Uncle Chow--the rise of a mega force!

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Fate (The Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung #1) by Ian Hamilton         

How could I resist another series by the creator of Ava Lee, the forensic accountant, and one of my favorite, contemporary mystery characters?
What I didn't realize was that I'd be so fascinated by Uncle Chow Tung's story.
We first meet him in the Ava Lee novels and always there's been something different about him.  And this series explains it. How the young man from communist China becomes a leading triad figure. 
Set in the 1970's in Hong Kong, Chow Tung is the accountant (the White Fan) for the Fanling Triad. The tension builds when the Dragon Head of the Fanling Triad is killed in a hit and run accident. A new Mountain Master is to be appointed. Chow calls for an election as per the triad's rules. He sees the next in line as weak and ineffectual and is concerned. So we have an internal power struggle, with other triad's poised for action and the mystery of who is behind the death of the Dragon Head.
Hamilton's description of the triad rituals is fascinating. The rules and regulations and ways of doing things have a strict order and coherence.
Uncle (as even now Chow is called) is shown as a thoughtful and precise man who uses his intelligence to bring about calm, and focused on increasing the triad interests.
I found Chows talks with his dead loved one poignant and instructive into who Chow is.
A fascinating journey into the rise of the man known as Uncle that will continues with the looked for next in the series.
I'm hooked!

 A House of Anansi Press ARC via NetGalley 

*****

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