First Chapter Review: Saigon Dark by Elka Ray

BLURB: Good and bad. Life and death. Some choices aren't black and white.

A grief-stricken young mother makes a rash decision, then spends the next decade living a lie. She's rebuilt her life and is starting to feel safe when she gets a note: 'I know what you did'.

Can she save her daughter from her dark secret?

COVER: Excellent. The colors and the tipped over tricycle speak to something dark and ominous.

FIRST CHAPTER: The reader meets Lily, a single mother who is living in Ho Chi Minh City.

KEEP READING: While it didn't capture me at first, by the end I definitely wanted to know more about Lily and her daughter, Evie. Why did she follow Vinh there? Why does she hesitate to return to the States? How much does her friend Yna really know? Ray paints a dark picture, but from the book blurb it sounds like Lily's life is only going to get worse. I'm definitely intrigued.



File Size: 730 KB
Print Length: 234 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Crime Wave Press (November 15, 2016)
Publication Date: November 15, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01M4PZWBX

I received the first chapter of this book from the publisher, Crime Wave Press. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Elka Ray is a UK/Canadian author and illustrator based in Hoi An, Vietnam. The author of one novel, Hanoi Jane, Elka also writes and draws an expanding series of children’s books about Southeast Asia, including Vietnam A to Z, 123 Vietnam! and The Warrior Queens.

For adults, Elka focuses on crime fiction and mysteries. Her short stories have appeared in Monsoon's Crime Scene Asia: Asia's Best Crime Fiction 2014 (Hong Kong); New Asian Fiction (India) 2013 and Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction (Singapore) 2014. Her travel writing has run in a wide range of publications, including Fodor's, Forbes, Executive Traveller and Persimmon Asian Arts. Elka holds a Canadian degree in Journalism and Asian Studies and a Canadian diploma in Creative Writing. She has a sporty husband and two kids, works as a magazine editor, and has an author’s site at http://elkaray.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/elka.ray

New Trailer on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGO3pb4qh3E

Interview with Elka Ray, Author of Saigon Dark

Elka Ray is a Canadian/UK author and editor. Her first novel, Hanoi Jane, was published by Marshall Cavendish in English and DT Books in Vietnamese. A suspense novel, Saigon Dark, came out with Crimewave Press in November 2016. Late 2016 also saw the release of a collection of short crime stories: What You Don’t Know: Tales of Obsession, Mystery & Murder in Southeast Asia.
Elka is also the author and illustrator of a popular series of bilingual children’s books about Vietnam. She lives with her family near Hoi An, Vietnam.

To learn about Elka’s new projects, please check NEWS. Her kids’ books and souvenirs may be found at STICKYRICE.

Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Elka-Ray/e/B004VRXDM0

Did you like suspense and crime novels when you were growing up?

I read everything from classics like "Great Expectations" (essentially a mystery, with some of the creepiest settings and characters going) to '80s teen classics by Stephen King and VC Andrews. I discovered Daphne Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith young too.

The fact that Du Maurier is typically classed as a "romance writer" is seriously disturbing.

What was the first crime story that you wrote?

I spent years convinced I was a literary author. Maybe six years back I wrote a short story called "Payback" about a rich American lawyer who was sick of his trophy wife. It ended up being included in the 2013 edition of "Crime Scene Asia: Asia's Best Crime Fiction".

What is your favorite part of writing in this genre?

I've always been interested in why people do what they do, especially when it seems risky. Crime fiction is all about characters' motivations.

What do you find most difficult about writing in this genre?

I can't open a stall in a public toilet without expecting to find a body in there.

Is there an author in this genre that you admire most?

There's a bumper crop of scarily good contemporary British female crime writers. Two of my favorites are Tana French and Belinda Bauer.

What is up next for you?

I just finished the first draft of a manuscript I'd class as "domestic noir". My last novel, Saigon Dark, was all about motherhood. This new one's about marriage. They're both about mistrust - a deep vein I intend to keep tapping.