Tuesday, December 31, 2013

"The Red Pole of Macau", by Ian Hamilton

Book 4, in the Ava Lee series

This series is a light read, mostly fast paced, quite entertaining and never fails to arouse my interest. Ava, the heroine is finely drawn and so different to the usual protagonist I simply cannot stay away and I am always looking forward to read all of her next challenges and see how she will tackle them. It has been entertaining so far….

The protagonist is a very kick butt and in charge type of character although she does show a vulnerable and soft side when it comes to her love ones. In this mystery Ava finds herself with unexpected family commitments and needs all her skills to assist he brother, Michael, out of a real-estate deal that went terribly wrong. Of course we are in for a fascinating international excursion that takes us from Toronto to Hong Kong and Macau.

Michael and his friend Simon have sunk over $20 million into a Macau shopping center project that turned out to be a scam and the developers are now using strong- arm tactics to extract more investments from them. The Lee’s financial security is at risk and went Simon gets kidnapped Ava springs into action like a ninja meticulously planning a rescue operation and with the help of Uncle’s shadow network, Simon and the money should make it home…..

There is a lot of suspense but it is somewhat diluted with too much description of cuisine and the way the players are dressed. May Lyn, a character in the previous book returns and gives a helping hand although she comes out totally as a nondescript individual…the plot is totally unbelievable but it is rather what makes this series what it is.

It is easy to zip through “The Red Pole of Macau” in just a few hours after all it is not a thick book. The story is good enough although not one that grabbed me and held my attention the way the others did. To my eyes the old formula is getting stale and too predictable it is time to give it a boost.

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