Hour of the Rat by Lisa Brackmann

Hour of the Rat, Lisa Brackmann.  New York:  Soho Press, Inc., 2013.  e-book, 313 pps.

In this second book of a series, Lisa Brackmann continues the story of Ellie McEnroe.  She is still living in Beijing.  Her mother is visiting.  Mom is a Christian who attends a church back home.  While visiting her daughter, Mom falls for Ellie's creepy neighbor hard.  Ellie is not happy with her mother's propensity for all things of a Christian nature.  She is extremely unhappy with her mother's choice of lousy men.

Her war buddy Doug a.k.a. Dog, Turner calls and wants to know where his brother is.  The brother Jason is missing in China somewhere.  Not taking his bipolar meds.

Ellie gets a visit by the Domestic Security Department.  They are not happy that her artist friend Zhang Jianli is still underground somewhere.  She is not happy to have been dragged off to some stark business hotel to have tea and a talk with these two guys.

The computer game is in Hour of the Rat also but it does not figure as prominently.  There is travel too, and action.  And a dog.

Monsanto is in this novel.  Or a company with a Chinese name that sounds very much like it operates in the same way that Monsanto wants to.  Sell seeds to farmers that will not die when farmers use the company pesticides and herbicides [but all other plants and weeds will].  The genetic engineering of the seeds is part of tweaking the proper response to the company pesticides and herbicides.  Prohibit farmers and gardeners from harvesting the vegetables for seeds.  If you want them, you have to buy the seeds or seedlings all over again next year.  Big profits for the company.  Business is business.  In the novel, just as in real life, the company is a villain.  GMOs are bad, m'kay?

sapphoqreviews says:  Lisa Brackmann has proven herself to be a great writer of intricacies with this third novel.  I like her books.  Her characters come off as real.  The sense of place in Hour of the Rat catapulted me into destinations I'd never been to [yet?].  Thoroughly enjoyable.  If you aren't reading Lisa Brackmann's thrillers, you really ought to be.  Highly recommended. 

Rock Paper Tiger by Lisa Brackmann

Rock Paper Tiger, Lisa Brackmann.  New York:  Soho Press, Inc., 2010.  e-book, 274 pps.

The first in a series, Lisa Brackmann introduces Ellie McEnroe, divorcee and Iraqi war vet who is living in Beijing.  She has a Chinese name-- Yili-- and a passel of Chinese artsy friends.  The ex-husband Trey Cooper is no prize.  He went native in a big way.  End of marriage.

Ellie also has memories.  These are the sort of memories of the war in a hot and sandy hellpit and some of the things that some of the American service people did to some of their prisoners.  Not nice things.  The sort of memories that give one a bout with P.T.S.D. which used to be called combat fatigue many years ago.  Ellie had gotten a Purple Heart.  Even that medal could not take away the pain.

Lucy Wu is a big time art dealer who keeps attempting to contact Ellie.  An artist friend of Ellie has been forced underground and has given her permission to show and/or sell some of his paintings.  These are not ordinary times.  The ordinary things do not happen.  There is a game involved, a sort of virtual world.  The characters talk to each other and Ellie is helped out when she herself has to go on the run.

sapphoq reviews says:  The virtual world in Rock Paper Tiger is not driven by materialism or capitalism.  It is instead driven by art.  Lisa Brackmann's first book was excellent and so I immediately read the other two books [also reviewed here].  I hope she keeps on writing and publishing.  Highly recommended.

Getaway by Lisa Brackmann

Getaway, Lisa Brackmann.  New York:  Soho Books, Inc., 2012.  e-book 259 pps.

Michelle is the American woman on vacation in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a vacation that she and her now dead Tom had signed up for.  She went alone.  Unexpected things have a way of happening to charming widows.  A hottie named Daniel a.k.a. Danny.  His abrupt and threatening buddy by the name of Gary.  A mugging.  There is a mysterious voice on the phone identifying himself as Ted Banks.   Some ex-pats.  Drug running.  Too much talk about clothing.  A lot of alcohol.  Some parties.  The vacation lasted longer than it should have.

sapphoq reviews says:  Lisa Brackmann did a fine job on Getaway.  The characters are very different than those in her other two books and so is the setting. I found myself hating Michelle for being so dependent upon men, rooting for Gary to die, and really warming up to Charlie.  Getaway is intriguing and kept me guessing until the very end.  Highly recommended.