THE AMERICAN DREAM AND NIGHTMARE: TIMOTHY J. LOCKHART'S BROKEN KITE

Broken Kite is the second book to feature Timothy J. Lockhart's Wendy Lu and the first one I've read by the author. Like S.J. Rozan's Lydia Chin, Wendy is a second generation Chinese American working as a private detective. However, she has a naval background that she keeps a foot in as well as being an ex-cop in her Northfolk, Virginia stomping ground. Her jaded experience battles the optimism of her youth and Lockhart challenges it it further with the latest case.

The book opens with the idea of how many of us think slavery in the U.S. ended with The Civil War. Wendy takes a job for her mother's friend, restaurateur Wang Feng, Her little sister, Wang, who she brought over has gone missing. Wang got sick of working in the restaurant and became a cam girl which led to a questionable massage parlor. That information and Zhang's diary lead Wendy through a dark labyrinth of the human trafficking and circles of victimization that keep slavery alive and well.

Lockhart balances Wendy's case and personal life and finds opportunities to weave them together. The case being tied to her mother allows us to look at their relationship, It gives a look into how children and parents born in different countries deal with one another and what that later generation takes from "the old country". She develops a partnership with a cop who specializes in se trafficing and sees romantic possibilities. She also struggles to reach out to her sister dealing with postpartum depression. Without bogging the story down, this all makes Wendy Lu more than just a vessel to move through the plot.

She proves to be an engaging series heroine. Her background makes her capable to handle her cases yet gives her a past to haunt her. I hope to find time to read the first book and am ready for her further adventures.