Sgt. Bobby Zha is dead, he felt himself die, and he saw himself being buried. Yet, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary he's also alive, it just happens to be in another person's body. His first instincts are to react to people like he always has, but of course he can't because he no longer has that appearance. He has to learn how to be Bobby Zha in the new body, and in doing so begins the process of using his chance to set things right.
In the theatre there are characters in classical scripts who act as catalysts for change or that cause the action of the play to go in a certain way. In 9 Tail Fox the Jinwei hu of Chinese mythology serves that purpose. It not only gives Bobby a chance to expose his murderer and get to the bottom of why it happened - but to also make amends for his own screw-ups. But it's not easy, and he is only able to do so when he begins to change the way he treats people this time round.
For you can't just put on a new body like a suit of clothes and expect that to change who you really are underneath, it has to come from within. Through his examination of the character of Bobby Zha before and after his death Jon Courtenay Grimwood shows how we are all ultimately responsible for who we are as individuals no matter what the circumstances.
9 Tail Fox has all the attributes of what I've come to expect from a novel by Jon Courtenay Grimwood; a great story well told, characters so realistic that you see them in your minds eye right from the start, and a sub-plot that provides thought provoking insights into human nature. A book to savour from start to finish, and almost wish it would never end.
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