Review by samdalefox - The Runner

samdalefox 's review for:

The Runner by Peter May

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is the fifth in the China Thriller series. If you've made it this far, you know what you're in for and this is a solid installment: very easy to read and enjoyable. I'm looking forward to reading the next, and final, book of the series.

Pros

The setting is back in Beijing
Interesting commentary on the effects of capitalism and globalisation on the local residents e.g., displacement in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, and widening wealth inequality.
Li and Margaret are finally trying to commit to each other, there are much less petty, unecessary conflicts.
Clear call out on racist behaviours and the difficulties in inter-racial/cultural partnerships being accepted

Cons

The murder conspiracy plot was much less prominent than in other books in this series. It wasn't until the 80% mark that we made any real progress with this subplot and started to tie different threads together. There was significantly less autopsy/medical content than previously, despite it still being relevant to the storyline.
The murder conspiracy plot also wasn't as interesting in my opinion as previous storylines. It also loses some of twist/'oomph' by recycling
another genetics story. This brings the count up to 3 (1 with the rice, 2 with the flu virus, now 3 with the endogenous hormone production for athletes)
XinXin was just sort of dropped out of the picture. Like many characters before her, if not directly relevant to Li and Margaret right now, then we don't really hear anything about what happened to them and how they're doing.

Content Warnings