Thank you to NetGalley, the Author and the Publisher for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I originally requested this book because of a few things: the summary intrigued me, the cover was so pretty, and I had never read a book that had taken place in Hong Kong before. The story is a mystery which follows the stories of 6 or so individuals whose lives are intertwined because of various tragedies and past connections. The beginning of the story caught my attention, and I appreciated the in-depth detail about the characters, and the subsequent chapters that provide even more detail about them; the characters were really fleshed out in this way. The ending was satisfying as well. However, the middle of the book dragged on for me, and I almost DNF-ed the book. I will say that the setting of Hong Kong and the looming presence of pro-democracy riots added another layer of intrigue, and I do want to learn more about the 2014 Umbrella Revolution, especially. I do think the protests could have been woven into the stories of more characters, rather than just two since there are so many characters in the novel.

This is my first book from Suzanne Harrison and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more

The mystery was a little slow to get into but the setting of Hong Kong was attention grabbing

The cover of this book is also so beautiful

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

The first thing I liked about this book was the writing. It was easy to picture, it was engaging and it was complex. However in parts I felt like there was a lot stuff going on that I couldn't pin point.
The nature of the story surrounding six characters would naturally have the tendency to make me feel a bit lost (don't forget I'm dumb).

The other thing I liked was the character building. Although sometimes too much, Harrison really made an effort with how well you know the characters. Not just the connection with each other but their back stories and what led them to ending up in Hong Kong.

Overall I enjoyed #TheColourofThunder but I felt as though it lacked a little in the mystery and suspense it promised, and in some parts felt a little long-winded. I expected it to really pack a punch and be incredibly intense, and although quite seductive secretive in parts, it was very subtle.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #LegendPress for this copy in exchange for my review.
The Colour of Thunder comes out 01.02!

A vibrant tale of the roots of revenge and the price of complicity.

I truly enjoyed this read. The storyline was unique - offering an atmosphere of bustling Hong Kong and the myriad of mixed nationalities who have flocked to it.

There’s an abundance of characters and twice the amount of secrets. I especially loved the group of five women who circle around three men with dirty pasts to hide. The author is wonderful with unraveling the truths bit by tiny bit AND making you waver on who is truly a “bad guy” since everyone has their hurt and their reasons.

The imagery of “the color of thunder” is brought into the book in a beautiful way, as a memory shared by one of the characters, a reference to darkness that many of us go through and literally in the form of a typhoon that builds up during the climax of the book.

I was able to guess most of the outcomes but it was well organized despite so many characters, clever, and very atmospherically written!

The Colour of Thunder instantly grabbed me with its Hong Kong setting, but it did take a little while for its mystery to go full force.

While the introduction might be confusing and a bit too layered at times, I do think the ending was fully worth it. We've been reading about the characters for the last hundred pages or so and we do get to see how it all comes together. I think the impact will make mystery fans happy as it did satisfy me with a couple of tension-filled moments without being predictable.

Like I've mentioned, it's where the introduction to this book struggles. We get a lot of characters and a lot of information pretty quickly, and we have zero clue how any of it's connected. While it's satisfying when the puzzle pieces come together, I did need to flip back a couple of pages a few times to make sure I wasn't missing any key components.

This book is impressive in the way it creates a mesmerizing visual for a setting, and did leave me satisfied with the reveal.

I was totally drawn to this book by its pretty cover and enticed by the mysterious crime novel set in the exciting environment of Hong Kong.

Let me start off by saying, I struggled to get into this book, there are a lot of characters and storylines and the mystery of the book is maybe wound up a little bit too tightly as I didn’t even know what was actually going on.

The Colour Of Thunder starts with a shooting at an orphanage which you don’t learn much about, then takes you to the story of multiple different people; Johnny, Scarlet, Alice, Carolyn and Wang. It isn’t until maybe about 50-60% through that you finally get a glimpse of how the shooting fits in. I guess it’s just set up quite strange because I was expecting the shooting to be an integral part of the story but actually it was almost just a side story.

The core of this book surrounds a Euroasian man called Johnny who had a tough up bringing in East London but moved to Hong Kong to make his fortunes. He’s now a successful businessman but everybody expects that his hands are dirty. He also has a honcho called Phil; who I definitely imaged being like Phil Mitchell, who is a known drug user and violent man. Scarlett, Johnny’s girlfriend is trying to gain entry to a safe in his house, a PI called Felicity befriends Johnny’s counsellor Carolyn to try to gain insight on him and Scarlett’s friend Alice knows some of his chequered past.

I feel like just as you’re finally starting to learn something the perspective of the book changes and jumps to something totally different. And I still don’t actually understand how Wang and his politics really comes into the story so if you’ve read it and understand please let me know!

All in all, this definitely wasn’t my favourite book. Although it DEFINITELY got better from about the 40% mark and I did read the second half of the book on pretty much one sitting. I feel like maybe I need some more reflective time to think about it and perhaps a fellow reader to talk it through with!

There's a lot to recommend this novel--the incredibly diverse and complex Hong Kong setting and an intriguing plot. Where the novel fell short for me was the execution on the characterization. We learn the backgrounds of our main characters in the middle of the book in long chunks of exposition. It's very "tell" and not "show". Introduction to the character's background and motivations earlier wouldn't have taken away from the mystery component, but would have made you more invested in the characters, who seem flat at the start of the novel.

I read The Colour of Thunder by Suzanne Harrison thanks to Legend Press and NetGalley. I was excited to read this novel because it sounded so intriguing. I was instantly confused by what the story was about. It starts at an orphanage in Tianjin, the narrator being a worker seeing an argument play out, ending with the murder of one of the orphanage employees. The story then moves to Hong Kong and discusses other characters, that had nothing to do with the orphanage at the time. The story moved in a confusing way, weaving different characters together in the same chapter.
I had a hard time in some places figuring out which character’s point of view was being described in each moment of a chapter. It went from present to a flashback to one of the characters pasts, making it hard to keep up with what was going on at times. I appreciated the flashbacks because it helped to better understand what happened in each of the characters upbringing that led them to this hard life they are leading as adults and why they are struggling in their present lives.
There were a few key components to the novel that really spoke to me and weaved the characters pasts and presents together in interesting ways. The author mentioned bougainvillea many times in the story; part of me thought it was foreshadowing of hard times to come. Another thing that was similar in the upbringing of many of the characters was the rough childhood they all had, whether it was having troubled parents, absent parents, being bullied, etc. Another thing that sparked my interest was that the author showed that each of the characters wanted to escape to a better life when they grew up; they all had plans to move away, either alone or with a friend.
A few other things confused me, like how did the protests and revolution tie into the story other than bringing two characters together through them. Another thing that did not make sense to me was the first chapter with the orphanage. I know that some of the main characters had donated to that orphanage, but the murder there had nothing to do with them, which I was hoping to find out more about that in the end. The author had some loose ends that did not get solved in the end, which made me upset.
The mystery element of the novel was interesting, with the crime, the kidnapping, murder, it was all very intriguing and cool, and I found myself wanting to finish the novel quickly to find out what happened. I just felt like the novel was lacking some substance in places and some of the chapters encompassed too many points of view. I think the author could have separated some of the chapters to help with that. I think if you like historical fiction and mystery, you should read this book.