Ghost Month

By: Ed Lin

Narrated by: Feodor Chin

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

August is Ghost Month in Taiwan - a time to commemorate the dead: Burn incense, visit shrines, honor ancestors, and avoid unlucky situations, large purchases, and bodies of water. Jing-nan, a young man who runs a food stand in a bustling Taipei night market, doesn't consider himself superstitious, but this August is going to haunt him no matter what he does.

He is shocked to the core when he learns his ex-girlfriend from high school has been murdered. She was found scantily clad and shot on the side of a highway where she was selling betel nuts to passing truck drivers. Beyond his harrowing grief for his lost love, Jing-nan is confused by the news. "Betel nut beauties" are usually women in the most desperate of circumstances; the job is almost as taboo as prostitution. But Julia Huang had been the valedictorian of their high school, and the last time Jing-nan spoke to her she was enrolled in NYU's honor program, far away in New York. The facts don't add up. Julia's parents don't think so either, and the police seem to have closed the case without asking any questions.

The Huangs beg Jing-nan to do some investigating on his own - reconnect with old classmates, see if he can learn anything about Julia's life that she might have kept from them. Reluctantly, he agrees, for Julia's sake. But nothing can prepare him for what he learns - or how it will change his life.

©2014 Ed Lin (P)2014 SoHo Publishing

An Insider's Vision of Life in Taiwan

An Insider's Vision of Life in Taiwan

Ed Lin may be NYC born and reared, but he has as much insights into Taiwanese culture as anyone born on the island. Love his work.

Feodor Chin's narration is generally on point.

Stinky Tofu Anyone???

Interesting novel set in Taiwan. The protagonist, Jing-naan, runs a food stand in Shilin Night Market in Taipei but once had aspirations for more. He attended UCLA briefly until his returns to Taiwan to fulfill family obligations. After the death of his girlfriend, Julia, whom he had not seen for years, he becomes an unlikely detective, pursuing justice at the bequest of the Julia's parents.

The best part of this novel is the description of the Taiwan, especially of the night market -- the culture, the sights, smells and the FOOD. Even when Jing-naan travels outside the market, the food descriptors follow him (most memorable -- "clouds the color of rancid, fatty meat".)

I enjoyed hearing the expositions on the history of Taiwan and its people, but there was too much, which slowed down the story and made the mystery seem secondary (or tertiary.) There were episodes of good suspense, clever writing and humorous dialogue, though and the characters in the night market were interesting, although they seemed like caricatures.

This was enjoyable, but mostly due to the descriptions of the setting and its history. If you are looking for a riveting mystery, you might want to skip this one.

Feodor Chin, the narrator does fine job, especially with the protagonist and other male characters.

Nice detective with Taiwan in the background

If you want an intro to Taiwan, culture wrapped in intriguing detective story this might be the book 4 you.

Good book but for a different reason

I expected this to be a mystery thriller but there honestly is only like 20 minutes of thrill. Most of the book was about current and past Taiwan. It talks a lot about the different culture aspects and interesting outlooks on life that the people of Taiwan have. I guess it is mostly a book about Taiwan that happens to involve a murder and a regular guy sort of kind of trying to get to the bottom of how it happened while also falling in love.

All in all I knew literally nothing about Taipei and Taiwan and after reading this book I am interested to visit one day.

Light Listening for Taiwan Fans

I recommend this book for people who've been to Taiwan or are interested in it for whatever reason. I absolutely adore the country and its people, so that for me was where a large part of the enjoyment derived from. Ed Lin is not a master narrator or anything, but he wrote a fun book. It's less a mystery novel and more a discussion of Taiwanese history, culture, politics and religion in the vehicle of a mediocre murder mystery. The resolution of the story was a bit cheesy but I am glad I listened to the end. I got the same kind of feeling I would get from watching a slapstick comedy or an over-the-top action movie - the story won't leave more than a 24-hour impression on me, but neither did I feel I had wasted my time. I think Mr. Lin is capable of better stuff if he continues to hone his craft. I may actually download the next book in the series.

Feodor Chin's narration was good, but he seriously needs to work on his girl voices. Every female character sounded the same. Kind of like the girly, weak voice any guy would make if he wanted to imitate his girlfriend's voice.

Grim, grimmer and grimmest.

What would have made Ghost Month better?

I bought this book because it was recommended by Tim Hallinan, who is one of my very favorite writers. His talents are so far above those of Mr. Lin and Mr. Chin, that there is really no comparison, although I will note a few discrepancies. First, Tim's books are loaded with humor, lovable characters, plots that are written with breakneck speed, and also are full of Tim's love of the Thai people and of many aspects of the Southeast Asian countries. Mr. Lin's book has almost none of these. It begins with a grim murder and then goes quickly downhill from there. The primary character is a dour, pleasure-free man who hates his existence, which involves mainly working in a sidewalk barbecue stand in Taipei. There must be some pleasure, humor and/or adventure to grab the reader's attention. I found none of these in the slog that is trying to get through even a few chapters of this book. Enough said.

What was most disappointing about Ed Lin’s story?

All of the above.

How could the performance have been better?

Mr. Chin would appear to have virtually zero narrative skills. He speaks in an uninflected monotone. He speaks in exactly one voice. The good and great narrators to whom I have listened over the years have often been trained as actors, and you can hear this in their performances. This audiobook moved me to exactly nowhere, slowly.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Ghost Month?

All of them.

Any additional comments?

A waste of your time and money. I still love almost everything Tim Hallinan writes, although I have to say that the Poke Rafferty books are way more to my liking than the Junior Bender series. It is hard to get involved in and attracted to a man who makes his living as a burglar. As for Mr. Lin, he should hold onto his day job, even if he deplores it.