On Java Road

A Novel

By: Lawrence Osborne

Narrated by: Michael Obiora

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A veteran journalist in Hong Kong investigates the disappearance of a student protester in this “sensual, provocative, and riveting” (The Washington Post) novel from the celebrated author of The Forgiven—now a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, CrimeReads

After two decades as a journalist in Hong Kong, ex-pat Englishman Adrian Gyle is ready to turn his back on the city he knew so well. But as Hong Kong erupts in violence with pro-democracy demonstrations hitting ever closer to home, could this be the final assignment Gyle was looking for?

Watching from the skyrises is his old friend Jimmy Tang, the scion of one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families. Through him Gyle uncovers an intriguing lead: the mysterious Rebecca, a student involved in the protests, and the latest of his Jimmy’s reckless dalliances. But when Rebecca goes missing and Jimmy hides, it rekindles in Gyle an old urge to investigate.

Piecing together Rebecca’s final days and hours, Gyle must tread carefully through a volatile world of friendship and betrayal. Vividly capturing a city on the brink, On Java Road tells the gripping story of a man between the fault lines of old worlds and new orders in pursuit of the truth.

©2022 Lawrence Osborne (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“On Java Road evokes the themes and tropes of other classic writers, with echoes of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Graham Greene’s The Third Man. Mr. Osborne turns those references upside-down, subverting expectations of characters’ behavior and story resolution. . . . Those receptive to its elegant writing and intelligent pleasures will be richly rewarded.”—The Wall Street Journal

“To open a new Lawrence Osborne book is to enter a maze of thrills from which there is no exit other than to finish the book in one sitting.”—Molly Young, The New York Times

“Shades of Graham Greene and Patricia Highsmith fall across [Osborne’s] colorful pages. Like both, he has a nomadic imagination strongly responsive to the lure of the foreign and enthralled by duplicity, mistrust, and betrayal. Like Greene, he favors down-at-heel figures who have a kind of shabby integrity. Like Highsmith, he is fascinated by glamorously amoral sociopaths. . . . His most compulsive [novel] yet.”—Sunday Times (London)

Fascinating story about Hong Kong

The story gave great insight into the world of wealthy Hong Kong residents and journalist expats as China cracked down on freedom.

À thoroughly enjoyable listen

A beautifully written, and subtle story, full of a rich sense of place following two friends, enveloped in sadness and the inevitability of disappointment.

Descriptions of places

Superb narration. A good story. What happens when a country slides into authoritarian rule? Xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

Another winning novel by Laurence Osborne

No winners in this tale except the State in this tale that uses the dissolution of a once free-wheeling Hong Kong as a backdrop. Laurence Osborne renders remarkable characters in this tale, the fading expat journo Adrian Gyle, his privileged, cynical “comrade” Jimmy Tan, representing a privileged class whose time is up, and Rebecca Toh, also privileged but a rebel, who will break your heart. Somehow, above all, we want her to win, despite her fate. Pick this one up by Osbourne. There is no better expat writer in the world now. He understands and writes of a changing Hong Kong that will resonate with anyone who’s ever lived there. On Java Road is written with Osborne’s usual panache and insights on the human condition amongst those who belong and those who don’t in foreign lands. MIchael Obiora's narration is spot-on.

A fine book

An ambiguous friendship formed at Oxford moves to Hong Kong. Race, economics, politics are beautifully explicated by Osborne, who, it seems, has been everywhere with his pen.

Kept waiting for the point of this story

A great audio performance. But the book itself was a bore of a story which could have been interesting. A whiny, self indulgent academic guy having a mid-life crisis over being a loser and his “friendship” with his school chum who was a totally shallow fop. Hoped I was at least getting a good mystery. Nope. The book just ends with a whimper.