One night in 2012, executive Zhang Guo Xing takes a group of European clients to a fashionable nightclub in Shanghai. While there, he meets a strikingly beautiful young Western woman called Naemi Vieno Kuusela. The physical attraction between them proves irresistible, and they embark on an intoxicating affair. But Naemi is not what she appears to be...
To Zhang's surprise, she veers between passion and wariness, conducting the relationship entirely on her own terms. He feels driven to find out more about her, and is swiftly drawn into a web of intrigue, mystery, and horror. Is she a ghost? A demon? Do the living dead walk the streets of twenty-first century Shanghai?
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[AFTERWARDS, she couldn't remember how she came to be hiding]***
(@TitanBooks, 17 March 2020, 352 pages, e-book, copy from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed)
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I wanted to read NVK as soon as I read the blurb. It sounded amazing. It was. My expectations are very happy. This reminded me a lot of some of my favourite horror movies I watched growing up in the 80's such as Fright Night and The Lost Boys. I also enjoy books set in China. There's something I really love about the culture. The relationship between Zhang and Naemi is intriguing and very creepy as well. Just what is their deal? Zhang is clearly besotted with her. Naemi just comes across as not quite, otherworldly and mysterious and not always in a nice way. Poor Zhang, he might as well have a dog caller and lead on him. This is a stonker of a debut. It's supposed to be the first in a series. It better be. This was terrific.
