Product Description

“See paints a fascinating portrait of a complex and enigmatic society, in which nothing is ever quite as it appears, and of the people, peasant and aristocrat alike, who are bound by its subtle strictures.”
–San Diego Union-Tribune

While David Stark is asked to open a law office in Beijing, his lover, detective Liu Hulan, receives an urgent message from an old friend imploring her to investigate the suspicious death of her daughter, who worked for a toy company about to be sold to David’s new client, Tartan Enterprises.

Despite David’s protests, Hulan goes undercover at the toy factory in the rural village of Da Shui, deep in the heart of China. It is a place that forces Hulan to face a past she has long been running from. Once there, rather than finding answers to the girl’s death, Hulan unearths more questions, all of which point to possible crimes committed by David’s client. Suddenly Hulan and David find themselves on opposing sides: One of them is trying to expose a company and unearth a killer, while the other is ethically bound to protect his client. As pressures mount and danger increases, Hulan and David uncover universal truths about good and evil, right and wrong–and the sometimes subtle lines that distinguish them.

“[See] illuminates tradition and change, Western and Eastern cultural differences. . . . All this in the middle of her thriller which is also about greed, corruption, abuse of the disadvantaged, the desperation of those on the bottom of the food chain, and love.”
–The Tennessean

“Sophisticated . . . graceful . . . See’s picture of contemporary China’s relationship with the United States is aptly played out through her characters.”
–Los Angeles Times

“Immediate, haunting and exquisitely rendered.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9812 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-31
• Released on: 2007-12-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

Nagging Little Detail
Like the other reviewers, I am a Lisa See fan and I thought this book was great. However, there is one little nagging detail that bothers me. Without giving up the ending, it seems to me that anyone as intelligent as Inspector Liu would have realized how sick she was and gotten herself to a Dr. before she got to the point she did.

I too am hooked by Lisa See's Red Princess mysteries
I first read Lisa See's Flower Net and couldn't wait until I read The Interior. Both books are beautifully and complexly plotted with betrayals that one does not see coming but, when they come, seem just right. The complexity of Chinese society, so much that is so positive yet also so much that seems enignmatic and/or corrupt to a Westerner, is conveyed beautifully by having both an American and a Chinese protagonist. The first book dealt with the drug trade (but not a conventional one), the second with entrepreneurial corruption and avarice, as well as with love in a variety of forms. See does not focus just on Beijing but on the countryside, not just on the role of the investigator but also that of the factory worker, not just on those who are prominent in Chinese society but on those who are poor and often exploited, not just on the situation of women but also of men, and, lastly, not just on those who are professionals today but on those who lived during the Cultural Revolution. Both books are long, but I wanted neither to come to an end. Now I look forward to Dragon Bones!

I am hooked!
I have to admit I have read every one of Lisa See's books. The Inspector Liu/Attorney Stark books are very different from her other books (Peony in Love, Snow Flower & the Secret Fan, On Gold Mountain), but what I love about this author is that each of her book is unique and full of surprises. I came across Dragon Bones first and was hooked! At that time it was very hard to get a copy of The Interior. I ended up paying an outrageous amount to get a used one, and I am delighted --for Writer See and her other fans -- that it's now out in paperback. (I would have saved money if I waited, but I just couldn't wait. LOL.) The Interior is my favorite of the three books in this genre (Dragon Bones & Flower Net being the other two). The characters are complex, the plot sophisticated. These books do not have the literary value of See's other books, but I gave this book a 5 because it's among the best in this genre. I have e-mailed Writer See, asking when she will come out with her next Red Princess mystery. She promised there will be another. I can't wait!