Title:	The Witch of Wanchai
	Author:	David Harris Lang
	Published:	2015, Merrimack Media
	No. of Pages:	354
	Cover Price:	$16.95 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle

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David Harris Lang's second novel, The Witch of Wanchai is a fascinating story that explores the illegal drug and jade trades in Asia, as well as the disappearances of several women. While the book is fiction, the author makes the story real not only through his characters, but also through his descriptions of the Asian landscape. An architect by trade, Lang has lived in Asia most of his life, and can describe the locale first-hand. When a body is discovered in a bar, Ian Hamilton, a Hong Kong detective, is in charge of solving the murder. While investigating he finds the murder is connected not only to missing women who answered employment ads, but also to the illegal jade and drug trades. Ian is not only in danger as he travels to Japan to further investigate, but his friends and family also find themselves in danger.

The story has many twists and turns; readers will find that there are enough bad guys that it is impossible to guess the outcome of the story. The Witch is a character like no other; he is ruthless, corrupt, and also has a penchant for barbecued human ribs. Because law enforcement is after him, The Witch travels to other countries to expand his illegal businesses and in the process commits murders with absolutely no conscience. Although the scenarios are not overly violent, they are quite descriptive, and since cannibalism is anathema to most readers, it may be a little much for those with tender stomachs and younger readers. It does, however, villainize The Witch to a much higher level.

The book does contain some minor editing errors, such as Khin Khin, referred at location 158 as Khim Khim, the word woman instead of women at location 95, Nosier instead of Noisier at Location 128, and others such as spaces, as well as a few punctuation errors. Hopefully these will be cleaned up, since the story is good enough to appeal to a large body of readers and has the potential to become a big seller.

The Witch of Wanchai is not an easy book to put down. The cultural aspects, the characters, and the setting make the book very appealing, and for those who like good thrillers, albeit some violence, it is a very good read.

Special thanks to Jenny Hudson of Merrimack Media for supplying a review copy of this book.

This book may be purchased at Amazon:
The Witch of Wanchai, paperback
The Witch of Wanchai, Kindle