Rivals (eBook)

A witty and thought-provoking espionage mystery

Jane Pek (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
352 Seiten
Verve Books (Verlag)
978-0-85730-923-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Part literary mystery, part family story and queer romance, The Rivals marks the return of Claudia Lin: a sharp-witted heroine for the 21st century.

Claudia Lin - mystery novel superfan and, until recently, clichéd underemployed English major - has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for chronically online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues - tech savant Squirrel, and the elegant and intimidating Becks - have uncovered a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets.

In the wake of a client's sudden death, Claudia convinces his ex, an industry insider, to turn on his employer and feed the verifiers information about what the powerful dating platforms are really up to. But even as Claudia starts to get a feel for this new genre - just call her Lin, Claudia Lin - she's distracted by the possibility of romance with both Becks and a very charming target. She also fears that her beloved older brother is unwittingly being drawn into the matchmakers' deadly web. And as Becks reminds Claudia: spy tropes dictate that someone you trust will betray you.

The follow-up to Jane Pek's 'thoroughly modern twist on classic detective fiction', The Verifiers, The Rivals plunges readers straight back into the action as Claudia and her colleagues risk their lives to investigate the dating platforms' deadly AI conspiracy. Perfect for fans of Maggie Terry by Sarah Schulman, Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy and Rosalie Knecht's Vera Kelly series.

'A mystery for the digital age that's spiky, smart and full of heart' - The i Paper

'A clever, clear-eyed take on the modern spy novel, full of wisdom and sly humor. I'd follow Claudia Lin anywhere' - Grace D Li, author of Portrait of a Thief

'Claudia Lin serves as the perfect guide to this captivating mystery' - Kevin Wilson, author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic

'In this sequel to The Verifiers, Pek again brilliantly combines a corporate espionage thriller with the messy drama of Lin's family life' - Washington Post (10 Best Mystery Novels of 2024)

'The sweetly sardonic amateur sleuth Claudia Lin, who first appeared in The Verifiers, returns to solve another mystery when a client of her online-dating detective agency dies in a suspicious accident' - New York Times

'Pek nestles timely and increasingly relevant questions about the role of technology in our everyday lives... The Rivals is the best kind of second-in-a-series: the kind guaranteed to leave readers eager for more' - Shelf Awareness

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Part literary mystery, part family story and queer romance, The Rivals marks the return of Claudia Lin: a sharp-witted heroine for the 21st century.Claudia Lin mystery novel superfan and, until recently, cliched underemployed English major has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for chronically online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues tech savant Squirrel, and the elegant and intimidating Becks have uncovered a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets.In the wake of a client's sudden death, Claudia convinces his ex, an industry insider, to turn on his employer and feed the verifiers information about what the powerful dating platforms are really up to. But even as Claudia starts to get a feel for this new genre just call her Lin, Claudia Lin she's distracted by the possibility of romance with both Becks and a very charming target. She also fears that her beloved older brother is unwittingly being drawn into the matchmakers' deadly web. And as Becks reminds Claudia: spy tropes dictate that someone you trust will betray you.The follow-up to Jane Pek's 'thoroughly modern twist on classic detective fiction', The Verifiers, The Rivals plunges readers straight back into the action as Claudia and her colleagues risk their lives to investigate the dating platforms' deadly AI conspiracy. Perfect for fans of Maggie Terry by Sarah Schulman, Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy and Rosalie Knecht's Vera Kelly series. A clever, clear-eyed take on the modern spy novel, full of wisdom and sly humor. I d follow Claudia Lin anywhere Grace D Li, author of Portrait of a Thief Claudia Lin serves as the perfect guide to this captivating mystery Kevin Wilson, author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic In this sequel to The Verifiers, Pek again brilliantly combines a corporate espionage thriller with the messy drama of Lin s family life Washington Post (10 Best Mystery Novels of 2024) The sweetly sardonic amateur sleuth Claudia Lin, who first appeared in The Verifiers, returns to solve another mystery when a client of her online-dating detective agency dies in a suspicious accident New York Times Pek nestles timely and increasingly relevant questions about the role of technology in our everyday lives The Rivals is the best kind of second-in-a-series: the kind guaranteed to leave readers eager for more Shelf Awareness

Textauszug

4

For four days, Amalia Suarez is exactly where she’s supposed to be at any given time. She goes to work at Building 93 of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where Vroom is located – from her route, as well as the speed at which she travels and how it doesn’t deviate across elevations, I’d guess she’s commuting by e-scooter. Afterward she’s off to one engagement or another, all consistent with the schedule Mason has given us for her: coed soccer league game, dinner with Mason and another couple, trivia night at her local bar in Crown Heights, date with Mason. Just watching this level of activity makes me feel like taking a nap on the couch.

Mason has requested that we provide a daily accounting of Amalia’s whereabouts the next time he comes in to Veracity for an update, which seems a tad stalker-ish to me, although I guess I’m not really in a position to comment. When we asked why, he dimpled at us and said that since he was going through all the trouble of getting this verification done, he might as well have it be comprehensive. ‘I mean, assuming it’s something you can do?’

‘Of course,’ said Becks, and then quoted him a supplemental price that made my eye twitch. Mason simply looked pleased.

‘Not a problem,’ he said. ‘You have to pay for quality service, I know that.’

Just as well he doesn’t know how easy it actually is for us to deliver this quality service. All I have to do is pull up the Finders Keepers app a couple of times a day, see where Amalia currently is and has been in the last several hours, and log that in my spreadsheet.

Finders Keepers. That’s the one tool we use as verifiers that gives me the sensation of stepping from tolerably squishy moral ground into what could very well be a patch of quicksand. It’s a geolocation-tracking app: if we have someone’s phone number and they keep their GPS function on – which everyone does, because then your Lyft driver can find you, and you can get accurate directions on Google Maps, and for a thousand other reasons – we can see where they are. I used to believe what Komla told me, which was that we technically had our targets’ consent. Users on dating platforms agreed to share their locations via phone GPS with the matchmakers, in order to improve matching results, and the matchmakers in turn had an arrangement to sell that data to third parties like Veracity. Then I found out nobody knew what the hell we were doing. For now, I’m dealing by not thinking about it, which I’ve heard is the adult way to handle things that make you uncomfortable.

On the fifth day, over the weekend, Amalia vanishes.

I first notice late Saturday morning, after my usual pickup game of Ultimate in Prospect Park. Our side wins, thanks in part to a dive-across-the-grass intercept by yours truly, and so I’m equal parts filthy and triumphant when I pull on my hoodie and take out my phone and do a quick Finders Keepers check on the two targets I’m currently observing. The first is at his parents’ house in Westchester; Amalia is MIA. When I look at her location history, I see that Finders Keepers last recorded her at her home, at 8:39 am. She probably forgot to charge her phone after she got home last night – she was out until 3:00 am at a warehouse party in Bushwick – it died, and she’s still asleep.

Seven hours later, she still hasn’t popped back up on Finders Keepers.

I consider the options. Her phone suffered a more permanent death. Or she could, for whatever reason, be choosing to leave it off. Maybe she’s embarked on a digital cleanse? That would be commendable of her, but it’s going to leave a sizable gap in my spreadsheet of Amalia Suarez’s whereabouts – and I hate the thought of having to tell Mason Perry that it turned out keeping track of his girlfriend was something we couldn’t do after all.

I pace up and down in my living room, in the hope that movement will activate my little gray cells. In Inspector Yuan and the Sichuan Seven, one of the prime suspects is a bian lian opera artist, a face-changer who switches through hundreds of masks in the course of his performances. The inspector has no idea of the actor’s true appearance, not until he sends Constable Zhang to follow the suspect’s mother during the Qing Ming Festival and note the man who shows up to help her sweep the ancestral grave. (Of course, the fact that this suspect exhibits such filial piety is a clue to the reader that he cannot be the vicious killer.)

Mason told us he and Amalia would be spending all of Saturday together, and we haven’t received any updates to the contrary. So: if I find him, I should be able to find her.

When I enter in Mason’s number, he shows up just south of Union Square, at a place called What the Pho? Yelp and Google checks confirm that What the Pho? is the type of establishment that primarily caters to the overlapping Venn diagram of the budget conscious, people who are awake and hungry at one am, and college students. An unusual Saturday dinner date choice for a professional couple in their late twenties.

I stare at my screen and think of the disbelief that’s sitting like a pebble in my shoe, continuing to chafe until I shake it out. Also, that I’ll have to be in Manhattan anyway, for dinner with Maddie and Julia.

I text my friends to say that I’ll be late – luckily they have suffered me since high school, so are used to my elastic treatment of time – and then begin the layering process for my bike ride.

As I attempt to lock my bike to a sign pole using the blocks of ice masquerading as my hands, I ask myself, the way I do at this point every winter, whether I should just give in and get the lobster gloves that all the delivery guys seem to have taped to their handlebars. I said once to my roommate, Max, that I was afraid I would start being mistaken for a Chinese food delivery person; his reply was ‘Don’t worry, I think the scale has already been tipped,’ which was consternating enough for me to forget to point out the pun.

At last I wrangle my U-lock shut. I’m on University Place between East Eleventh and East Twelfth; What the Pho? is across the street. It looks exactly like it does in the photos: big neon signboard and posters advertising 20 percent off this and that, waving cat figurine in the window, basket of take-out menus hanging by the door, condiment caddies on every table. Busy, too, with people walking in and out every few minutes. I study a DoorDasher as he parks his e-bike on the sidewalk and enters, insulated carrier strapped to his back. Hmm. I’m going to assume Max has no idea what he’s talking about.

I back up against the wall behind me, into the shadow cast by the pyramid of wilting bouquets outside the neighboring bodega. For anyone else this might come across as suspicious lurking, especially with a feels-like-twenty wind chill, but one feature of being a petite, soft-spoken Asian female is selective (and sometimes not-so-selective) invisibility. I do hope I won’t have to hang out for long; according to Google, people typically spend thirty to forty minutes here.

As it is, I’m still slouching into position when Mason leaves the restaurant. Not that I notice, amid the constant in-and-out march of diners and people picking up to-go orders. I get the Finders Keepers triple-buzz alert that my target is moving, and when I check, I see that Mason is already south of me on University Place and heading farther away. I start walking as well, trying to monitor the other side of the street without tripping over myself. Everyone is swaddled in winter paraphernalia, their faces dim and indistinguishable in the darkness. I’m not going to be able to pick him out unless I get uncomfortably close.

I’m trying to decide how long I should follow his pulsing blue dot for when I see it zag – across the street, in my direction. Crap, could he be onto me? Then I register the man pulling open the door of the shop several feet ahead of me, and the girl with him. The light from the store’s interior falls upon them and I recognize the patrician angles of Mason Perry’s profile.

After they enter I wander past. It’s an ice-cream shop, and, unsurprisingly, they’re the only customers. I don’t have time to get in more than a peek at the girl, as she’s inspecting the display cabinet with the gravity of someone selecting an engagement ring, but what I log – medium-brown curly hair, wide eyes, a strong nose, a plushness to the mouth – all fit with the pictures of Amalia Suarez that I’ve been reviewing.

I install myself in another patch of shadow nearby. While I wait for them to come out I google the Milky Way’s menu, and understand Amalia Suarez’s equivocation: the place has more than twenty flavors. Honey sriracha? I’ll have to come back for that one.

There’s the ding of the door closing behind them and then they’re strolling down the street, toward me. I keep staring at my screen and start moving my thumbs like I’m composing a treatise in text.

Mason: ‘So? Is it disgusting?’

Amalia: ‘It’s… interesting.’

As they pass me, I glance up. They’re walking side by side, not touching. Mason is holding a cup; Amalia has gone for the superior...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.3.2025
• Reihe/Serie: A Claudia Lin Mystery
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror ► Krimi / Thriller
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: contemporary american fiction new york city urban • digital detective agency private investigator • family relationships siblings chinese american • feminist female protagonist women sleuth amateur • love romance lgbtqia lesbian queer sapphic • Mystery crime suspense thriller sleuth investigate • online dating scandal catfish ghosting identity
• ISBN-10: 0-85730-923-4 / 0857309234
• ISBN-13: 978-0-85730-923-5 / 9780857309235