The ghost shift

"In the tradition of Gorky Park, John Gapper's new thriller takes readers inside the secretive and dangerous world of modern China, as a young woman makes a haunting discovery--one that forces her to choose between duty to her government and a desperate desire to learn the truth about herself. This wasn't just a body in a field. The corpse's shape was hers--same length, same curves. Then she knew, and everything else receded to nothingness. All she could see was a woman with the same nose, the same eyes, and the same face. Her twin. As an up-and-coming agent of the Commission for Discipline Inspection, Song Mei probes political corruption, not mysterious deaths. But that changes when she arrives on the scene of a grim police investigation and is confronted with a crime--and a victim--impossible to ignore. Despite strict orders and even threats from superiors, Mei knows there can be no turning away. Breaking protocol, Mei undertakes a covert search for the truth about the mystery woman's death--and life--by following in her footsteps from a factory plagued by worker suicides to a luxury hotel dealing in high-end escorts to an American home haunted by tragedy. But when Mei crosses paths with an ex-CIA operative on a shadowy mission of his own, her personal quest takes a jarring turn into political and industrial espionage that pits both agents against the highest ranks of communism and capitalism. Praise for John Gapper's A Fatal Debt "Rarely does one read a first novel so self-assured, sharp, and compelling. It takes off like a rocket and doesn't stop until its explosive conclusion."--Joseph Finder, author of Suspicion "An enlightening and grisly tale. tightly plotted and fast-paced."--The New Yorker "An ingenious thriller about the ruthless world of high finance."--The Washington Post "A fast-paced book that should entertain finance aficionados and fans of detective fiction alike."--Fortune "A neatly crafted and well-written thriller. an audacious, assured debut."--David Ignatius, author of Bloodmoney "[Gapper] knows when to put his foot on the narrative accelerator."--Financial Times "Intriguing. suspenseful. a web of deceit and betrayal."--Booklist"-- "The body of a woman who worked the overnight shift at the factory of a massive American tech company near Hong Kong is found in the marshes, bearing odd markings. Mei, an inspector for the Guangdong Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, is called out in the middle of the night to investigate--only to confront the most shocking discovery imaginable: the dead woman's face is identical to her own. At the same time, a retired American operative is secretly looking into the suicides coming out of the factory. When he and Mei encounter each other, both are surprised to learn they had no idea of the truth. With that begins a full-throttle thriller catalyzed by long-buried secrets rooted in the turbulent history of China--and a stunning and dramatic family story"--

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.