Yikes. This book is more suspense than mystery, focused on the trafficking of Chinese immigrants into England. There's nary a down moment in this this well-written page turner. If you like this sort of novel, have fun. ( )

When Inspector Jian, a Chinese cop, receives a cryptic call for help from his daughter in England, he drops everything and heads out to find her, despite not knowing how to read or speak English. Meanwhile Ding Ming and his wife Little Ye have been illegally transported to England to work for a Chinese gang in hopes of one day providing a better life for their family back home in China.

When Jian and Ding Ming's paths cross in rural England, sparks start flying. They can help each other but are both ignorant to that fact. Somehow, though, fate keeps bringing them back together and each encounter brings more action and adventure.

It certainly wasn't hard to figure out why BAD TRAFFIC was nominated for the L.A. Times Book Prize in the mystery/thriller category. BAD TRAFFIC is a complex novel populated by complex characters dealing with complex themes. And just when you think it can't possibly get any darker, it does. This gritty, action-packed thriller keeps the reader mesmerized page after page.

While the novel takes place in rural England, it could be placed in almost any developed nation in the world, as illegal immigration and class distinction are common issues around the globe.

I found every aspect of this novel gripping, but I'm sure you won't find it surprising that I was most taken with the characters. There are no white hats in this book. At first glance one might assume Ding Ming to be a white-hatted character, but he's broken the law from the onset by illegally traveling to England. Jian is a crooked Chinese cop, but also has an ethical code that he seems to follow. The lack of white hats contributes to the severe darkness of the tone.

There were many elements of the novel that I thought Lewis did an exceptional job with, but one that stuck out stronger than most for me was his depiction of Jian's alienation in England. Jian is in a strange land and does not understand the language. He cannot read the street signs, billboards, even the paper with his daughter's address.

Not only can he not comprehend the written language, but the spoken language is also beyond his comprehension, Jian often hears flutters instead of comprehensible words. Even other Chinese people are foreign to him, as they speak a completely different dialect. The only thing Jian wants more than to return to the safety of his country is to avenge his daughter's murder. Ding Ming has the benefit of understanding the language because he studied English, but Ding Ming is a peasant and he's amazed by things as common as a automobile.

Ding Ming simply wants to return to his "bosses." He fears for his family back in China who will have to pay his debut if he is assumed dead. And he wants more than anything to be reunited with his wife. Ding Ming's simplicity continues to convince him that he can only prosper if he returns to the ugliness of his new life, the evil bosses are the only people who will protect him and give him a chance to succeed.

Both men are lost in this foreign land. Instead of helping one another, they end up battling each other in addition to their enemies. The complexity of the two men and their relationship to one another challenged me as a reader to see all the dimensions of these characters. Lewis did an outstanding job developing them.

This is most definitely a book that is in contention for a top read of 2009 for me. Absolutely astounding effort by Simon Lewis. ( )

THIS MAN HAVE COME FROM CHINA TO FIND HIS DAUGHTER WHO HAVE SOME TROUBLE. HE DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH are the first words, written on a card, which introduce the reader to Inspector Jian in the novel Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis.
Jian is a hard-bitten Chinese cop whose arrival in Britain to search for his missing daughter Wei Wei throws him into a totally foreign environment - the English countryside. Unable to speak the language he finds himself rapidly becoming embroiled in a dangerous situation when he falls foul of the Snakeheads who traffic peasants from China into the UK where they are forced to work as virtual slaves. These peasants have often paid huge sums to the Snakeheads in China because they believe they are being brought to "Gold Mountain", a country where they will earn a fortune which can then support their impoverished families back home. Ding Ming, one such illegal migrant arrived a few days earlier together with his wife. He has fallen out with his gangmaster as the couple have been split up, and Ding Ming does not know where his wife has been taken. He and Jian find themselves thrown together in a deadly battle against violent criminals. After various twists and turns, and with an ever mounting body count, Jian and Ding Ming manage to win through.

Simon Lewis knows the Chinese well, and speaks Mandarin, having helped write The Rough Guide to China and his descriptions of modern Britain as seen through Chinese eyes is enthralling. Set against the background of human traffiking Bad Traffic is a roller-coaster read, and Inspector Jian is a character I hope we will meet again in further books. ( )

Very intense plot, interesting description. The story is not only interesting by plot, but it also shows the social problems we have in societies. I think the situation of a poor cop who thought he had seen it all facing enemies he cannot even imagine, and a young man with dreams of golden montain destroyed in a foreign land makes people think abou their lives. The extreme strength stimulated in the situation of extreme desperation is shown here in the book. I think anyone who wants to read a mystery but not only a simple plot-attractive mystery should read this book. Read under adult supervise, that is. ( )

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Bad Traffic is Simon Lewis’s second novel and it clearly draws on his experiences writing on China for the travel guide company Rough Guide. Inspector Jian is a policeman from the North Eastern sector of mainland China. When he gets a message from his daughter Wei Wei, who is studying in England, that makes it clear she is in grave danger, he pulls the strings that his position affords him and comes straight to the UK to find her. Propelled as much by guilt of his neglect of her in the past as by real concern for her well-being, he discovers that in fact he has known even less about her and her life in England than he thought. The address he has for her is out of date and she has dropped out of her college course after only a matter of weeks. His enquiries lead him to a restaurant and to a Tong protection racket being run by a man known as Black Fort.
Cut to another part of the country and another of Black Fort’s ‘business’ enterprises, smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants. Ding Ming and his wife are part of a group that do actually survive the journey, however, within moments of their arrival they are separated, Ding Ming to work as a cockle picker and Little Ye supposedly to pick flowers. Singled out because of his grasp of English, Ding Ming finds himself attracting more notice than he wold like and before long has become caught up in the mayhem that Inspector Jian causes as he searches for the man who has brought about the downfall of his daughter. During two hectic and violent days they traverse the country in search of answers and revenge fearing all the time for the consequences that will be meted out on their families if they fail.
Lewis certainly knows how to tell a riveting and fast moving story. In fact, if I had a criticism it would be that the pace is unforgiving. I could have done with breathing spaces where slightly less was happening to recover before moving on to the next hectic cross-country chase. However, he is very good on character. I especially liked the picture of Ding Ming caught between his expectations of a land of plenty where the work will be hard but well rewarded and the harsh reality of what he finds, slave labour at the hands (for the most part) of his fellow countrymen and physical violence for those left behind in China if he fails on his part of the bargain.
But, there is more to this book than just a simple thriller. Lewis also asks questions about the quality of life lived by those who are willing to risk all to come to the West in hope of something better. Ding Ming is fascinated by the British use of land. He marvels constantly at the lack of intensive farming he is accustomed to until it becomes a metaphor for the lack of understanding on our part of the lives that Ding Ming and his fellows experience.

"‘What are you looking at?’
‘Cows.’
‘Where?’
‘They’re all over. you spot one and then you see lots, like mushrooms. I don’t like them. They look selfish.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘One of those cows has more land than a Chinese family. It’s disgusting. And another thing. I look out and all I see are cow fields. Where are the vegetables? And where are the factories and the mines? It doesn’t add up.’
‘The fields and the factories and the mines are in other countries.’
‘They’re cow people.’
‘What are you talking about now?’
‘They’re like their big stupid cows. their life is the easiest it is possible to imagine: they wander around in their lovely park, all day going munch munch munch. Nothing to worry about, just munching the stupid grass all day long in a lovely big field. And people like me, we are the rats. We live in the ditch and eat shit and watch out for the hawks, and our life is bitterness and struggle and we are terrified all the time.’"

It isn’t possible to read Bad Traffic without thinking about the different expectations of those born in the West when compared with those from the East. I will look forward to reading other novels by Simon Lewis if they are all as thoughtful in their subject matter as this one.