Mission in Hong Kong by Lee Van Lee

Mission in Hong-Kong by Lee Van Lee
(Port. "A Amante de Kung-Fu" -- The Kung Fu Lover)

A kung fu smut book from 1974. CIA agent Robert "Bob" Wang is on leave in Hong Kong for an unofficial mission: his rich uncle has been kidnapped. Bob teams up with his cousin, Susan, in order to find the responsible and bring his uncle (her father) back alive. The culprit turns out to be Lam, a former officer of the South Vietnamese army and now a career criminal--kidnapping, rape, extortion, white slavery, etc. Lam is a master of "karate and judo", although the book states that he studied at Shaolin. Uh ok. But Bob Wang is a decorated Vietnam vet and a tai chi master. Who will come out on top? And that's when Wang isn't on top of his hot cousin.

So this book is (thin) story first, sex second, martial arts third. The sex is okay, although it is a bit spoiled by the top-heavy declarations of love the two make while in the act. We also get no post-climax (heh) roll in the hay between the two protagonists. We get a short final chapter telling us that they got married and that "every night of their marriage was like the nights they had spent together in Hong Kong." And referring to a woman's genitalia as a "grotto" is major turn-off stuff.

Chapters 2-4 stop the story (such as it is) in its tracks to give a description of kung fu. It points out that the deadliest kung fu weapon is the Tiger's Head Hooks, which sounds like Chekov's Gun, but ultimately is never mentioned again. Bad writing, people. There is really only one fight and it comes at the tail end of the novel. The fight prose is awful. You never get any idea what the characters are doing in relation to each other or their surroundings. Bad kung fu action, okay sex. Feel free to pass.