GHOST MONTH

Feodor Chin keeps things edgy in this genre-bending mystery set in today’s Taiwan. Taiwanese traditionalists believe that July and August are ghost months, the months when hell’s doors are open and ghosts are free to roam the upper realms. Young, savvy Jing-nan scoffs at such superstitious nonsense. Chin delivers both Jing-nan’s smart-alecky attitude about the spirit world and his dazed state upon learning that his fiancée, Julia, has been murdered. He also captures Jing-nan’s shock at the news that Julia, once high school valedictorian, worked as a “betel-nut beauty”—a job considered scant degrees above prostitution. As Jing-nan dodges ghosts and Taiwanese gangsters, he uncovers uncomfortable truths about Julia’s hidden life. Chin’s performance builds tension throughout. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2014]