China White (Wheeler Large Print Book)

Rating:
Summary: interesting thriller
Review: have read non fiction stuff by maas, so decided to give this novel a try . . . interesting, though not great . . . (i prefer his non fiction stuff) . . . but got to listen to cassette tapes of book, so i would recommend it on that basis (though don't know if i would have enjoyed it as much had i actually read it).

Rating:
Summary: interesting thriller
Review: have read non fiction stuff by maas, so decided to give this novel a try . . . interesting, though not great . . . (i prefer his non fiction stuff) . . . but got to listen to cassette tapes of book, so i would recommend it on that basis (though don't know if i would have enjoyed it as much had i actually read it).

Rating:
Summary: Barely readable
Review: Peter Maas may be a successful non-fictionn writer, but on the basis of this book, as a novelist he has no talent. Taking anecdotes from real life (as Maas does over and over in this book) and arranging them in chronological order is not fiction writing -- its lazy commercialism. This book is terrible.

Rating:
Summary: Barely readable
Review: The authors past books lend him a lot of credibility with this topic. I found the information about Chinese organized crime to be fascinating, but some of the "love interest" storylines weren't that important to the gist of the story. I would definatley recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: A great, quick read; plenty of detail in a small package.
Review: The authors past books lend him a lot of credibility with this topic. I found the information about Chinese organized crime to be fascinating, but some of the "love interest" storylines weren't that important to the gist of the story. I would definatley recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining for a Reader - Frightening for a Citizen
Review: To take such a true and scary real-life situation and write it as an entertaining story - without being either overly draconion or frivolous - is quite a feat.

Anyone who has studied Singapore's success in controlling drugs sorely wishes for a bit of intelligent discipline in our own country. Today, 10 years after Nafta and Peter's book were both launched, illegal immigrants and drugs pore while jobs pore out. In 2004, there were over 500,000 packed 20' sea-going cargo containers brought in from Asia (mostly China)- and those were just the ones brought into America through the port of Long Beach, CA - very few if any were inspected by US authorities.

A novel built around the loading and distribution of the contents of just one of those containers would make a great sequel to China White.

Just as in espionage novels and real life, truth is often stranger (and scarier) than fiction. I think Peter Maas has done a fine job - both as an author and as someone trying to give us a wake-up call about what we are allowing to happen to our Country and our Citizens.
John Schuler
Portland, Oregon