First time reading a novel that won the 謎團小說獎! I really like the idea of fiction based on real historical cases, and the novel has been a good opportunity for me to learn more about Taiwan’s political landscape in the 90s as well as the two cases used in the novel, Taiwan’s first bus hijacking case, and more importantly Qiandao Lake Incident that was a major event in Taiwan’s recent history.
I think that knowing about the real cases makes reading the novel even more interesting. I found that the way the author used some details of the bus hijacking case to incorporate them in the fiction was very well done. It also follows the case very closely while delivering a completely different interpretation. The novel really managed to blend fiction and reality.
The only downside to me was everything related to Lin Wan. I found that a lot of things felt unrealistic, which is surprising because the novel stays so close to reality otherwise. But yeah, several elements surrounding this character lacked credibility to me: first of all, the art of disguise felt strangely off in this novel, then the character is supposed to be an elite agent, but he got duped several times and acts impulsively. The most annoying part to me was that he only spent two months with Cao Feng, so his attachment to her and everything he did afterwards feel disproportional.
And finally, all the twists were obvious very early, which is a bit unfortunate. Still, the novel was very suspenseful and entertaining, I learnt a lot too while reading it, it’s easy to read and fast paced… overall a very good spy thriller!