Ghost Month - Softcover

Ed Lin

3.27

821 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1616955414 ISBN 13: 9781616955410

Publisher: SOHO PRESS, 2015

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August is Ghost Month in Taiwan. It's a time to commemorate the dead and visit shrines. Jing-nan, a young man who runs a food stand in a Taipei night market, doesn't consider himself suspicious. But when he learns that his ex-girlfriend Julia has been murdered, he can't help but be spooked. She was found scantily clad and shot on the side of the road, where she'd been selling betel nuts to truck drivers. Jing-nan is confused - """"betel nut beauties"""" are usually women in desperate circumstances, but Julia had done well at school and was living in NYC, why was she here?

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Review:

Praise for Ghost Month

A LibraryJournal Best Book of 2014
BookRiot 100 Must-Read Novels of Noir

"A sidewalk noodle shop in Taipei's Shilin Night Market during summer's Ghost Month is the vivid backdrop for Ed Lin's Ghost Month . . . The plot twists come fast and furious as the story reaches its climax. Come for the exotic food and fascinating setting; stay for the characters."
--The Boston Globe

"A unique blend of tension, charm, tragedy and optimism, with characters you'll love, and a setting so real you'll think you've been there. Highly recommended."
--Lee Child
"As in the crime novels of one of his literary mentors, Raymond Chandler, Lin's prose is frequently image-laden. Ghost Month is also an excellent introduction to Taipei's food culture--readers are likely to head to the nearest noodle shop after they've finished the book."
--South China Morning Post

"Cover's Taiwan's complicated political identity and relationship with mainland China, all during one of the most remarkable times of the year: ghost month."
--To the Best of Our Knowledge

"Lin vividly describes the open-air night market where Jing-nan works. He also explains the knotty relationship between business, cops and gangsters without passing judgment."
--San Antonio Express-News

"It wouldn't be an Ed Lin book if there weren't also humor in the story. Lin uses descriptions of Jing-nan's funny and endearing relationships with his two food stall employees, Dwayne and Frankie, and his encounters with eccentric Shilin Market workers to balance Jing-nan's sad and lonely search for who Julia was . . . a book with a great sense of place, a good story, interesting characters, and a tender heart."
--Murder By The Book, Starred Review

"This is pure and perfect suspense and a book that is almost impossible to put down. If it doesn't win a few awards we'll be surprised."
--Crimespree Magazine

"Hold on for a breathtaking, multi-cultural ride. With some good luck and a few well-placed joss sticks, you just might survive."
--Martin Lim�n, author of Nightmare Range
"I would imagine most readers, like me, are not that familiar with Taiwan but Ed Lin will rectify that situation . . . As an armchair traveler I found this a fascinating journey."
--Register-Pajaronian

"Taiwan's traditions play a major role in Lin's category-defying thriller that manages to be both funny and profound. Lin writes with strong literary overtones and delivers a bang-up finale sure to keep readers engaged well past lights out."
--Library Journal, Starred Review

"For a guy who scoffs at the ghosts revered by so many of his fellow Taiwanese, droll everyman Jing-nan, a night-market food stall manager, ironically finds himself spending much of his time chasing one as he investigates the murder of his childhood sweetheart, Julia Huang, in this darkly comic thriller from Lin."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Offers full-sensory descriptions of Taipei's night market that are perfect for armchair travelers, especially if they like their vacations spiced up with odd companions and exotic Mob violence."
--Booklist

"The teeming Taipei setting and the tormented hero combine to create a furious energy that transcends a whodunit plot."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A rich and fascinating account of an unfamiliar world."
--Reviewing the Evidence

"Depicts the prevailing culture of this vibrant international city, and hones in on key elements of social behavior, language and mores. Ghost Month is superbly written and provides plenty of conversational fodder making it an ideal selection for book clubs."
--BookBrowse

"Hopefully this unique protagonist will reappear in a sequel further exploring the exuberant setting of the night market of Taipei."
--Stop, You're Killing Me

Praise for Ed Lin

"Lin is an astonishing talent."
--Junot D�az

"Lin's unsentimental, purely realist--not naturalist, not socialist, not postmodernist--novel raises hopes that American fiction may yet grow up."
--Booklist (Starred Review for Waylaid)

"Ed Lin is a new writer, but he has the eye and wit of a pro. Waylaid will make you laugh and cringe."
--Playboy (for Waylaid)

"Paints a convincing picture of Manhattan's Chinatown. Readers interested in the integration of Asian-Americans into American society, as well as those who like gritty procedurals, will be well rewarded."
--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review for Snakes Can't Run)

About the Author:

is a journalist by training and an all-around stand-up kinda guy. He's the author of several books: Waylaid, his literary debut, and his Robert Chow crime series, set in 1970s Manhattan Chinatown: This Is a Bust, Snakes Can't Run, and One Red Bastard. Lin, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards. Lin lives in New York with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung.

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