I laud Andy Oakes's valiant effort to drag a realistic rendition of Shanghai and modern China onto the printed page and house it in a classic "noir" binding. A *bow* for his ambition. Yet what begins, as others have noted, with a promising scene of eight chained cadavers pulled from a river vanishes in a flurry of stylistic flourishes that detract from the tale...I suggest a read, simply to savour the mesmerising palette of smells - yes smells - that the author evokes. Few writers focus on smell; most paint with visuals swirls and auditory dabs from their imagined world, and although it is startling at times, it gives a sense of the author's imagination.I recommend reading Dragon's Eye, but at over 400 hundred pages it is a trip for the hardier voyager. #BookReview #Authors