, Shamus-Award winning author of Every Dead Thing

A moody murder mystery with all the style of a noir classic. -- The Mirror

A vividly set and compellingly readable thriller about corruption in all its forms. -- Robert Goddard, author of Past Caring and Sea Change

Rich, dark, atmospheric, this fine novel captures time and place perfectly. A great crime story that ends up in a place you won't predict ... -- Lee Child, author of Killing Floor and Echo Burning

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0385503970
• ISBN 13: 9780385503976
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 452