First published 2018
Twenty-year-old Lew Chun watches his father Ang Chun die in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The government marks Lew for death next. He flees China with human smugglers, carrying only pocket change and the name of his mother's cousin in New York's Chinatown. The journey west becomes a gauntlet of trackers, criminals, and brutal farm owners who force him to slaughter livestock. Lew arrives in America with blood on his hands and desperation in his heart. His relative Shawn Lin welcomes him warmly and gives him work as a cook. But Lew soon discovers that his benefactor runs a massive criminal empire dealing in drugs and human trafficking. Shawn promotes Lew from kitchen worker to head chef of his own restaurant, using the young man's clean reputation as cover for dirty money. At first Lew resists becoming part of the operation. Yet as he tastes the power and luxury that Shawn's world offers, he faces a choice between his conscience and his survival in America.
Genres: adventure, action, 21st-century, asian-american
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, survival
Setting: America, China, New York, Tiananmen Square
Period: 1989
248 pages · Paperback · Creators Publishing
Content warnings: violence