This is my first Lynn Pan's. Find not easy to digest - too many jargons & direct translations. Wonder whether all her other books are the same. I'll keep it pc for the time-being and re-read another time.

From back cover
The author's account tells the story through a number of interlocking portraits. Du Yusheng, China most notorious secret society chief; Wang Jingwei, the 'Chinese Petain'; General Dai Li, head of the wartime Asia's most powerful secret police - these are among the people she has described and put into perspective.

Among the arenas in which these people operated, she has chosen to focus on the great city of Shanghai, the place where the gathering maelstrom of war and revolution was marked by the greatest paradox...

I picked this book up 5 years ago, wasn't able to get into it then. This time surprised myself by completing the whole book within 2 days, maybe I have grown wiser haha. Learnt a lot on the historical figures during those time of unrest in Old Shanghai, have always come across their names and watching their lives being adapted on screen, but not knowing what roles they played in real life. I'm glad I've learnt some history here.