"Terror is a pleasure. Murder is a passion. Death is a game," the blurb proclaims on the cover. Welcome to the world of the "Beijing Ripper", who has resurrected the modus operandi of his infamous London predecessor.

This serial killer is not the only derivative figure in the book. We also have Li Yan, the predictably inscrutable head of the serious crime squad, his ballsy American lover Margaret, and Mei Yung, purveyor of jian bing (fried pancakes) and similarly edifying riddles.

Chinese Whispers is a pedestrian read. At its denouement the killer, who has set out to ruin our hero, gloats: "How is poor old Mistah Li?" Images of Bond villain Blofeld sprang to mind, and no thriller worth its salt should do that to a reader.

VIVIENNE MORGAN