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Eve Diamond, a reporter who works out of the Los Angeles Times' San Gabriel Valley bureau, is sent to the scene of what appears to be a murder associated with a carjacking gone wrong. The dead girl, Marina Lu, is a 17 year old wealthy Chinese immigrant who was planning her wedding to a 24 year old Chinese banker, Michael Ho. She has been found shot in her expensive car in the parking lot of a shopping center where she had gone to leave a deposit on her bridesmaids' gowns. Her wallet contained almost $1000 in cash and she was still wearing her expensive engagement ring. Mark Furukawa, a youth counselor, shows Eve the world of parachute kids, in Southern California. The term defines the children of extremely wealthy Chinese parents who enter the US legally, buy expensive homes and automobiles, return to Hong Kong to continue conducting business, while their children remain in the US, generally unsupervised, to go to school, and the way some of the older Chinese prey on these young people who are looking for direction. In order to pursue the tale, Eve convinces Mark to introduce her to some of Marina's friends and contemporaries. She discovers the dai los, recruiters for Chinese gangs who lure the parentless teens into criminal behavior in the guise of excitement. She also meets another parachute kid, Tony Hsu, who reminds her of her long dead brother. Tony's younger sister had given Eve Marina's diary, most of which was stolen from her car before she had a chance to read it. Michael had been acting strangely, so Marina and a friend followed him to try and discover what he was doing. The trail leads to a house of prostitution, and a young Chinese girl, sold into slavery by her parents in China, who is now working in that house in the "jasmine trade" Eve and Mark are falling for each other but was Mark the one who betrayed Eve? What is the relationship of Michael to the house of ill repute? Why was Marina killed? What is the meaning of the tattoo on Marina's breast? The rich children and the poor one only what to do what is right and please their parents, but do not have the experience to know how to accomplish this correctly. Once Hamilton stops trying to use outdated street slang and dissing the New York Times, and allows her journalistic expertise to take over, we get a touching story of children left alone in a strange land, looking for guidance and affection, frequently finding it in the wrong places. Some are rich and some are not, but all have a respect for their families and a touching desire to do the right thing, even though they are not sure what that entails. Hamilton also manages to indicate the violence and segregation that are part of the Los Angeles area. It might be interesting to see where Eve Diamond's reportorial curiosity takes her next.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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