Review: 在黑暗中 In the Dark by 金十四钗 Jin Shi Si Cai
My first ever Jin Shi Si Cai novel!
It has been officially licensed in English with two volumes. You can find both the physical print and e-book at the publisher’s website: Peach Flower House.
Note(s):
(Very) long post ahead
Contains spoiler
This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience
Summary:
Xie Lanshan was an officer from a special drug enforcement team who was sent to infiltrate the Golden Triangle, a notorious armed drug syndicate led by a ruthless man named Mu Kun. Having spent six years on this undercover mission, even climbing his way to become the drug lord's right-hand man, he successfully allowed his comrades to tear down the syndicate; the only flaw being that Mu Kun still managed to escape despite suffering severe injuries.
And yet upon his return to the force, Xie Lanshan found something different in himself. All his friends and comrades said he came back an entirely different person. He began to suffer from splitting headache and experience bloody nightmares where he saw himself murdering a stranger. Despite his massive contribution to cracking down the Golden Triangle, he received no considerable promotion and even got temporary suspension after an unintentional misconduct when handling a local case. Rumors were also spread among the police force that he was secretly a traitor who let the dangerous Mu Kun escaped at the last minute, costing the lives of many of his comrades.
When a murder case costing the lives of an entire household took place in the city, a mysterious man arrived to join their team—Shen Liufei, a forensic sketch artist who came from the States. For an unknown reason, Xie Lanshan found himself drawn towards this man, but at the same time the two shared a complicated relationship tilting between the balance of like-minded individuals and mortal enemies.
Then there was also a strange feeling frequently haunting Xie Lanshan, as if someone was secretly watching him somewhere in the dark.
STORY: 7/10
"In the Dark" is a captivating mystery-crime detective/police drama where a lot of points from the start are actually connected to one another, only being revealed gradually towards the end. The author is especially skilled at foreshadowing where a seemingly unimportant and forgettable scene or character that appeared in the beginning could turn out to be a significant point at a later part of the story.
To put it into words, reading this story from start to finish is like standing surrounded by black clouds, then having those dark clouds being parted little by little, only to reveal a storm hiding behind it. But after braving through the storm, we'll find that the sky is bright and the world is full of light. Conflicts and conspiracies plagued every part of the plot. The further we go, the more complicated the problem becomes and the situation around the main character only become increasingly difficult. However, when we finally reach the end, the conclusion of the story was both relieving and satisfying, that all the hardships experienced by the main character from the start was all for this moment of peace that he so very deserved.
I feel that the author is also good at playing with emotions. Regardless of the story, character, and/or technical flaws that I'm about to mention below, it was hard not to feel emotionally disturbed by the treatment received by the main character. It was hard not to cheer for him and wish that he could find happiness as soon as possible.
All that aside, I feel that all the plot twists could've had a much bigger impact if only the delivery had been better written. The narratives often took an easy way out to introduce and describe the emerging issues, finishing it "right then and there" when the explanation could've been better spread out in dialogues and in latter chapters.
Description of characters reactions to certain issues were also sometimes unnatural, a bit too much, even borderline cringe, even if this gets better in the latter half of the story. Though, for this one I'm not sure if the original is really like this or if the translation wasn't able to convey the original context.
Nevertheless, while the overall story itself isn't bombastic or mind-blowing, it was still a well-written crime/mystery-solving story that could keep us gripping the edge of our seat throughout the journey.
CHARACTER: 7/10
Every character has a solid portrayal that makes them memorable, including the minor/side characters. Personally. I don't find it hard to recall if a character was mentioned again during a latter part of the story when they have only appeared in the earlier parts.
There was no character redundancy, meaning that there weren't many use of mob characters. All characters that appeared in the story, no matter how minor, each have their own role to play.
I also like Xie Lanshan and Shen Liufei's "Alpha x Alpha" vibe. The chemistry between them was strong from the start and remains so until the end, both in the passionate and emotional aspect.
Kind of spoiler-ish here, but I love how the whole story revolves around how Xie Lanshan, who was originally considered as a good and kind person by everyone, had that very goodness and kindness of his being questioned over and over again throughout the story, to the point that even he began to question himself. The novel was not only about an enemy lurking in the dark, but also how Xie Lanshan kept wandering further and further into the darkness since he returned from his undercover mission, until he finally got lost in it completely. And then in this darkness, Shen Liufei was the one single light that could pull him out of that darkness, giving him warmth and comfort.
And while it could be annoying to read, the other characters who doubted, and even trapped Xie Lanshan to make him fall, played their role so well. Everything they did to him serve to emphasize the significant bond between Xie Lanshan and Shen Liufei.
I also mentioned this earlier in the "Story" section, but characters reactions sometimes feel unnatural, even if I couldn't be sure if it was originally like this or if it's because a translation issue. The thing I find most irking is that some characters' reactions contradict their initial character introduction and impression. For example, said character was introduced to the readers as someone tough, but then they would act emotional when faced with unexpected things, which feels inconsistent with how they were portrayed in the beginning.
TECHNICAL ASPECT: 7/10
Visualization of setting and scenes are great. It was easy to imagine how a scene was taking place and unfolding, what expression the characters are wearing. Action scenes are captivating to follow and while some emotional scenes might feel a bit over the top due to the issue with character reactions I mentioned above, overall the narrative could capture the emotions well. It was even quite heart-wrenching to follow Xie Lanshan's story near the end, which was why the resolution really allowed us to let out a sigh of relief.
The pacing was enjoyable to follow. Scene transition was also pretty smooth and didn't leave us confused as to what scene was taking place at the moment.
There were some issues I found with the translations, mainly typos and punctuation errors. I wish it could've received better proof-reading prior to the publication. There was even one section of a plot in Vol. 1 that got repeated twice, as if someone accidentally copy-paste the text twice.
Also, I'm not sure where to put this particular comment, but I just find it unnatural to have like 80% of the casts to be described as extremely handsome/beautiful. It wasn't exactly a flaw per se, but it's hard to believe that there will be a situation where the majority of the people involved are all distinguishably good-looking.
OVERALL SCORE: 7/10
I wouldn't say it's the best danmei I've read so far, but it's a great crime-mystery police/detective drama. If you're fond of this genre, I believe you will enjoy reading "In the Dark". ^^
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辟谣杭州来福士阳性母女被正式逮捕,坚持不信谣不传谣
#上海阳性母女“出逃”#据浙江辟谣平台消息,4月23日,关于“杭州来福士阳性母女今日被正式逮捕”的图片和视频信息在网上流传,此事经报道后引发巨大反响,经官方核实,为不实信息。该母女尚在隔离,案件正在进一步办理中。“来福士阳性母女”在4月初成为了网友关注的热点。宁某和党某是母女俩,两人于3月25日从外地来到上海,刚好赶上上海疫情爆发,两人被隔离在了火车站附近。4月4日母女两人凌晨3点自行离开了隔离酒店,步行前往了附近的火车站购买了前往杭州的站票。
4月4日早上6点,母女二人抵达杭州后,在杭州多个人流密集的地方逛街。期间,母女二人并没有戴口罩。直到晚上9点多,母女二人才被工作人员找到。
此事被报道后,引来无数网友热议。而此次的官方辟谣,重新让无数网友把关注点放在“来福士母女”身上。
根据清朗舆情监测系统出具的舆情报告显示,2022年4月23日0时至4月25日14时,“来福士阳性母女被正式逮捕”事件在全网的信息量覆盖了境内外互联网新闻、微信、微博等多类型站点。
在上述监测时间范围内,网上共计发布相关信息1403条(不含跟帖评论),其中新浪微博平台1288条。 “来福士阳性母女被正式逮捕”事件发生后,舆情高峰为24日13时前后,随即被辟谣后,舆情渐渐回落。
清朗舆情监测系统还爬取了全网信息情感倾向数据。数据显示,网络舆论对“来福士阳性母女被正式逮捕”事件的评价多为中立。其中,中性信息占比57.59%,主要是网民认为被批捕事件是假的,并不值得过多关注。负面信息占比6.345,主要是小部分网友希望“母女二人被抓”的谣言是真的。上海爆发疫情以来,各种假消息在天上飞。
前段时间,有消息称,大部分上海人“出逃”,是为了到处“投毒”。还有消息称,疑似有人伪装成志愿者,挑拨上海人和外地人矛盾,其实背后的推手是“境外势力”。
又比如,网传视频称支援上海的菜即使烂掉也没人管。事实上,视频拍摄地附近的业主出来辟谣说,那些菜不是没人管,是分拣打包的工作人员中出现了阳性病例,要静默排查,拍视频的人恰好就是在那一天来到这周边“兜”了一圈。还有网友爆料,称自己接到了境外来电,对方鼓动放弃抗疫的。
而和此次的“来福士母女被正式逮捕”一起上热搜的,还有“来福士母女疑似收2万美金投毒”等不实消息。
那为什么在疫情期间,网络上总有耸人听闻的“内幕”流传呢?有人把阴谋论简单地归结为是一种“弱者的恶意揣测思维”。但其实,更本质的原因是因为阴谋论不需要证据。首先,突发的危机事件常常会引起公众普遍的焦虑。面对疫情爆发,许多人还是会感到惊慌,再加上“封城”等措施,导致人们经济遭到损失,这也让公众更加焦虑。
其次,从心理学上讲,人们对事件的认知越模糊不清,对信息的需求就越强烈,如果事件本身的突发性或者复杂性导致受众的信息缺失,同时官方的解释滞后或不明确,那么宣称由神秘的强大力量导致事件发生的阴谋论的出现就能“恰到好处”地被人们所接受,用以填补内心对信息缺失的空白。
如同这次“来福士母女”事件,人们并不清楚母女二人是否清楚自己是阳性,也不清楚她们到底是怎么买票搭高铁的。因此,民众会为母女二人的行为找一个“合适”的借口。虽然,借口并不能站住脚,但满足了人们的好奇心,也是谣言滋生的“土壤”。
最后,当某一种突发事件对公众的生活和秩序产生影响时,很多人都会不停地通过网络等传媒方式得到最新的消息。可是,在面对海量信息的时候,大多数人往往会丧失对于信息真实性的鉴别,这也让谣言有机可乘。
谣言是错误的信息,而这些错误的信息会对人们的心理和社会秩序产生很大的影响。所以,当我们在面对似是而非的信息时,应保持冷静,坚信不信谣不传谣。
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