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Second sister
2020
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"A schoolgirl, Siu-Man, has committed suicide by leaping from her twenty-second floor window. Her older sister and guardian, Nga-Yee, refuses to believe there was no foul play. Nga-Yee contacts a hacker and cybersecurity expert-known only as N.-to investigate and what follows is a cat and mouse game through the city and its digital underground, where someone has been smearing Siu-Man's reputation. This is not the only hidden drama in the city of Hong Kong: Chan introduces us to a serial groper on mass transit; high school kids with their competing agendas and social performances; a Hong Kong digital company courting an American venture capitalist; and the Triads, market women and noodle shop proprietors who frequent N.'s neighborhood. In the end, these threads all come together to reveal who caused Siu-Man's death and why, and to ask, in a world that has increasingly forgotten the real people on the other end of online and offline firestorms, what the proper punishment is"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

After her school age sister commits suicide, Siu-Man refuses to believe there was no foul play and contacts a hacker known as N. to help her in this new novel from the internationally acclaimed author of The Borrowed. Original. - (Baker & Taylor)

From the author of the acclaimed novel The Borrowed, a very timely and propulsively plotted tale of cyberbullying and revenge, about a woman on the hunt for the truth about her sister’s death.

Chan Ho-Kei’s The Borrowed was one of the most acclaimed international crime novels of recent years, a vivid and compelling tale of power, corruption, and the law spanning five decades of the history of Hong Kong. Now he delivers Second Sister, an up-to-the-minute tale of a Darwinian digital city where everyone from tech entrepreneurs to teenagers is struggling for the top.

A schoolgirl—Siu-Man—has committed suicide, leaping from her twenty-second floor window to the pavement below. Siu-Man is an orphan and the librarian older sister who’s been raising her refuses to believe there was no foul play—nothing seemed amiss. She contacts a man known only as N.—a hacker, and an expert in cybersecurity and manipulating human behavior. But can Nga-Yee interest him sufficiently to take her case, and can she afford it if he says yes?

What follows is a cat and mouse game through the city of Hong Kong and its digital underground, especially an online gossip platform, where someone has been slandering Siu-Man. The novel is also populated by a man harassing girls on mass transit; high school kids, with their competing agendas and social dramas; a Hong Kong digital company courting an American venture capitalist; and the Triads, market women and noodle shop proprietors who frequent N.’s neighborhood of Sai Wan. In the end it all comes together to tell us who caused Siu-Man’s death and why, and to ask, in a world where online and offline dialogue has increasingly forgotten about the real people on the other end, what the proper punishment is.

- (Perseus Publishing)

From the author of the acclaimed novel The Borrowed, a very timely and propulsively plotted tale of cyberbullying and revenge, about a woman on the hunt for the truth about her sister’s death. - (Perseus Publishing)

Author Biography

Chan Ho-Kei was born and raised in Hong Kong. He has worked as software engineer, script writer, game designer and editor of comic magazines. His writing career started with the short story “The Murder Case of Jack and the Beanstalk,” which was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of Taiwan Award. He won the award the next year with “The Locked Room of Bluebeard.” Chan’s first novel, The Man Who Sold the World, won the Soji Shimada Mystery Award, the biggest mystery award in the Chinese-language world, and was published in five languages. He is also the author of the award-winning novel, The Borrowed

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- (Perseus Publishing)

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Booklist Reviews

After seeing her 15-year-old sister's broken body on the Hong Kong sidewalk below their apartment, Nga-Yee vows to deliver justice to the cyberbully she blames for Siu-Man's suicide. Siu-Man's torment began several months ago when she was groped on a crowded subway train, and a witness identified Shiu Tak-Ping as the perpetrator. After Shiu's incarceration, a social-media rant appeared, stoking sympathy for Shiu, accusing Siu-Man of lying about the attack, and igniting vicious cyberattacks toward Siu-Man. Undeterred by the anonymous poster's attempts to cover his tracks, Nga-Yee's quest for justice takes a turn toward revenge after she convinces Hong Kong's most adept hacker, N., to take her case. Their search, punctuated by hacking details and sharp-witted verbal sparring, unveils a dangerous swirl of petty feuds, cybertheft, and the existence of a predator stalking Hong Kong's vulnerable teens. An intense but rewarding blend of technology, deduction, and flawed relationships; fans of Chan's well-written English-language debut, The Borrowed (2016), will find even more to like here. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

Software engineer Chan (The Borrowed) returns with a new complex and well-crafted mystery of a Hong Kong librarian searching for the truth about her teenage sister's death. Most chapters begin with short text message exchanges between unidentified antagonists, adding tension and intrigue to the plot. Main character Nga-Yee is a hard-working, family-oriented young Chinese woman who has experienced great loss, of both family and financial stability, and is now alone in the world. The authorities say her sister's death was by suicide, but Nga-Yee engages the reluctant help of a mysterious, taciturn cyber expert who goes simply by the letter "N"; his involvement leads to the discovery of an increasingly complicated snarl of seemingly unconnected threads that eventually reveal an unexpected puppetmaster. The story addresses timely and dark themes of society today, including teenage sexual harassment, internet bullying, organized crime, and the machinations of the digital underground. VERDICT Chan's appealing style will hold readers' interest, especially those who enjoy their suspense set in international locales.—Crystal Renfro, Kennesaw State Univ., Marietta, GA

Copyright 2020 Library Journal.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Nga-Yee Au, the heroine of this clever, twisty novel set in Hong Kong from Chan (The Borrowed), who has devoted herself to taking care of her 15-year-old sister, Siu-Man, after the death of their widowed mother, is devastated to learn that Siu-Man has jumped to her death from their apartment window. After Siu-Man's death, Nga-Yee learns that, over a period of months leading to the suicide, Siu-Man was the victim of a subway groper, Shiu Tak-Ping, who was convicted of sexual abuse and sent to prison. Siu-Man was subsequently subject to cyberbullying and harassment from someone claiming to be Tak-Ping's nephew, who insisted that his uncle was framed. Nga-Yee is determined to hold the nephew accountable for Siu-Man's death, and after the PI she hires learns that Tak-Ping has no nephew, he directs her to an eccentric investigator, who just calls himself N, to track down the impersonator. The reveals are both logical and surprising, and Chan populates the plot with realistic characterizations. Fans of hacker thrillers such as Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander books will be amply rewarded. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Hoffmann & Assoc. (Feb.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.

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