The Demon and the City

The Demon and the City (2006) Liz Williams

After reading The Snake Agent, I’ve been looking forward the reading the next Detective Inspector Chen book. (In fact, the paperback edition has been on pre-order for several months.) As with many authors I like, after getting a book, I’m hesitant to read it, for fear that it may not live up to my expectations. I didn’t have to worry about The Demon and the City–it lived up to my expectations and was thoroughly enjoyable.

Detective Inspector Chen and his wife are on a well-earned vacation in Hawaii, so Sargent Ma and Zhu Irzh Seneschal are left to hold down the department–and suffer the displeasure of Captain Sung, who would like nothing better than to send Zhu Irzh back to Hell where he belongs. But the discovery of a mutilated body picks up Zhu Irzh’s week–the highlight of which previously had been revoking the license of a feng shui practitioner.

Although this is a Detective Inspector Chen novel, the point of view is split between the demon Zhu Irzh and the other individuals involved in the mystery. In fact, Chen remains out of the scene and on vacation until nearly a third of the way into the book. Although this was a bit of a surprise, I actually enjoyed the switch from the previous book. Being a demon, Zhu Irzh has a very different view on humanity and morality than the other characters, and it was interesting to see his point of view.

As with the previous book, I loved the setting and the characters. Although there is a faint science fiction feel to Singapore Three, with the nano-technology and such, it’s just a small part, and is rather fascinating, as there is seemingly only a thin line between magic and technology.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the writing.

Once a week he took the tram out to Bharulay to see his elderly father , and they went for long, silent walks along the canal. His mother, the shrill quarrelsome Mrs Roche, had long since passed into one of the more pleasant neighborhoods of Hell, if that wasn’t a contradiction in terms. She sometimes telephoned, a tinny distant voice in her son’s ear, demanding to know why he was still unwed.

The mystery in this book was–to me–much strong than the mystery in the previous book. Although they traverse the realms as in the previous book, I found the motives of the various individuals more clear. In particular, I liked the way that–other that Inspector Chen–no one seemed to have motives that were pure one way or another. This story was filled with shades of grey, and good and evil were definitely not clear-cut.

Although I suppose I would classify this as supernatural fantasy, it has a much different flavor than much of the other supernatural fantasy I read. There was sex, but I suppose that I’m becoming inured to it, as it seems to be a major component of most supernatural fantasies, so it didn’t particularly annoy me. And it did fit in with the character’s personality. The flavor of this book, however, is not one that I can easily describe. The setting is the near future, and the world is just slightly different from our own, with the seams between our world and the supernatural being much thinner than they are now.

If you’re looking for something different to read, I strongly recommend The Demon and the City. You’ll want to read The Snake Agent first, to better appreciate the characters of Chen and Ma and Zhu Irzh, however, if you don’t, you should have no problem getting into the story.
Rating: 8/10 (although it’s really an 8.5)

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