I (mostly) recommend and (somewhat) don't recommend this book. It's a pretty good read, but doesn't necessarily achieve what it sets out to do. I love Lisa See's historical novels, which is how I ended up reading the first two books in her mystery series. Flower Net and The Interior are both at their best when they detail contemporary Chinese life and present the attraction and repulsion the differences between the US and China as exhibited in the relationship of Liu Hulan, Ministry of Public Security Inspector (kind of like the FBI) and David Stark, US Attorney. When the action takes place in Beijing and other Chinese locales, it's almost like reading a historical novel for its well researched authenticity (at least as far as I can tell!).
The Interior is the second of the Red Princess series and takes place mostly in a small village, where a US factory…well, you can guess. The mystery elements of the novel are to me the least compelling, but because I'm really interested in how Hulan's character will continue to unfold, I'll probably take up Dragon Bones in the near future.
Interesting tidbit I got from reading this book: "China, although a large country, operated on one time zone." Did you know that?!?
On landlords, "Insidious, cruel, ruthless, but most of all they were greedy." p. 339-340