- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Canada (Mar 22 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679313559
- ISBN-13: 978-0679313557
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#116,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #78 in Books > Nonfiction > True Accounts > Organized Crime
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Gould, a much awarded Canadian investigative journalist, recounts his 14-year odyssey in pursuit of a major Asian organized crime figure. Intriguing if overlong, Gould's story helps illuminate the little-known world of the Triads, a byzantine, diasporic Asian mafia. Led to Wong through young Asians in Vancouver who were systematically terrorized and recruited by local thugs, Gould undertakes a risky encounter with the young but powerful gang leader. Gould boldly and secretly records an interview with Wong in the criminal's home; the tape becomes the basis for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary that provides law enforcement with valuable insight leading to the elusive Wong's arrest and indictment for large-scale heroin trafficking. But Wong gets permission to leave Canada for a family trip, and is then conveniently reported dead in an accident. That leads Gould to Macau, the Philippines and elsewhere on a decade-long chase for proof that Wong is alive. The narrative suffers from the colorful Wong's disappearance from view early on and from occasional lapses into purple prose ("terror sat naked on my shoulder like a clawed and drooling gargoyle"), but U.S. audiences who enjoy the chase will also learn about the brutal power and scope of the Triads.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
“A madcap, pulse-quickening race across the far reaches of Asia.... This work is among the most provocative and well-written texts on Asian organized crime that I have read in years.... Politics, history, culture, suspense and copious amounts of good humour — Paper Fan has it all.”
—The Globe and Mail
"Southeast Asia is like this. Asian organized crime -- in Vancouver or Hong Kong -- is like this. Great stories contain such trajectories and great investigative journalists display such compulsions. Paper Fan is unbuttoned and out-sized and wonderfully wild."
—Charles Foran
"Part cop, part journalist, part friend, Gould pursues his prey with the relentless fervour of an Indiana Jones — and takes you along for a fearful yet funny ride through the underworld."
—Julian Sher
"With verve, style and humour Terry Gould leads readers on an unforgettable journey into a ruthless underworld populated by gangsters and one almost mythic, but undeniably ingenious mobster who transcends them all. A remarkable story told by a remarkable storyteller."
—Andrew Mitrovica, author of Covert Entry
Praise for The Lifestyle:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“In this intelligent approach to this taboo subject — without advocating the heterosexual lifestyle or promoting it — Gould explains what has always only been exposed, and thus wildly misunderstood.”
—The Toronto Sun
“Gould has fashioned his extensive research on the phenomenon into a timely, serious, useful book — you can read it tonight and still respect yourself in the morning.”
—Toronto Star
—The Globe and Mail
"Southeast Asia is like this. Asian organized crime -- in Vancouver or Hong Kong -- is like this. Great stories contain such trajectories and great investigative journalists display such compulsions. Paper Fan is unbuttoned and out-sized and wonderfully wild."
—Charles Foran
"Part cop, part journalist, part friend, Gould pursues his prey with the relentless fervour of an Indiana Jones — and takes you along for a fearful yet funny ride through the underworld."
—Julian Sher
"With verve, style and humour Terry Gould leads readers on an unforgettable journey into a ruthless underworld populated by gangsters and one almost mythic, but undeniably ingenious mobster who transcends them all. A remarkable story told by a remarkable storyteller."
—Andrew Mitrovica, author of Covert Entry
Praise for The Lifestyle:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“In this intelligent approach to this taboo subject — without advocating the heterosexual lifestyle or promoting it — Gould explains what has always only been exposed, and thus wildly misunderstood.”
—The Toronto Sun
“Gould has fashioned his extensive research on the phenomenon into a timely, serious, useful book — you can read it tonight and still respect yourself in the morning.”
—Toronto Star
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was there. Therefore, I know.,
By Tom Span (Vancouver, British Columbia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong (Hardcover)
While Steven Wong the Triad Gangster rose through the ranks in Vancouver's Gangland, I was a Vancouver cop who had many dealings with him. I probably knew Wong, and of his activities, more so than anyone in the Vancouver Police Department, other than a handfull of other cops who might be inclined to say the same thing. I was a cop who used Wong to my own end, while Wong used me to his. I still don't know who, if anyone, came out on top.Due to my personal knowledge of Wong and his Red Eagles, his rivals the Viet Ching, Jung Ching and Lotus Gangs, plus their victims etc., I feel competant to say, "In writing Paper Fan, Terry Gould did an excellent job describing Wong and the events of the day." Terry knows his stuff, and he tells his story extremely well. It is not often one can learn such an immense amount of true information while at the same time be entertained. The book reads like a novel.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Quite Overdone in Places,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong (Paperback)
Having read other of Gould's investigative articles for Saturday Night on the workings of various notorious Canadian criminal minds, I am not surprised that he has finally produced a larger work on a more global scale. While I found Paper Fan to be a decent success in describing the endless hunt for the elusive Steven Wong, backed up by Gould's graphic, no-holes barred description of the Asiatic crime culture as seen in the actions of the likes of Chucky the Chink, there was something significantly lacking in the story. I felt great dissatisfaction at the end to learn that I had been treated to some inconclusive wild-goose chase that made Gould, the P.I., the protagonist, and not Wong, the alleged kingpin of the westcoast Triads. For all I know, Wong's alleged evil was more fiction than fact. A well-written book overall except for some of the wildly exuberent prose that Gould brings to this book from other writings. One might think that this book is a classic example of the author living out his childhood fantasies of cops and robbers.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was there. Therefore, I know.,
By Tom Span - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong (Hardcover)
While Steven Wong the Triad Gangster rose through the ranks in Vancouver's Gangland, I was a Vancouver cop who had many dealings with him. I probably knew Wong, and of his activities, more so than anyone in the Vancouver Police Department, other than a handfull of other cops who might be inclined to say the same thing. I was a cop who used Wong to my own end, while Wong used me to his. I still don't know who, if anyone, came out on top.Due to my personal knowledge of Wong and his Red Eagles, his rivals the Viet Ching, Jung Ching and Lotus Gangs, plus their victims etc., I feel competant to say, "In writing Paper Fan, Terry Gould did an excellent job describing Wong and the events of the day." Terry knows his stuff, and he tells his story extremely well. It is not often one can learn such an immense amount of true information while at the same time be entertained. The book reads like a novel. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book.......,
By L. Garcia - Published on Amazon.com
Terry Gould came to my school and discuss his book and the gave us in insight of the Triads and Kwan Kung. Just as he did when he came to the school, his book gives great information of how the Triads were created and why they chose the God Kwan Kung. Many more intresting facts he provides in his book. It is intresting and difficult to put down.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting enough story, terrible writer,
By Maui Sherpa - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This book needed a strong editor. We get too much of the writer's thoughts, his interaction with people, and his supposedly brilliant investigative work. Information that should be summarized in a paragraph become pages long. Cut the fat and stick to the story: why is Steven so dangerous, what crimes did he commit, how did he escape, where is he now?If you need to know more about Asian crime, I guess you should buy this. Otherwise, there are much better books. |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
