The Living Room of the Dead

This is the first in a series of (4 currently) Ray Sharp Novels by Eric Stone. The Author weaves fact and I surmise personal experiences, in a riveting tale that takes you through Macau in the mid-90's, as well as, the formerly closed Russian City of Vladivostok. As an avid reader and collection fiction set in Asian locales, I had not to date read anything that provides such vivid color on the underbelly of Macau and more specifically the topics of sex for sale and human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Personally, a winning formula in any form of media blends both excitement and repulsion. The "Living Room of the Dead" offers both of the aforementioned in ample quantities. My only regret is that it took me so long to find the series and I look forward to reading the rest.

Eric Stone's first novel reveals the underbelly of Macau, Hong Kong, and other colorful cities as backdrop to an original suspense story: protagonist Ray Sharp tries to rescue a Russian prostitute from a deadly crime syndicate. The novel's strength is its vividly depicted settings. Even well-traveled readers will be enlightened, often surprised, and sometimes shocked as they follow Stone on a tour of some of the most exotic places on Earth.

This book was a great read. Within a few pages, protagonist Ray Sharp feels like a real person. The descriptions of HongKong and Macau never strain for effect, yet they are incredibly vivid (and accurate, based on my modest HK experience). The plot avoids the tired "then things became implausibly dangerous but the narrator miraculously prevailed in the end" cliche that infests many thrillers. It is terribly gruesome in spots, but if you read through to the author's note at the very end, the sickening parts seem well justified. While this is definitely a "man's book" - the point of view is decisively male and our hero never once bemoans his weight or gets nagged by his mother - it is accessible to a female readership as well; in fact, Ray directly addresses a few issues in a way that seems designed to interest female readers. Finally, the world as narrated by Ray is ideal for a series. The infrequent use of details about Ray's background as fuel for the book's development seems a promising method for avoiding the excessive review that can plague series books. It will be a pleasure to see what Ray encounters in future novels.