A New York Times Notable Books of the Year
A New York Times Editor’s Choice
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of the Year
A Kansas City Star Best Books of the Year
An IndieNext Selection
Finalist, Indies Choice Awards
Finalist, Cabell First Novelist Prize
Praise From Authors
“Vu Tran’s Dragonfish is that rare hybrid marvel: a literary thriller, a narrative of migration and loss that upends the conventions of any form.” – Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names
“Vu Tran’s spellbinding debut novel had me turning pages late into the night. I was drawn in partly by the book’s utterly engrossing plot, partly by its vivid portrayal of a pitiless and dangerous Las Vegas, but mostly by its lovingly interwoven themes of loss, longing, renewal, and cultural memory.” – Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried
“Is this an immigrant saga disguised as a crime novel? Or a smart thriller that just happens to be set in the Vietnamese immigrant community in Las Vegas? The answer is: it’s both, and it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Vu Tran has written a debut novel of uncommon artistry, about a group of Vietnamese Americans and the history of love, violence, and sacrifice that binds them together and tears them apart.” – Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children & The Leftovers
“A haunting, beautifully written novel, almost more ghost story than thriller, as Tran explores the world of refugees, immigrants, and the long hold the past and its dead hold on the present.” – Sara Paretsky, author of the V. I. Warshawski novels
“On the pure joyous level of great storytelling, Dragonfish is a top notch mystery; but it also deals with so goddamn much: the ramifications of war and the perils of assimilation, the impossibility of straddling two cultures and belonging to none, the limitations of the past, grief, lost lovers, gambling, ghosts, and Vegas, baby, Vegas. Note-perfect. Heartbreaking. Profound. Dragonfish is a polished dagger of a novel that will cut out your heart.” – Charles Bock, author of Beautiful Children
“Dragonfish is a novel about identity, exile and the chains of memory wrapped in the muscle of a thriller. The suspense kept me turning the pages, but the beautiful writing and aching sense of loss remained with me long after I reached the end. – Lisa Brackmann, author of Dragon Day
“Sometimes it’s creepy, like a really fine noir novel. Other times it’s heartbreaking, as when it dives deep into the anguish of Vietnamese refugees. But either way, Dragonfish is absolutely gripping. Vu Tran has written a terrific—and deceptively weird—novel that manages to make Vietnam and Las Vegas feel like old, familiar friends. Don’t call him a writer to watch. Call him a writer to read. – Tom Bissell, author of The Disaster Artist
Reviews
“Dragonfish is a strong first novel for its risk taking, for its collapsing of genre, for its elegant language and its mediation of a history that is integral to post-1960s American identity yet often ignored.” - Chris Abani, New York Times Sunday Book Review
“Which brings us to Dragonfish, a superb debut novel by Vu Tran that takes the noir basics and infuses them with the bitters of loss and isolation peculiar to the refugee and immigrant tale.” - Maureen Corrigan, from Fresh Air on NPR
“A familiar noir trope—the missing woman—blooms darkly in Dragonfish as the story of a lost people, a theme that Tran renders exquisitely, rating the book a place on the top shelf of literary thrillers.” - Gerald Bartell, San Francisco Chronicle
“Dragonfish is a hybrid: part crime fiction, part literary fiction. It manages both genres exceedingly well.” - Carmela Ciuraru, New York Times Book Review
“Like Gatsby, the characters in Tran’s novel yearn for something unattainable… This and the feeling that there will only be a tragic end are what elevate Dragonfish beyond its bookstore genre.” - Dallas Morning News
“Everything is perfect there, those quiet little garnishes of idiosyncratic detail are gifts, both amusing and full of character. Tran’s novel is filled with this sort of inspired meticulousness, and reading it is to enter its world.” - Barnes & Noble
“[A] hard-hitting debut novel… [Suzy is] a mystery no one can solve, particularly the people turning all their efforts in the wrong direction. But while their efforts aren’t fruitful, they’re absorbing. And they speak to the way everyone is a bit of an enigma to other people, no matter how many words they put into the effort to be understood.” - NPR Books
“A sophisticated mystery anchored in one woman’s quest to make amends with the daughter she abandoned, Dragonfish delicately capsizes our notions of what it means too long for escape from the prisons of our own making.” - Ploughshares
“If you like your suspense with a literary edge, as with Peter Hoeg’s Smilla’s Sense of Snow, look no further than Dragonfish.” - Bookpage
“It’s Hong’s story that makes Dragonfish worth reading—that and the moody Vegas setting, punctuated, in fine noir style, with lots of luxuriant cigarette smoke.” - Chicago Reader
“Transfixing…Like such writers as Caryl Phillips, Dinaw Mengestu and Edwidge Danticat, [Tran] is devoted to capturing the immigrant experience and widening everyone’s understanding of its particular as well as universal truths.” - Chicago Tribune
“Like Gatsby, the characters in Tran’s novel yearn for something unattainable… This and the feeling that there will only be a tragic end are what elevate Dragonfish beyond its bookstore genre.” - Los Angeles Review of Books
“Vu Tran takes a strikingly poetic and profoundly evocative approach to the conventions of crime fiction in this supple, sensitive, wrenching, and suspenseful tale of exile, loss, risk, violence, and the failure to love.” - Booklist
“This is a most enjoyable mystery, from its distinct, dazzling premise all the way to its satisfying conclusion.” - Publisher’s Weekly
“Right off the bat, Tran displays the most admirable and worthwhile gift a serious thriller writer can have: compassion toward even the most disreputable of his characters.” - Kirkus
“This haunting and mesmerizing debut is filled with all the noir elements—a dark and seedy underworld, damsels in distress, tarnished heroes, and a blurring of moral boundaries.” - Library Journal
“[A] remarkable debut… Dragonfish is a harrowing, heartbreaking read full of suspense and lyric beauty. Tran’s characters are unforgettable and his take on Vegas is pitch perfect.” - The Life Sentence
“The literary bent provides depth and powerful movement so by the time punches are flying and buildings are going up in smoke in the final chapters, the ending feels satisfying.” - The Gazette
“The author skilfully weaves the very real issue of forced migration into a the story, and shows that no matter how well the system of dealing with migrants, the ways and beliefs of an adopted land, in this case the United States, don’t always sit well with the ways of the land from which the migrants came.” - The Nudge
“[A] highly impressive debut that manages to combine thrills with emotional depth.” - The Daily Express