Emperors Once More

by Duncan Jepson

Overview

Hong Kong, August 2017.

On the eve of a crisis summit for world economic leaders, two Chinese Methodist ministers are killed in an apparently motiveless execution in Hong Kong's financial district. Luck makes Detective Alex Soong one of the first officers at the scene.

Yet Soong begins to suspect his involvement to be more than incidental, and the crime itself more than a senseless assassination: an instinct that is proven correct when Soong is contacted by a mysterious figure, and more massacres follow.

With the eyes of the world's media fixed on Hong Kong, Soong must race to intercept his tormentor, and thwart a conspiracy born from one of the bloodiest confrontations of China's past, which now threatens to destroy a fragile world order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782068020
Publisher:	Quercus Publishing
Publication date:	03/06/2014
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Duncan Jepson is the award-winning director and producer of five feature films. He has also produced documentaries for Discovery Channel Asia and the National Geographic channel. A founder and former managing editor of the Asia Literary Review, he is a social commentator on Asia, and regularly writes for the New York Times, Publishing Perspectives and South China Morning Post. He is a lawyer and lives in Hong Kong.

Editorial Reviews

04/06/2015
In this uneven near-future thriller set in Hong Kong, Jepson (All the Flowers in Shanghai) depicts a China in flux, torn between its past humiliations at the hands of the West and its powerful present. Senior Insp. Alex Soong and his partner, Michael De Suza, investigate the sniper murders of two Methodist ministers near Citibank Tower. Later, the killing of a real estate agent in an unoccupied warehouse brings Soong to a bizarre scene where several mutilated bodies and many dead ravens are found in a storage container. At the warehouse, a disembodied voice addresses Soong by name and delivers a diatribe against the West. The voice, presumably the killer’s, also suggests that Soong join him in his quest to combat Western influence. Meanwhile, Soong must contend with his unsupportive wife, Jun, and antagonistic Senior Inspector Ying, who doesn’t share his conviction that the two cases are linked. The personal connections deepen as the killer’s grandiose plans threaten world stability, and only Soong may be able to stop him. Jepson’s informed take on Chinese history lends weight to this otherwise forgettable crime novel. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"A compelling read both in terms of the pull of the narrative and enticing the reader into empathizing with the central characters... one of the Jepson's greatest strengths is the way in which he manages to write about the ferocity of the violence with a restraint that can be missing in other crime fiction writers.."—Crimepieces

"Jepson's careful equanimity and his graceful and thoughtful presentation of both Western and Eastern history and culture are some of the main elements that make the novel so compelling."—Ying Lo, Time Out (Hong Kong)

"A high-octane mystery... an ambitious and high-minded thriller that challenges the reader to consider the impact of the past on the West's future relationship with China."—David Bartram, South China Morning Post

"Delves into a world of existential discontent to great effect . . . Jepson has consolidated his reputation as one of the region's most exciting writing talents."—The Star

"Entertaining . . . The novel, though a page-turner at heart, takes on a much bigger subject than the classic whodunit. The plot forces the characters to ask how it's possible to acknowledge the past without being burdened by it and illustrates how a misinterpretation of history can be lethal."—Asian Review of Books

From the Publisher