The hardest part of this discourse is to not make it another "Lisa Goes to China" story. There are already a ton of those. China is the setting of Lisa Brackmann's acclaimed debut novel, Rock Paper Tiger, and a huge influence in her life. But there is another Lisa, a Lisa who maybe should have come of age in the '60s, off chasing whatever dream currently predominates in her active imagination, unbound by a conventional approach to, well, anything.
Who has the spirit and resolution to write a novel at age 5? About cats camping. The Other Lisa tried, but spelling got in her way. So then she decides to be an astronaut, only to be diverted by the new goal of being Secretary of State? Lofty goals, but where is the segue in that decision? And when they lost their appeal, she packed up and headed to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. All of this before she ever thought about going to China. So, yes, this is much more than a Lisa Goes to China story.
So, let's get to the book. It's about Ellie going to China. There's a big difference or two. First, Ellie speaks better Chinese than Lisa (but not much better), and Ellie (Yili, as she's nicknamed by her Chinese friends) is an Iraq war survivor who lived a lot of bad stuff there, and took home some souvenirs buried in her leg that have her popping Percocets when she has them, and when the pain gets too intrusive. Dumped by her husband, she hooks up with some Chinese artists living on the fringes of Beijing and of society, and finds herself stumbling into an, um, situation.
From there on it's a thriller. An "electrifying debut" according to Publisher's Weekly. "The China scenes are fast paced and strikingly atmospheric," and "the book's exotic setting and tough heroine will definitely appeal to fans of John Burdett and Stieg Larsson." And Booklist agrees: "A gritty and intriguing tale of terror that draws in the reader with each page; Brackmann is a new writer to watch."
This book is getting a lot of pre-release attention, and there are excerpts and great reviews all over the Internet for you to Google and read, so I'll try to stick with the Other Lisa story. (I keep saying that and I keep failing to deliver.) But just so you know, Rock Paper Tiger has Uighurs and online gaming and American mercenaries and Chinese spooks and Iraq and, all right, a large dose of China. The large dose of modern China is not something you often find in fiction, and it's described with insight, enthusiasm, and artistry. With Lisa as our tour guide , we see a fascinating and exotic culture, and we're thrust into a dangerous setting populated with captivating characters.
STEP AWAY FROM THE LISA GOES TO CHINA STORY!
So let's talk music - no China there. She played bass guitar and sang in an LA-based rock band in the '80s and '90s. She played the little bass, the Fender Jazz model because her hands are too small (freakishly small fingers, according to her) for the Höfner 500/1 violin bass that her favorite bassist, Paul McCartney, played. (By the way, she was wrong about him being the best-ever rock bassist. It's another Paul - John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. Sorry, Lisa.)
Or we can talk movies - she worked at a major movie studio for 15 years, rising to Executive Director, according to her business card. "Mid-level Studio Bureaucrat" is Lisa's description. In Hollywood, I expect those are not mutually exclusive jobs. Her job description aside, she declined my request for an introduction to Salma Hayek, so she couldn't have been too much of a mogul. Or maybe she's protecting Salma. I could understand that.
We can even delve into politics - she was an issues researcher during a '90s presidential campaign, attending platform committee hearings and the convention itself. She demurs when pressed for details, so I'm guessing they lost.
Um, what's next? Did we cover China? Lisa like Yanjing beer, yangrou chuanr (mutton skewers), Kunming (the capital city of the Yunnan province), and long walks on the beach at Tianya Haijiao. I made that last one up. Makes it sound like a personals ad in The People's Daily.
Lisa also likes writing really good stories. She's working on her next, set in Mexico, and I'm looking forward to it. She's from San Diego, so I guess she knows that terrain as well. After you read Rock Paper Tiger, you'll be looking forward to it as well.
John Darrin is a consultant on radiological emergency preparedness for homeland security. His work has taken him all over the world, and includes many unique and first-ever projects. A widower, John lives full-time in his RV and travels the country on the Go Places / Meet People / Do Things Tour.
