There are so many issues with Beijing Smog I don’t even know where to start. The review I posted on my sight was nearly 1000 words, so let me try to condense it here.

Essentially, the characters are all slackers and every problem they have is their fault. That's the case with most books, but in other novels the characters have redeeming qualities that make you root for them. That's not so in Beijing Smog. Beijing Smog features a cast of slackers, womanizers and generally unintelligent people.

The novel is incredibly slow-paced. It’s not obvious to the readers how the characters are connected until about halfway through the novel, and even the characters’ stories don’t really start overlapping until about the 75% mark. When the characters do meet each other, it’s only Chuck that meets Wang, and their interaction only lasted a handful of pages. Tony never meets Wang, but Wang meets one of Tony’s new enemies. Chuck and Tony meet early on, but there’s so much filler that their interactions become boring.

Moreover, as someone who has intimate knowledge of Shanghai and who knows a lot about China's history, culture and politics (I studied there for 4 years and stayed an extra year), I found the plot rather contrived. There were elements of truth (censorship, bribery, surveillance, etc) but the way everything came together felt haphazard. There was too much build-up and too much truth-stretching for too little action. Beijing Smogs leaves the reader with a lot of loose ends.

In my original review, I gave Beijing Smog two stars. I'm not sure why. I think I was being generous because I love Shanghai and because Williams got some things right. I'll preserve the two-star rating but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.