The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei

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Witten in an unusual style, where a larger story is told by using six novellas in reverse order. Each armchair detective novella focuses on "the reveal", which is done in a style reminiscent of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels. The main difference is the greater story told by the combined novellas. This is a story rich in character development, philosophical ideas and political comments; which is where the essence of the author's penmanship comes out. Bar for translation leading to a more formal and less nuanced read than which I deduct does not align with the original Cantonese, the novel is a masterpiece! 4.5 / 5

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