Unfortunately, it isn't want it claims to be... - Rated 
I'll be honest and admit that I bought this book largely because of the cover. However, as an avid reader of crime fiction and a lover of books set in China, the basic premise really appealed to me; a `feng shui' detective, hmm, I thought...interesting. The book starts on an amusing note, the bureaucracy in China being parodied as CF Wong gets into an argument about why his building shouldn't be knocked down (with him still in it!) Then we become involved in a plot by militant vegans, who are plotting to kill the Chinese and American Presidents as they meet in Shanghai.
There are brilliant touches of humour in this novel and some wicked black humour too, but it really isn't the book that the blurb would have you believe. `Feng Shui' detective? He doesn't detect anything and I didn't learn anything about feng shui either. He's a largely a two-dimensional character that we care nothing about. His assistant, Joyce, is a far more interesting character but even she cannot carry the whole book. The plot peters out to nothing, with 100 pages being dedicated to the disposal of a white elephant (that's a real white elephant, not a figurative one!) I wouldn't write off this author but I was disappointed. It's a shame though because I've seen the new book and the cover for that one is great too.
Social Commentary - Rated
Readers who've found Alexander McCall Smith's work too cutesy will be better off with this light novel with a social conscience. Feng shui master CF Wong and his Australian assistant Joyce McQuinnie have moved from Singapore to Shanghai...only their new office is blown up. Traffic jams are abundant, and a bomb is discovered inside a live elephant. However, sometimes the author's humour appears at inappropriate moments: a major murder scene (recalling Robert Muchamore's MAN V BEAST) should've been harrowing for the reader, but it wasn't. Still, the author makes up for it with social commentary, when an American character says, 'How come every goddamn nation on this planet counts in kilos and we count in pounds? What's wrong with them all?' Of course it would make more sense for Americans to join in counting kilos, but do you think they'd see it? Not Thomas 'Cobb' Dooley!
Try something different - Rated 
Not to everyone's taste, I'm sure, but the educated palate will love this quirky take on the detective tale. An exploding elephant, a gridlocked city and vegan terrorists make for a spicy, moreish feast! Enjoy...
hugely entartaining romp - Rated
if you're expecting the poetry of eastern philosophical musings or, indeed, a serious novel by all means stay away. this is quite deliberately - and successfully - a highly comic novel weaving the wonderfully mismatched cf wong and american sidekick, joyce, into what feels like an eclectic, oriental caper movie. fun, fun, fun.
alas! - Rated 
What a disappointment. Waiting for such a long time to read about C.F Wong and noting that he had become a coward, greedy and interested only by his appetite. Characters have changed, there is almost no substance anymore, style is lost, it would seem that this has been written by someone else. Forgotten the poetic approach to detective stories with a far-East touch and philosophy, what remains is a most boring and dull novel which I had to struggle to read through the end. For those who did not buy it, stay away from it and read the two previous novels. For the others, too bad and join me in my sorrow.
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