Tiger Dawn by Geoff Pike Heinemann $190 Remember Taipan, James Clavell's horrendous novel ('bad joss, sir, bad joss') about Hong Kong? Geoff Pike obviously thought this was a benchmark for the great Hong Kong novel and no cliche is left unmolested in his work.

When the smarmy, corrupt Hong Kong policeman enters a Wan Chai bar, the mamasan greets him with: 'Good evening, sir. Kung Hei Fat Choi . . . It is always an honour to see you here. My illustrious benefactors are grieved that they cannot greet you but they are indisposed.' When a typical Chinese man opens his door in the morning, he says: 'Waaauugh . . . the day breaks fierce and brave as the tiger. This will be a hard and dangerous year.' The villain is the nasty Sampson Ching. The heroine - and Mr Ching's enemy - is the beautiful Eurasian Sing Deverill. Well-versed in Eastern ways, when Ms Deverill wants to check up on her daughter, she uses mind travel - cheaper than paying Hongkong Telecom IDD charges and far more rewarding.

The plot centres on illegal exports of animal parts, women being kidnapped by would-be white slavers and kung fu fights between triad 'red poles' in underground banqueting chambers.