Book review: The Devil You Know - Hong Kong-set thriller cranks up the tension
Many self-published books are indulgent efforts that perhaps only the writer's mother would enjoy reading. But not this one.
by Peter Gregoire
Proverse Hong Kong
Many self-published books are indulgent efforts that perhaps only the writer's mother would enjoy reading. But not this one.
Hong Kong resident Peter Gregoire's self-deprecating Eurasian hero, lawyer Scott Lee, made his debut in the well-received 2012 conspiracy thriller - set both here and on the mainland - as he investigated a friend's death.
Now he's back in another Hong Kong novel, , on the trail of a missing business executive. The timing of Gregoire's plot will strike a chord - reminding readers of last year's umbrella movement protests calling for democracy - with the action set in 2017 and the election for Hong Kong's next chief executive looming.
Little else has changed for frustrated Hongkongers two years down the road … "forced to be content paying an enormous portion of your salary to live in a cramped apartment, because tycoon land developers limit the supply to keep prices high".
Lee goes to work under cover as a lawyer for media tycoon Rufus Lam to find his trusted business lieutenant, Terence Auyeung, who vanished the month before from the finance department of one of his business investments, a company called Gadgetech.
