Review

A Wanted Man is a sequel to Gossamer, and follows the story of Will Keegan, a sultry southwestern man from Hong Kong, who dreams of lost women.

The story continues about six months after the marriage of James Craig to Elizabeth Sadler, and begins with Will dreaming of the woman he loved and one he’s beginning to love, both wives of James Craig. After attempting to hand in his resignation, the two business partners agree that it’s time for Will to begin “the plan” in San Francisco. “The plan” is attempts to buy girls that have been sent over from China to be sold into prostitution, and send them Underground Railroad style to a better life. This is done through the saloon Will builds called the “Silken Angel Saloon”.

This is where he meets the fiery Julia Jane Parham, a Salvationist missionary who is not afraid to knock some heads around in her attempt to find information. Her goal is to find her friend Su Mi, a girl who was supposed to head to California to be a new bride, but instead is tricked from her family to be sold into prostitution. While in California, she makes enemies of some very nasty people.

One of these is Madame Li Toy, brothel owner, and one of the people who auctions Chinese girls off to be prostitutes. Will finds out during an auction, where he is buying girls to save, that Li Toy has put a bounty on the red-headed missionary making so much trouble for the brothel owners. This worries Will, because he has this sore spot for young woman, and doesn’t want harm to come to her.

But not to worry, Julia Jane discovers that she’s not able to get into the brothels easily as a missionary, so she tries another route as a laundry woman named Jie Li. She finds a woman named Zhing Wu, pays her to help her acquire and deliver laundry, and while doing this, searches and asks women in the brothels if they know of Su Mi. Doing this, unbeknownst to the bounty on her head, has allowed her to remain hidden from Li Toy.

Until she finds that Will has purchased girls for the second floor of his saloon. She of course is unaware of the plan that Will has, and she comes back to the saloon, righteous fury blazing, and smashes his window with a parasol. Will is just happy to find her alive, but not for long. This brings her back into the open, allowing the paid man of Li Toys to find her. Julia Jane fights for her life, and somehow makes it back to the Silken Angel Saloon, where she is found beaten and bloody in the saloon.

It was around this part of the book that I couldn’t put it down, the actions scenes fast and detailed, keeping me gripped at the edges of my book. The author easily conveys emotions, especially with Julia Jane, allowing me to feel her righteous anger, her pain, or her grief. This is also true for many of the main characters, creating a bond between character and reader. This care to detail also allows for a very intricate history of the main characters, along with lots of historical reference about San Francisco back during the late 1800’s.

Yet this care can be a little off-putting when it comes to some of the more graphic parts of the story. And then sometimes the story can feel a little cliché or lacking, especially when it comes to some secondary characters in Chinatown. It would be nothing for a different book, but this book is all about details. The last problematic portion is the ending, which seems very rushed. This could also be because I didn’t want it to end.

Overall I was very happy with this book, the detail, and the expansive history created by the author. I can’t wait to get my hands on Gossamer so I can delve deeper into this world this author has created.

Reviewed by Ashley D.