An acclaimed Chinese writer makes his English-language debut with this heart-stopping literary noir, a richly atmospheric tale of espionage & international intrigue, set in Shanghai in 1931-an electrifying, decadent world of love, violence & betrayal filled with femme fatales, criminals, revolutionaries & spies. A boat arrives in Shanghai harbour, carrying an important official in the Nationalist Party & his striking wife, Leng. Amid the raucous sound of firecrackers, gunshots ring out; an assassin has shot the official & then himself. Leng disappears in the chaos. Hsueh, a Franco-Chinese photographer aboard the same boat, became captivated by Leng`s beauty & unconcealed misery. Now, she is missing. But Hsueh is plagued by a mystery closer to home: he suspects his White Russian lover, Therese, is unfaithful. Why else would she disappear so often on their recent vacation? When he`s arrested for mysterious reasons in the French Concession & forced to become a police collaborator, he realizes that in the seamy, devious world of Shanghai, no one is who they appear to be.