Second Sister was a fantastic thriller! It had plenty of twists and turns that made this book hard to put down (or pause).

I loved how clever this book was. There was so much information on cyber security and tech, and it was written in a way that it didn't seem like it was constantly info-dumping. I also loved all of the IYKYK references to Monty Python and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The characters were incredibly well written, even the minor characters had an intricate backstory, and I absolutely adored how snarky the hacker, N was. The audiobook narrator, Nancy Wu, did a fabulous job of bringing the story to life. ( )

A distinctly Hongkongese work, Second Sister is culturally illuminating in its descriptions of Hong Kong mores but universal in its depiction of the ills enabled by society immersed in social media. The book opens with a young woman's death. Chan Ho-Kei draws a tragic portrait of life for an economically challenged family before delving into the impetus for her demise. Her older sister, Nga-Yee, is the foil through which we meet the hacker hero detective who goes by N. He is a brilliant but misanthropic, narcissistic, cantankerous, jerk with a superiority complex. He is also bona fide good at what he does and has a few secrets of his own. Nga-Yee takes a lot of abuse from him but also somehow manages to hold her own as she learns all manner of things about human behavior and about computer forensics, the dark web, and the many ways hackers take advantage of the vulnerabilities to which most of us unwittingly leave ourselves open. I didn't understand most of the tech stuff but found it fascinating nonetheless. Further, it's a pretty good crime story filled with lies, misdirects, maybe a revenge story. ( )

Second Sister is an unusual mystery/thriller. As it opens, Nga-Yee is returning from her day working at the library but there is a crowd around her apartment building and as she struggles through she finds her fifteen-year-old sister lying on the ground, having thrown herself from the apartment window. In a very short time, Nga has lost so much.

Her father died in an industrial accident and she lost the chance of going to university. Then her mother died very quickly from cancer. Now she has lost her sister Siu-Man and is alone in the world This also means she will lose her home as the public housing in Hong Kong will not allow an apartment that once held four people to house only one person.

Her sister was driven to suicide by online bullying that began after she was sexually assaulted on a commuter train. While she did not see the predator, a bystander did. The man was convicted and sent to prison. Then his nephew began a social media campaign accusing Siu-Man of lying and claiming an innocent man was imprisoned by her. It was cruel and effective.

Nga is determined to find this nephew and seek revenge, but the first detective she hires tells her there is no such nephew and directs her to N, a computer hacker/genius. This begins the core of the story with Nga and N searching to discover the guilty with interstitial texts between chapters, a conversation between two people we assume are the guilty parties. The chase is on.
I was disappointed by Second Sister. I struggled to finish the story and perhaps I should have just put it down. I think it suffered from being a digital mystery with an analog main character. Nga knows far less of the internet than seems likely in a Hong Kong librarian. Perhaps it’s a decision so the book will be accessible to analog readers, but I found it very frustrating to read explanations of things most people know, such as what an IP address is.

This is an exploration of obsession and revenge and what evil people can do to seek. There is plenty of complexity, but it was not for me. I thought N repetitive and boring. Nga seemed an interesting character but N was so much a part of the story that his one-dimensional character weakened the story. The interstitial conversations were distracting to me and did not add to the story.

However, if you’re someone who is relatively new to the internet and computers, the story is written so you can understand the complexity of hunting for a person who has worked hard to hide behind the many tools that can hide your identity. I can see how it will be appealing to many with the salient theme of cyberbullying. This is a real phenomenon and makes a grim story that can only be described as cyber-noir.

I received an e-galley of Second Sister from the publisher through Edelweiss.

Second Sister at Grove Press | Grove Atlantic

Chan Ho-Kei about the author.

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/9780802129475/ ( )

Themes in this book: Crime doesn’t pay, Online harassment is a problem around the world, just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you, via technology big brother is watching you and modern-day Robin Hoods do exist. When a high school student commits suicide in Hong Kong, her sister is determined to see revenge on the person she thinks caused the suicide. At times I was confused, perhaps it was the translation but more likely I was totally lost in the world and language of hackers. The dual stories in the book kept combining in my mind and that didn’t help either. Despite the problems I had reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed Second Sister. I know I will never begin to understand the workings of the grouchy hacker detective even if I tried to outline how his thought pattern worked. Needless to say, “N” is the detective of the future. ( )

Second Sister originally written by Chan Ho-Kei and translated to English by Jeremy Tiang is a crime novel set in Hong Kong. The story is very compelling. The author has intelligently put various lifestyles, working conditions, family lives, digital world, crime, corruption, everything into this story which will make the reader pause for a bit.

Nga-Yee is a hardworking young woman trying to provide food, shelter and education for her fifteen year old sister, Siu-Man. The sudden death of Siu-Man comes as a shock to Nga-Yee. When she realizes that the trolls in the internet world have pushed her sister off the building, Nga-Yee decides to go after the person who did this. She hires a private detective, N.
N is a hacker and an extremely talented detective who accepts Nga-Yee's case and promises her to help her avenge her sister's death. The kind of dark secrets that unfold in the process are shocking. During their investigation, Nga-Yee notices how teenagers struggle to fit in this fast paced digital world and how it's impacting them in their minds. The story is about how Nga-Yee takes her revenge at the end and if it's worth it.
The author also covered how some evil people use internet to blackmail young and weaker ones for their own benefits. By the end of the novel, the reader realizes that no matter how advanced the technology is, human relationships and emotions are way too important.
The story gives the reader a glimpse of life in Hong Kong. The author gave a great detail about technology, hacking, stringray, how it all works, etc. I really adore the author for doing extensive research about the same and putting it in a wonderful way in the story.
This book is releasing on February 18th, 2020. I thank the author Chan Ho-Kei, Edelweiss Plus, Crown Publishing Company and Grove Atlantic for sharing the ARC copy with me. ( )