The Jasmine Trade

by Denise Hamilton

Book Overview

When an Asian-American woman is found dead in a chic shopping center's parking lot, Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond thinks there's more to the death than a carjacking. Soon Eve plunges into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786015233
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Pinnacle Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.0" x 3.3"

Customer Reviews

The naysayers are nuts

I read The Jasmine Trade in two sittings, and would have finished it in one if work hadn't required my attention elsewhere. The protagonist, Los Angeles journalist Eve Diamond, is a compelling, feisty, human heroine with a keen eye, a generous heart and a steel spine, and her dogged pursuit of her story never flags. But it's the subject of her story that ends up taking center stage: the "parachute kids" in the San Gabriel Valley, abandoned by their wealthy Asian parents who then return to Hong Kong and Singapore to run their thriving business interests. These kids, privileged in every category except parental warmth and street smarts, fall prey to a variety of ne'er-do-wells and that peril keeps the tension taut and crisp. Meanwhile, once I learned what the "jasmine trade" really is, my heart broke for the real world women ensnared in it. I don't bother commenting on a book unless I love it. I leave the snarky diatribes and wishy-washy blather to others. I wrote the above review because I truly enjoyed this book and think you will, too. Its author, Denise Hamilton, knows what she's talking about and writes with the brisk, clear, no-nonsense prose honed in her own journalistic career. And she's just gotten better with her subsequent books. Check her out.

A Diamond of a Debut

As a Southern California-based crime fiction author of a mystery series set against multicultural backdrops, I was quite impressed with THE JASMINE TRADE. Denise Hamilton has written a winner here. A young Chinese woman's death leads reporter Eve Diamond into the California subculture of "parachute kids." Eve also finds danger, love, and the jasmine trade--the smuggling of women out of China for forced labor as sex-workers. THE JASMINE TRADE is almost a perfect contemporary mystery, and Eve Diamond is destined to have a glorious career as a series character. Fine work.

Smart, sexy noir novel by a journalist who knows the real LA

It would be a pity if The Jasmine Trade ends up relegated to the mystery shelves of specialty bookstores. Author Hamilton gives us much more than a well-plotted mystery involving murder, Asian gangs and an intrepid heroine/investigator. The book is anchored in a vivid world of cops, organized criminals, reporters and rich "parachute kids," (teenagers left to fend for themselves by parents who have installed them in leafy neighborhoods while they pursue their own business interests in Hong Kong and elsewhere). Interwoven into the scenes of crime, sex and telltale clues, The Jasmine Trade offers the reader an accurate picture of modern life in LA, in all of its countless contradictions. It's a juicy well-informed peek into the corners of a sprawling metropolis that rarely gets represented so richly in contemporary fiction.If one is looking for the done-to-death stereotype of LA as a Jackie Collins-type universe populated by Hollywood agents and cosmetically altered actresses who romp through pastel-colored mansions and in-spot restaurants, one will not find it here. Hamilton gives us something much better, fresher and more literary with this debut novel. An experienced reporter, she proves herself here to also be an artful fiction writer. From the first page, we are aware we're in the hands of a self-assured guide. We enter worlds we rarely get to see. The Jasmine Trade is arguably a mystery/thriller, yes, but one that has greater literary ambitions than a formulaic whodunit. What distinguishes this book is the author's passion and conversance with the city's quirkier neighborhoods, newsroom antics, pop cultural landmarks, immigrant customs, and the relentless culture clashes - large and small, humorous and dangerous -- that make LA so maddening, so interesting, absurd and so vastly misunderstood. Like the author herself, Hamilton's protagonist, Eve Diamond, is a journalist. Diamond is an appealing and plucky character with a working class sensibility and a healthy dose of skepticism. Her brashness and vulnerability make her credible. Her observations about her hometown and its inhabitants are funny, intelligent and dead-on. Much of the pleasure in reading this book comes from the delight in accompanying Hamilton's main character as she navigates through a kaleidoscopic landscape rich in tension, vivid characters, suspense, atmosphere, and always, always, freeways.

Exciting investigative tale

Though still in high school, Marina Lu seems to have it all. She is engaged to Michael Ho with their wedding set for two weeks and has earned admission to Berkley. However, her idyllic life ends in a San Gabriel, California parking lot where she had just ordered ten designer dresses for her bridesmaids. The police think this homicide is a carjacking that turned ugly, but Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond wonders why the Lexus and Marina's diamond ring were not stolen.Eve begins her investigation by talking with the counselor to teenage Asian expatriates Mark Furakama and follows that discussion with asking questions of students at Marina's school. She soon learns about a subculture involving "parachute kids" whose wealthy parents remain in Asia while the children live in America. Marina was one of the displaced children who was also responsible for her younger brother while her parents worked the Pacific Rim. The more Eve learns, the nastier the information turns as she uncovers an apparent slave whore trade, which places her life in danger.THE JASMINE TRADE is an exciting investigative tale that will shock the reader who will want to deny the truth of "parachute kids." The story line is exciting and the cast seems real, which adds to the terror of a subculture caught between two worlds and afloat on its own.Harriet Klausner