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Peter May

The Firemaker (China Thrillers) Paperback – January 9, 2018

by Peter May (Author)

3,998 ratings

Book 1 of 7: The China Thrillers

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The first of Peter May's electrifying China Thrillers, featuring Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell--and the explosive chemistry between them.

"Stunningly original." --Scotland on Sunday

"Highly recommended." --Larry Gandle, Deadly Pleasures

"A fascinating look at the new China." --Kirkus Reviews

A grotesquely burned corpse found in a city park is a troubling mystery for Beijing detective Li Yan. Yan, devoted to his career as a means of restoring the respect his family lost during the Cultural Revolution, needs outside help if he is to break the case.

The unidentified cadaver in turn provides a welcome distraction for forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell. Campbell, married to her work and having left America and her broken past behind, throws herself into the investigation and before long uncovers a bizarre anomaly.

An unlikely partnership develops between Li and Campbell as they follow the resulting lead. A fiery and volatile chemistry ignites, exposing not only their individual demons, but an even greater evil--a conspiracy that threatens their lives, as well as those of millions of others.

Print length

560 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Quercus
Publication date

January 9, 2018
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0857053965
ISBN-13

978-0857053961
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award, 2018

"The Firemaker is a remarkably detailed picture of daily life in Beijing with all of its Big Brother rules and rewarded propensity to report all activities which may fall out of the ordinary. If a look into Chinese culture is your quest, look no further. if you like a good romance, it's right here. And if you can't resist a whodunit, yes, the murders do get solved. It's messy, it's unexpected, and it's all a part of an extremely well-written book."
―Danny Lindsey, Killer Nashville

Praise for Peter May

"Peter May is an author I'd follow to the ends of the earth."―Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times

"He is a terrific writer doing something different."―Mark Billingham, bestselling author of the Tom Thorne series

"From the first page I knew I was in safe hands. I knew I could trust this writer."―Sophie Hannah, bestselling writer of The Monogram Murders

About the Author

Peter May was born and raised in Scotland. He was an award-winning journalist at the age of twenty-one and a published novelist at twenty-six. When his first book was adapted as a major drama series for the BCC, he quit journalism and during the high-octane fifteen years that followed, became one of Scotland's most successful television dramatists. He created three prime-time drama series, presided over two of the highest-rated serials in his homeland as script editor and producer, and worked on more than 1,000 episodes of ratings-topping drama before deciding to leave television to return to his first love, writing novels.

He has won several literature awards in France, received the USA's Barry Award for The Blackhouse, the first in his internationally bestselling Lewis Trilogy; and in 2014 was awarded the ITV Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read of the Year award for Entry Island. Peter now lives in southwest France with his wife, writer Janice Hally.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quercus (January 9, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 560 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0857053965
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0857053961
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #735,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12,717 in Police Procedurals (Books)
- #22,544 in Women Sleuths (Books)
- #32,661 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
3,998 ratings

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Peter May

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"Peter May is a writer I'd follow to the ends of the earth" New York Times

Peter May is the multi award-winning author of:

- the Lewis Trilogy set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland;

- the China Thrillers, featuring Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell;

- the Enzo Files, featuring Scottish forensic scientist Enzo MacLeod, which is set in France. The sixth and final Enzo book is Cast Iron (January 2017, Riverrun).

He has also written several standalone books:

- I'll Keep You Safe (January 2018, Riverrun)

- Entry Island (January 2014, Quercus UK)

- Runaway (January 2015, Quercus UK)

- Coffin Road (January 2016, Riverrun)

May had a successful career as a television writer, creator, and producer.

One of Scotland's most prolific television dramatists, he garnered more than 1000 credits in 15 years as scriptwriter and script editor on prime-time British television drama. He is the creator of three major television drama series and presided over two of the highest-rated serials in his homeland before quitting television to concentrate on his first love, writing novels.

Born and raised in Scotland he lives in France.

His breakthrough as a best-selling author came with The Lewis Trilogy. After being turned down by all the major UK publishers, the first of the The Lewis Trilogy - The Blackhouse - was published in France as L'Ile des Chasseurs d'Oiseaux where it was hailed as "a masterpiece" by the French national newspaper L'Humanité. His novels have a large following in France. The trilogy has won several French literature awards, including one of the world's largest adjudicated readers awards, the Prix Cezam.

The Blackhouse was published in English by the award-winning Quercus (a relatively young publishing house which did not exist when the book was first presented to British publishers). It went on to become an international best seller, and was shortlisted for both Barry Award and Macavity Award when it was published in the USA.

The Blackhouse won the US Barry Award for Best Mystery Novel at Bouchercon in Albany NY, in 2013.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

3,998 global ratings

5 star		48%
4 star		32%
3 star		13%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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CommonSense101

Plausible and frightening story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

Excellent combination of mystery, culture clashes, and romance. I'll look forward to the next one. May is one of my favorites.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

After reading this book I will never eat genetically altered food, because mixing the genes may create unintended, deadly consequences. Shades of covid. Very well written, researched and fleshed out. A glimpse of police work in China. In the midst of this a couple fall in love. Very satisfying read.

Helpful

Julio Luz

In times of covid-19 pandemics, a very relevant plot

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 5, 2021

Verified Purchase

Besides of being a very entertaining book, the attention to detail and the careful reconstruction of a China post cultural revolution provides a very convincing background to a rigorous procedural police mystery whose underlying plot is very relevant today. The author handles with mastery the techno-thriller clichés. I could not put down until the very end. Peter May is the Alexander Dumas of our times. Bravo !!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

I loved Peter Mays Lewis trilogy and the Enzo files, but I thoroughly enjoyed this first book of his China series. Never having been to China I felt May opened up this world for me and found myself absorbed with its strangeness and likeness to the US. Unfortunately we are in a pandemic with the coronavirus at this time which many believed started in China, so travel is out of the question.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

WB, Zeno

I don't understand ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 27, 2007

Verified Purchase

why I'm so out of sync with the majority opinion, but for me the ending, and the coming together of the threads, are implausible, although the explanation of the connection between the murders is a very clever find.
In the PB edition the last two pages and the epilogue have obviously been written with a movie sequel in sight.
If the author's description of the Chinese (or Beijing only?) police methods and ambiance is accurate, he is to be commended for revealing a little-known aspect of that country's culture, but outside of that and of some geographical details, you can get the same info reading any serious travel guide or even newspaper. In fact, it seemed incredible to me that the US pathologist could be so ignorant of Chinese mores and customs. So one star for both atmosphere and the cliché-ridden romantic touches, and four/three stars for plot development (the beginning is rather fast-paced, but then it slows down and is diluted as the book gets burdened with the details of the pathologist's sentimental background, and of her ongoing affair).
I was uncertain between two and three stars for the whole book, but really, I don't think countries decide vital matters in the way depicted there (although of course for each country one can cite a Lysenko, a Great Leap Forward and a Cultural Revolution, an invasion of Irak, ... , and so maybe another star might have been in order).

7 people found this helpful

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Marina Kos

Readable

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

I still have to read some more thrillers by Peter May, but I have the impression he will never write anything better than the Lewis trilogy. It is obvious that he studied China and it's police force as well as customs and locations he describes BUT.... It is all not nearly as convincing as the description of Hebrides, and the complexity of all the characters in Lewis.... I didn't like the love story between the main characters, it was predictable from the beginning.
The whole complicated story ends too abruptly for me, after the description of all administrative complications and set-ups for Chinese inspector. All in all, I didn't care very much about the main characters. Will try to read some more of the China series, but am afraid it will also show to be a dissapointment.

6 people found this helpful

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jon robards

Crime Mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

I did enjoy Peter May's Scottish series. Wonderful writing, lots of suspense and complex interesting stories and characters.But it was a surprise to read this first in his China series.....I did need to check from time to time that it was the same Peter May. The same wonderful writing that just bounds along, interesting characters and of course the Chinese culture, so different especially when seen through American Margaret Campbell's eyes.
However Margaret's character was depicted as 'typical American' - arrogant, superficial, always sorry for herself. I found her sexual exploits to be embarrassing and there was more than a touch of Mills & Boon in the storyline. Of course Dr Campbell's success in solving the Chinese police's little mystery was to be expected.

10 people found this helpful

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Buckeye Barbara

Twists and Turns

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 12, 2020

Verified Purchase

I've read several Peter May books, but this is the first about China. It kept me in suspense to the very end. His research was incredible and I learned so much about the Chinese way of life, government, culture, and thinking. His description of Beijing was very detailed, and his characters well- developed. I'm anxious to read the sequels.

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Kindle Customer

A revelation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

I am just halfway through this book and am totally hooked. Aside from the story, the sense of place through description is fabulous. I am there with the scents and sights of bustling downtown Beijing. The insight into the life, culture, history, social structure and etiquette of China is vividly brought to life especially through the eyes of Dr Margaret Campbell a "liberated and sceptical" American. There is a love story developing but I cannot comment on that .....yet! The story is also fascinating. The fact that May was writing about GM issues and possible long-term effects on our world (possible pandemic) in 1999 is particularly relevant now.

5 people found this helpful

Mig Bardsley

Not bad

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

Lots of cliche, a fairly complex plot, and interesting cultural background and a fairly standard pair of protagonists - big, dark, gifted and unconventional Li Yan, the Chinese policeman and blonde, blue-eyed, American Margaret, the forensic scientist visiting Beijing to lecture for six weeks. Naturally, over a burned corpse, they develop a relationship and naturally the cultural differences roughen the path for them.
Naturally, their investigation brought them up against business and government plots embroiled them in an international conspiracy with world altering consequences.
The Chinese cultural and historical elements were interesting and I enjoyed them (but I took much of it with a pinch of salt given the many other cliches in the novel).
Some elegant and telling detail.
A good light read. I shall probably read at least one more in the series.

8 people found this helpful

Barbara Jenkins

Just a bit pedestrian really

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

I have read 2 of the China series now, coming to them straight after reading the 3 Lewis series novels. And what a let down! I loved the Lewis books, peopled by imperfect characters in a compelling landscape that was almost an character in its own right. The narrative felt authentic, and the actions and emotions of the characters felt right. I don't know if Peter May wrote the China series a while ago before writing the Lewis series, but it feels like it. They are not as subtle or polished, and the setting, while compelling for its exoticism, often reads like a lecture. But my biggest bugbear is the overuse of cliché, sometimes in language but mostly in imagery. I am heartily sick of learning what characters look like because of the frequency with which they catch sight of themselves in a mirror. I won't continue with the China series, but, given that I loved the Lewis series and also Coffin Road (despite not because of the polemic within), I'll try others by Peter May.

15 people found this helpful

Bob

A change from the usual May books but give it a chance...you won't regret it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 6, 2018

Verified Purchase

Having read the Lewis Trilogy first, then rode the coat tails of Enzo MacLeod around France it only seemed correct to head off to China.
Written at a different pace to the aforementioned works, The Fire Maker was slower in the crime narrative but gave much more insight into the social and cultural backgrounds of our characters and their surroundings. At times I forgot about the actual crime whilst I learnt a lot about China and their ways. However the crime itself was gripping enough to keep me hooked. Twists, turns and grisly horror arrived in a way that was so unexpected and left you feeling as wrung out as the protagonists.
When I first started the novel I wasn't sure if I would continue the China series but Book 2 has just landed on my Kindle as I type this review...

5 people found this helpful

chessherej

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

Having just finished the Lewis Trilogy, with their Outer Hebrides setting which I thoroughly enjoyed and show Peter May as a gifted author and master of descriptive narrative and suspense, I was keen to try this book for it's complete change of setting, Beijing.
So disappointing. I cannot believe that such drivel has been written by the same author. This book has all the cliches of a cheap Mills and Boon paperback , tall dark man meets extremely beautiful blonde and hate one another at first sight.
You immediately l know that it will be happy ever after by the end.
Blonde is not only an extremely intelligent forensic pathologist, but also has a photographic memory and can beat at first attempt a Chinese master chess player at his own game. The detective is no less super. It was cringe worthy!
So predictable. So boring.
I gave the story line 3 stars for originality.
Peter May why did you write this rubbish. You can do 100 times better.

3 people found this helpful

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