The Stone Monkey

3.5 Stars I need to rant: YOU CAN'T DRINK A DAMN COCONUT MILK FROM A DAMN COCONUT!! THERE'S ONLY COCONUT WATER IN THERE, MR. DEAVER. To say that one drinks the coconut milk straight out with a straw is, indeed ridiculous as hell LMAO 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. (Coconut milk comes from the grated coconut flesh...like, you have to squeeze them out, man. It's needed to be work on, one can't drink the milk straight from the coconut just like that. It's impossible). Okay I'm done. Unfortunately, coconuts aside, this book was less... wild, compared to the first three. However, all the stars given here are dedicated to the fact that Mr. Deaver really did his homework on the Chiness culture. As an Asian (with Chinese grandparents in the bloodline) myself, the way he portrayed the culture and the oriental ways of living makes me feel happy. He talked about Journey to the West, Detective Dee, Feng Shui, the ethnic minorities, and even Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy. Thank you for the hardwork! Now, what I love the second most is the honest way American feels and treats other culture. Even Rhyme and Sachs seemed vain and ridiculous when it came to accepting something different. Rhyme was a man of science, sure, but there's more to that in this world! He should have known better... The story itself was rather dull, I mean the twist could have been wilder. I saw it coming halfway through the book, so a bit disappointed. BUT Deaver remains great with his characters. I love love love Sonny Li. Been suspecting that man since the beginning (I was well-prepared for the plot twists). Let's say I was, and wasn't disappointed (how can I make much sense of this without blurting major spoilers?). He's my favorite character in this book (and Thom, of course, was so damn cute). Also, is there even a thing Sachs couldn't do? I love that girl. I love her even more now that she gave Chinese medicine a chance. She's so open-minded, which is a great quality for a protagonist to have. Ready to move on to Book 5 (in a row). I know I'm being a bit too happy with self-isolation here, y'all.