A well-done literary whodunit from one of the best small presses out there. The ful review can be read at The Lit Witch: A Book Blog http://www.thelitwitch.com/?p=2490 ( )

While much Taroko Gorge is about the disappearance of the girls, this is as much a novel about the individual narrators and their reliability, their motivations and their secrets. Told through the eyes of four narrators, the reader is left to fill in the blanks of their stories. It is as much a psychological story as it is a suspenseful mystery as the reader interprets the clues behind the disappearances, minuscule as they are.

The four narrators are each flawed but lend their own perspectives to the story. From the jaded American journalist to the high school leader, to the teen girl who just wants to find a boyfriend to the detective who has seen it all - each provides their own insight to the scene. Added to the mix are the cultural differences between the Japanese students, the Taiwanese detective, and the American journalists. The biases and stereotypes definitely add additional tension to an already intense situation, yet they also add a level of realism and humanity.

This is such a subtle novel. Definitely a character-driven novel, the story unfolds in spurts and starts. The beauty lies in the words, in the realizations and truths that each character comes to understand. A seemingly peaceful story, the lyricism of the words belies the underlying turmoil.

However, the words were not enough to overcome certain flaws. The biggest issue was the fact that the eventual resolution of the mystery is rather anti-climatic compared the build-up. It all seemed rather rushed and was definitely a let-down. Also, while the reader is given a glimpse into the minds of each of the four narrators, the information they choose to share is not enough to build an emotional connection to them. As a result, the reader feels more compassion and empathy towards the lost girls than he or she does the main characters.

Taroko Gorge is one I enjoyed but feel I could have enjoyed more than I did if certain things were different. It is a demanding read, and therefore not for everyone. Also, given the lack of significant action, potential readers are to be warned not to expect edge-of-the-seat suspense or a dramatic showdown. What one gets instead is an insightful, almost philosophical, cultural study of human nature in the guise of a mystery.

Taroko Gorge is a good first effort, deserving applause for getting published, but I hope it's only a mere beginning for this young author. I think this novel would make a great story for a manga (graphic novel) so that the characters and scenery would have a chance to be fully realized in visuals since they are never fully realized in the prose.

Given the title, I was expecting that Taroko Gorge would come to life in this story through some descriptions of the sounds, smells, weather, colors, and so on that could have created spectacular atmosphere for the mystery that develops. Imagine a story named "Yosemite" in which there is not enough description of the place to warrant the use of the park's name in the title. Sorry to go on about this, but having visited Taroko Gorge, I was looking forward to seeing it skillfully woven into the storyline.

The characters struggle to have distinctive voices but almost all of them seem to have the same voice as the author. Their characterizations are dialog-driven, so I could never conjure visual images of them and had to rely on the stereotypes indicated by their speech.

A fair first effort that will appeal most to teenagers but unfortunately doesn't reveal much in terms of cultural insights, despite the crisscrossing of Japanese, Taiwanese/Chinese, and Americans. I would like to see this book re-incarnated as manga.

An American journalist, Peter, and his photographer, Josh, are on assignment in Taiwan. They decide to go visit Taroko Gorge in their free time. While wandering around the park, they encounter three female Japanese teenagers who are there as part of a school trip. Later, Peter and Josh discover that the girls have gone missing and get involved with tracking them down.

This story was part mystery, part character study. It's told from various narrators; Peter, a police officer, students, and their teacher.

Added to the girls' disappearance is an onslaught of rain that stops the search and keeps some of the searchers overnight at the park.

This was really a interesting story, well-written though not as much mystery as I had expected. It shows how people deal under pressure and some of the cultural differences between the Japanese and the Taiwanese. There is a lot of teenage drama, but the author kept it from being too YA.

I enjoyed this a lot, it was unexpected but good. I found the end to be a bit unsatisfying though, which kept this from being a great read for me.

my rating- 3.5/5 ( )