A review of ‘The Shanghai Circle’ by a member of the Online Book Club on the 5th of June 2024
3 out of 5 stars
The Shanghai Circle by Tony Henderson can make the reader obsessed with the plot in just a few pages thanks to the banging start and can keep them hooked until the very end of the story. This historical fiction book creates a mysterious and strong atmosphere with the power of the words and perfectly combines historical threads with fictional life paths. A wild journey about a beautiful Russian woman, a triad leader and a taipan finding their lives tangled in Shanghai threatened by Japan in 1936. Can the threads smeared with blood be untangled in Shanghai under the pressure of war or will the truth be lost forever in the maze of history?
The beginning of the book starts with Joseph’s thrilling experience in the Sung Triad Society’s cruel event where we can already feel the strong atmosphere. However, for me the whole story starts slowly and therefore the beginning of the book is a bit boring as it is difficult to follow the changes of the perspectives as in each chapter we see the story from a different character. Even though it takes a bit of time until the threads come together, when they do, they form an amazing story with destiny, power and survival as a woman in the world of business.
The characters are very interestingly connected and the author can show the differences between the characters very well (for example between Thomas and James). In my opinion, the powerful vibe of the book is mainly due to the conversation filled with emotions and not due to the long (sometimes too long) description of the characters’ background and the place that the story plays in.
My rating would be 3 out of 5 as some important parts of the book were too short and not explained properly to give a value to the actual story, as well as other parts can be way too long compared to their value in the storyline. The editing was exceptional as I could barely find any errors in the spelling or any typos.
Overall, for me it was not an exceptional book, however it is definitely worth reading especially for the lovers of historical fiction books.