Death Doesn’t Forget by Ed Lin
Death Doesn’t Forget is a welcome fourth addition to dynamic writer Ed Lin’s atmospheric and nuanced Shilin Night Market series set in Taipei, Taiwan that began with Ghost Month. Each book can stand alone but the novels are as addictive as the marinated, savory skewers sold at protagonist Jing-nan’s food stand “Unknown Pleasures”. The name is taken from the debut album of his favorite group Joy Division whose music evokes alienation, gloom and a nihilistic denial of future. Jing-nan perpetually plays it at home and work as it resonates with his own firsthand experiences of sorrow and despair.
Life, however, is beginning to look up for him as he considers ways to expand his business and also contemplates proposing to his supportive, live-in girlfriend Nancy, a brilliant graduate student already employed in scientific research studies. Jing-nan, an only child, was a top student in high school who had earned a scholarship to UCLA. He completed one year there before being summoned home for a final visit with his terminally ill father. En route to the airport, his mother was killed in a car accident and his bereft father died three weeks later. It left him grief-stricken and shackled to the Taipei market stall which he was stunned to learn was burdened by crushing usurious debt his late grandfather had incurred many years earlier. Jing-nan’s quick patter and ability to speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese and several Taiwanese dialects puts tourists at ease and his recent presence on social media had vastly increased the sales at Unknown Pleasures.
EERIE MURDERS IN A SUPERSTITIOUS CITY
Our hero faces a new set of challenges and a possible frame-up for two murders in Death Doesn’t Forget after agreeing to help Siu-lien, his girlfriend’s estranged mother, recover her half of lottery winnings owed her by Boxer, a dissolute, untrustworthy boyfriend. Siu-lien is a wannabe singer who works as a bartender in a seedy club and only calls Nancy when she requires help. It’s been three years since they last spoke which clearly indicates crisis mode. Boxer had been sent to claim their largess, a big windfall from a National Lottery coupon attached to a cigarette pack. Jing-nan is dispatched to locate him and retrieve her half of the funds. Boxer went on an all-night spree, squandering the cash on drink, drugs and a prostitute. Knight-in-worn blue jeans and t-shirt Jing-nan succeeds in locating him in a dingy hotel and is reluctantly given the small portion of the winnings remaining. Neighborhood cameras show him entering and exiting. Not long after, Boxer is found dead. Hated Police Captain Huang targets Jing-nan as the perpetrator and shortly thereafter is himself found dead in an alleyway.
As Death Doesn’t Forget is serio-comic; more of rollicking picaresque caper novel than crime story, reminiscent of fiction by the versatile late Donald E. Westlake and Carl Hiaasen. When the action gets underway, the pace quickens. Although few will mourn the two dead men, there is a need to locate the real killer, restore balance and appease the spirits. Author Ed Lin has described Taiwan as being the most superstitious place in the world. Nancy, her mother Siu-lien and her potential suitor, Detective Wu, are joined by Jing-nan and his surrogate family, trusted workers Frankie the Cat and Dwayne who jointly engage in crime-solving. Frankie the Cat, a former Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang boy soldier, is a septuagenarian strong man with a body of steel that rivals Mr. Universe contestants with a mind to match. He has worked in the food stall Unknown Pleasures for decades. Dwayne at 32 is a surviving veteran of the mean streets of Taipei who lives in a corrugated metal shack cobbled together illegally on the rooftop of a slum apartment dwelling and has worked for the family food stall for 15 years. He is one of Taiwan’s indigenous people belonging to the Amis mountainous group; the largest of the government recognized 14 aboriginal ethnic groups. The stage is set and it is time for the reader to enjoy the ride!
UNVEILING TAIPEI’S DARK PAST AND INEQUITABLE PRESENT
A sharp dichotomy in Taipei exists between the several billionaires listed in Forbes and Fortune magazines and the severely impoverished who reside in areas fortuitously invisible to most tourists. The indigenous people faced tremendous prejudice, lost their land and were forbidden to speak their native dialects; oppressed for decades by Chiang Kai-shek’s government. They are of Malay-Polynesian descent, widespread and known as Austronesian peoples. Interesting to note, several of the tribal groups were headhunters, a practice which did not fully cease until sometime in the early 1930s!
The Shilin Night Market depicted is a real location in this work of fiction. It was established as early as 1899 and relocated in 2011 to a cleaner, larger modern complex, with well over 500 food stalls operated by small business owners. The massive food court on several levels sells snacks, meals and desserts as well as trinkets and souvenirs. Shilin is the largest and most famous of the 70+Taiwanese night markets. It opens daily from 4PM to midnight and is tourist friendly with visitors streaming in predominantly from mainland China, Japan and English-speaking countries. It has parking for 400 cars and is in close proximity to MRT Jiantan subway station.
About Ed Lin:
Ed Lin, a native New Yorker of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards and is an all-around standup kinda guy. His books include Waylaid and This Is a Bust, both published by Kaya Press in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Snakes Can’t Run and One Red Bastard, which both continue the story of Robert Chow set in This Is a Bust, were published by Minotaur Books. Ghost Month, a Taipei-based mystery, was published by Soho Crime in July 2014. His latest book, Death Doesn’t Forget, was also published by Soho Crime this year. Lin lives in Brooklyn with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung, and son.
