Dragon day

The third and final Ellie McEnroe story in which the veteran of a confused and pointless war tries to find her feet in a confused and confusing China. Her cheerful, scary billionaire acquaintance, Sidney Cao, has a job for her. He wants her to find out what's going on with his three kids (the one child policy is optional for the powerful) and in particular whether the American adventurer who's hanging out with his youngest son is bad news. Readers of this trilogy will guess fairly soon: they're all bad news. It doesn't help that her semi-boyfriend John (aka Creepy John), who works for security services wants to be helpful (or does he?), that her activist artist friend plans to return to Beijing, where he's certain to attract the attention of authorities who have been looking for him, and her supply of Percocet is running low. When the body of a woman who had been at a party held by one of Sidney's wayward kids turns up in a dump, things get really complicated. returnreturnThere are two strengths in this trilogy.One is the fascinating picture it provides of the New China - a place that's aggressively under construction and chaotic after a seismic cultural shift toward consumerism. The other is Ellie's voice - casual, unsettled, constantly searching for something she can't identify, faced at every turn with a need to figure out the least bad of terrible options. She's a fascinating woman and a nifty guide to a place that has changed beyond recognition.