The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu

By: Tom Lin

Narrated by: Feodor Chin

Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

Finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award

A Chinese American assassin sets out to rescue his kidnapped wife and exact revenge on her abductors in this New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice: a twist on the classic Western from "an astonishing new voice" (Jonathan Lethem).

Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon's henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.

Battered, heartbroken, and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers, some with supernatural powers, whom they meet on the journey. Ming blazes his way across the West, settling old scores with a single-minded devotion that culminates in an explosive and unexpected finale.

Written with the violent ardor of Cormac McCarthy and the otherworldly inventiveness of Ted Chiang, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is at once a thriller, a romance, and a story of one man's quest for redemption in the face of a distinctly American brutality.

"In Tom Lin's novel, the atmosphere of Cormac McCarthy's West, or that of the Coen Brothers' True Grit, gives way to the phantasmagorical shades of Ray Bradbury, Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao, and Katherine Dunn's Geek Love. Yet The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu has a velocity and perspective all its own, and is a fierce new version of the Westward Dream." —Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn

©2021 Tom Lin (P)2021 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

“Eminently entertaining…. There's a lot to love in this expansive debut novel from Tom Lin. The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is a truly cinematic Western. Its vistas and action sequences are perfectly designed for fans of graphic novels and the big screen alike. Similarly, the body count is crafted for an audience that enjoys adrenaline's pulse in its ears. Lin's wordcraft is deft and painterly, whether he's describing a fight scene or a desert…an important, vivid story, with characters led through the landscape by the demands of its plot…. I hope we see more of all these stories from Tom Lin in the future.” (NPR)

"Impressive…. As a kind of redemptive imaginative act, Lin has created a poetic and cinematic story centered on a Chinese American sharpshooter.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Part revenge fantasy, part classic bloody tale of the Old West. In this book, things return - people, oceans, violence - but remembering is a choice and the body bears the cost.... In this unforgiving landscape, which Lin vividly and meticulously describes in prose whose music is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s, even a rainstorm can take on mythical proportions.” (New York Times Book Review)

Enjoyed, but predictable ending; just not 5 worthy

The ending and how it wrapped up was predictable. The characters and those with the miracles I actually enjoyed a lot for their overall uniqueness. I wanted to know them more. Meet them in my imagination at a minimum.
Eeven despite the predictable parts,was a solid 4.
Felt totally believable for time period and that the story occurred and the characters could have all existed.
Glad I got this to read when audible offered it.

Good Twist on Western Genera with Magical Realism

interesting and entertaining book. Addresses the treatment of Chinese immigrants and Americans of Chinese descent by white Christians in the old west. One reviewer alleged that Tom Lin basically plagiarized Haruki Murakami, which I strongly dispute. In fact, I think that analysis is so odd that I wonder if it's a bit of racial bias, even though Murakami is Japanese and Lin is of Chinese heritage. I have read nearly everything ever published by Murakami and I see little similarity other than magical realism in general. Anyway, this book is somewhat serious and philosophical, but expressed through visual descriptions and actions, so you may not like it if your preference is for action/adventure/suspense novels. This is a bit more like Cormac McCarthy.

Engrossing tale from an under-represented perspective

This is a story that vividly describes the Chinese American experience in building the Transcontinental Railroad. Performer provided an engrossing listen with good variety of accents and dialects.

truly one thousand

I lost count after the first hundred but it does seem that the book did actually detail 1,000 different murders by Ming.

Borrowed from Murakami

Tom Lin almost transparently borrowed from Haruki Murakami in the magical realism throughout his just ok book. I bought the Audible because of a review on The New York Times. I was not overwhelmed. I did finish the book in one week on my daily walks.
But the review was inaccurate.

Magical Western

I loved this story, it's a crazy revenge story and I love the protaganist Ming Tsu, he's on a mission and he's ready to slay. But I loved the magical characters that I didn't expect. I was hooked, really recommend this bood

A Great Book, Excellently Performed

Came to this book via recommendation and went in blind, and expecting little. Turns out it's one of the best westerns I've ever read. Highly suggest.

Chinese Western

Really vaguely Luke the King Fu TV series. A tall Chinese guy wandering the west. however the guy was not raised Chinese so no Chinese flavor, to the book. I like the ending. this was a page turner. I like the magic stuff.

Unrelenting ride of revenge. 🖤

This tale is brutal and strangely beautiful. Excellent wordsmithing, succinct, clever, economical and lyrical. Clearly portrayed vividly visual.
I see and like the Kill Bill comparison, it's certainly a dark unrelenting ride of revenge.
I liked the narrator who's simple finesse fit without distracting from the story.

I recommend this for mature discerning readers and listeners who appreciate the traits I've listed.

Magic?

I love a good western, enjoyed the carni magic, but a story can have to much magic in it.