China is ruled by the Communist party, which is now tolerant of the millionaires springing up from its new deal. But the Communists do not deal in illegal immigrants - that is the role of the Triads. The questions is: are the millionaires making their money, not through their businesses, but through their illegal activities? And as Liu Hulan and David Stark begin their investigations they find that some of the most profitable illegals activities are scarcely perceived. Far more profitable than illegal immigrants is the smuggling of bear bile.
Fortunately, for David Stark, Inspector Liu Hulan has additional social authority - she is a "Red Princess" - the daughter of an old-time Communist, who is now a government minister. By comparison, the American is rough trade. And after they follow the trail of the bear bile, Stark and Hulan must begin to trace the complications left by the bitterness of the Cultural Revolution.
The cover of THE FLOWER NET calls it a thriller, and although I hadn't noticed the word before I started reading, it was the opinion I formed when half-way through. As one of the lawyers is Chinese and the other is American an interesting detective story could have been made of their different but complimentary approaches. If Stark had read Jung Chang's WILD SWANS he might have realised what he was getting himself into. But the switch from investigation of murder to political influence is uncomfortable, and before the end the American is disguising himself and fleeing across China on internal flights, leaving me even more unconvinced.
GORKY PARK started in Moscow but had to involve Americans before the end, like THE FLOWER NET. However, I think it is not the involvement of American characters that weakens these books so much as that I cannot think of an American author who can fully imagine a foreign milieu. I would not claim this as an English skill either; but comparing the Dutch Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee novels, with Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri's handling of the same historic character in DECEPTION (1993) reveals how immense the gap can be. I bought DECEPTION to be disappointed, so I suggest borrowing THE FLOWER NET to prove me wrong.
But how can the police put their full resources on the murder hunt? "Forays into certain areas of the council estate were becoming increasingly difficult to police, given the growing number of street gangs controlling their own small territories". Lee Swanson is the super-villain who controls gangs, foments riots, arson and petrol bombing, and whose Stanley knife may indicate that he is the psychopathic killer as well. Even while the police know his villainy they cannot find anything to pin on him, something for which they may blame his dubious lawyer.
Battison switches scenes rapidly between police, villains, and civilians. But those civilians may be part of the developing crimes, and the relationships between police and lawyers, and even between police officers in and out of work, all build into even more complications. D.C. Holly Bedford is starting a relationship with Mark Hartland, but Hartland's own wife has not been seen for weeks. Out in the streets who knows what crazy Bible-reading Boris has seen, apart from his social worker, that is? Should Boris be a suspect, could he be a witness? And the victims themselves - there are some secrets in their lives and deaths, as well.
In places MIRROR IMAGE does not rush on pell-mell as much as I might have suggested and somehow, while it is set in the problems of the present day, hints of the 1950s keep breaking through. Something similar happens in the geography - there is only one council estate, which is controlled by rival gangs, but the town has a large and clearly defined red-light district. This one-to-one relationship seems unlikely, and I couldn't help noticing it as I read. They might distract you, too.