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reviews

The Runner

Peter May
Poisoned Pen Press (2010)
ISBN 9781590586044
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads (01/10)

Chinese Olympian bound athletes are dying in what appears to be unrelated incidences.  Members of the spring relay team die in a car crash, a cyclist drowns, a swimmer commits suicide, and a weightlifter has a heart attack while engaging in sex. The last death, although laughable yet puzzling, creates a publicity nightmare for the country. His mistress is the wife of a senior member of the Chinese Olympic Organizing Committee and the Minister of Public Security wants it covered up! 

What secrets do these deaths of world class athletes hold?  The mystery behind these unusual and closely occurring fatalities becomes the focus of an investigation by Beijing detective Li Yan.  The timing for him could not be more inopportune.  He is preparing to marry American pathologist Margaret Campbell, his very pregnant fiancé.  Her mother is arriving for the betrothal ceremony and wedding as is his father.  The relationships in both families are strained and much anxiety clouds the event.  The marriage to a foreign national is also frowned upon by the government, placing Li Yan’s job in jeopardy.  His tenuous position in the police force and the ominous threat of a mole within his department further complicate his life.

 “The Runner” by Peter May is a multi-layered thriller taking the reader into the bureaucratic world of the Beijing police department as it probes into the seamier side of Olympian training, extending to the Mafia-like Triads and beyond. This is a suspenseful detective story enhanced by the descriptive detailed settings and interaction between the characters.  The reader begins to understand the society and customs of the Chinese people presented so well and so respectfully by the author.