The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May

Author : Peter May
Title : The Fourth Sacrifice
Published : 08/09/16
Pages : 512
Genre : Crime Thriller
Publisher : Riverrun







      The Chinese police have once more been forced to enlist the services of American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell: this time to investigate a series of four horrific ritual executions that have taken place in Beijing.  Detective Li Yan is determined to discover just how one of the victims, in particular, an American diplomat, became caught up in the slaying. And he is arguably even more determined to have nothing to do with Campbell. The polarity that once attracted Yan and Campbell eventually pulls them back into partnership. Yet the closer they are drawn to the truth, the nearer they come to a killer prepared to use extreme force to conceal it.

   When it came to the fourth sacrifice it was the first time I had read Peter may. I think what drew me to this book more than anything was the setting. I realize this sounds a little shallow, and maybe that's a fair point. But I do have some reason behind it firstly a few years back I spent a month in China, so it holds a special place in my heart. Secondly, while I have read a fair few books set in China I had yet to read a crime book set there. So I was more than a little curious to see how it would play out. What difference would the Chinese police bring to the way a murder gets solved. 

      I think that in coming into this series on the second novel I was already on the back foot. The author gives no real time for catching the new reader up on who our two leads where. That is on me, I think maybe I have gotten so used to author giving away their first chapters to catching the new ones up. So anyway moving on. Paring an American pathologist with a Chinese cop serves as a way in for a western reader. It gives us someone to relate to within in the book which as I write it sounds odd. It also serves to add some tension between our two leads, they both have there own world views a product of there upbringing and how each country sees it's place in the world. For me, they felt like they played there parts well and came across as complete and well-crafted people. It is also worth noting that while Campbell serves as the fish out of water, Yan has a team to back him up. I liked the way the interacted with each other. They felt to me like a group of people who had worked together for a while. They have that way of mixing the need to do there job well with banter that from the outside would come across as mean or hurtful, but due to there past they know is not meant that way. 

     The plot for this managed to work that fine line between an excellent police procedural and the latest big U.S crime show, and for me, it totally works. The author has clearly put a great deal of time in to working out each point in his book and making sure the each, in turn, leads to a reasonable conclusion. Over the course of the book the author has managed to bring in enough twists and turns to keep me guessing and my mind working to the final page. I think it would be a very difficult thing to tackle a book in modern China without giving consideration to the politics of the county. It is another area that I felt was done with the right touch. I think it would be far to easy to get heavy handed and push the authors own views on the reader. I would also like to make a point of the inclusion of the terracotta army in the book. I realize how like I have been to travel to the place I have and in a small way, it adds to my enjoyment of reading about a place or things I have seen out in the real world. 

     The plot for me worked well as a thriller and there was enough in there to keep my mind working as I tried to solve the case. I found the two leads gave me more than a passing interest and I'm sure I will be hunting out the first book in the series. Firstly to learn how the came to be working together and also to explain to me the reasons for where they find themselves at the start of this one.