A review by burritapal_1
Jade Lady Burning by Martin Limón

dark funny informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Spoiler

George sueño and Ernie Bascom are two MPs stationed in Seoul, South Korea, 20 years past of war. Don't ask me why they're still there? Their usual job is to investigate Black Market deals, but they are pulled off this detail to investigate the death of a young sex worker whose name means Jade. It's really a cover-up, though, because she was passed around between the big muckety muck generals and officers of the army base there. She was murdered in an extremely brutal fashion, that's never really spelled out in the book. but you'll find out by reading reviews that she was skewered, ie something stuck inside of her vagina and set on fire.
" our rank was classified. So if Young Buck sergeants, like me and Ernie, had to investigate a full bird colonel, we wouldn't be intimidated. That's another one of those things that doesn't really work in practice. After you've worked at 8th Army headquarters for a while, everybody knows you. And the colonels have this habit of protecting themselves and their fellow officers. In that order. Of course, the generals don't have to worry about anything. They're just one step below god."

It's kind of hard to stomach these characters, because all they care about is drinking and having sex with the poor young women sex workers, who, of course, are forced into this kind of work, usually by older madame.
" the girl I had been with last night was slightly harelipped, I think, with a long, slender, unblemished body. She sneered at me through the whole thing. I think I hadn't paid her enough money. And then she wouldn't let me have any in the morning.
Just as well. I was so hungover I hadn't really wanted it anyway. The attempt was a matter of form."

They also take advantage of the oppressed workers:
"People also have this idea of some sort of sad sack existence. I haven't touched a mop since I left the states. We have houseboys. Every night I throw my dirty clothes on the floor, in the same spot, and in the morning after I shower and shave I put on the clean clothes that were laid out for me the day before. About an hour before I leave for work, my houseboy shows up and brings my footgear to a high spitshine. When I get back to my room, usually at lunch or in the late afternoon, the place is clean, the bed is made, and my work clothes for the next day are hanging in front of my wall locker."
🙄
The protagonist George is also not ashamed to take advantage of an innocent native woman. 
"To be honest, there are some totally straight girls around, ones who aren't as desperate as Miss Oh. It's sort of hard for a GI to meet them, though, especially if you're like me and Ernie and spend all of your free time in the village of Itaewon. 
I did once. 
Ernie and I were pulling security, along with about 8,000 other guys for some big mucketymuck from the U.S. government who was visiting the Israeli Embassy in Seoul. Ernie was driving around a big unmarked sedan and I rode shotgun. We spotted her leaving the embassy, walking towards the bus stop, so we slowed down and offered her a ride. At first she didn't understand me but then I spoke Korean to her and everything was all right. 
I took her to lunch at the Naija R&R Center downtown and then on a date where we walked through Duksoo palace, and one afternoon I even went home and met her oldest sister. I don't know what came over me. Just going along out of curiosity, I guess. Anyway I took her to the Frontier Club after that on Yongsan South Post, let her listen to the live band, and bought her a Brandy Alexander. We spent the night together in a little yoguan I know in Samgakji. It was the first night she ever spent with a man. 
I saw her a couple of times after that but then I got tired of it and I stood her up once and then I wouldn't return her calls. Her brother-in-law, a Korean man of about 40, called me and in faltering English told me I couldn't do that to her. I was hung over, and in a bad mood, and I told him to go screw himself."
what an asshole character. Here's an amusing observation by this main character:
" I have a theory about fast-dancing, that it's intended to make men look ridiculous. And the more ridiculous a woman can make a man look, the more Power she has over him and the more she affirms her own attractiveness. It makes me want to barf to see all those guys out there shucking and jiving with big smiles on their faces, as if they're really enjoying themselves. I don't believe it. Why don't they admit that they'd rather be in the sack with the woman and stop pretending that they love the Rhythm and the sounds of the movement? Give me a break."
I got news for you protagonist george. Men will make themselves look ridiculous all by themselves. They don't need any help for that.

I wonder if the author was like this. Probably, because this is where he got his material. He was stationed in Seoul Korea for 10 years. Decided to make his experiences into a book. How lovely. I won't be reading anymore of this author.