Book review: Whispering Shadows by Jan-Philipp Sendker
It has taken eight years for Jan-Philipp Sendker's terrific German-language romantic crime thriller, Whispering Shadows, set in Hong Kong and on the mainland, to appear in English. It has been worth the wait.
by Jan-Philipp Sendker
37 Ink/Atria Books
It has taken eight years for Jan-Philipp Sendker's terrific German-language romantic crime thriller, , set in Hong Kong and on the mainland, to appear in English. It has been worth the wait.
Sendker, born in 1960, is the former American and Asian correspondent for , the weekly German news magazine. He has published two other novels, the bestselling , and its sequel, .
This latest work is the first of a planned trilogy featuring careworn hero Paul Leibovitz, a retired expatriate journalist, but the delay in its translation means Sendker has already finished its sequel and made a start on the final instalment. We meet the haunted Leibovitz trying to find meaning to his empty existence on Lamma Island while reflecting on the brief life - and death - of his son, Justin.
"Relief came only in the brief moments when Paul started awake at night and thought he had dreamt it all. He sat up in bed for a few seconds and had the feeling he had woken from a nightmare. It wasn't true. The blood count was normal. Justin still had his head of strawberry-blond curls, his hair had not fallen out. He was lying next door in his room, in bed asleep."
Shortly before his death, Justin had asked his father if they would climb The Peak together again one day.
"'No cheating, Daddy. Tell the truth,' Justin had asked.
