This better be worth it!

The thriller novel Typhoon, which I tried in vain to track down while I was in China (the tale of this quixotic search, thrilling enough in itself, is laid out here , here, and here), is now on hand, shipped by Amazon Canada to Washington DC. It is shown below, in pillowed presentation mode appropriate to the difficulty of finding it.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r96/jfallows/IMG_6187.jpg

That leaves two associated mysteries to figure out. One: since the word "China" does not appear on the front or back cover of the book, and since the cover illustration of Hong Kong might at worst seem to suggest a natural-disaster weather story, how could the Chinese customs officials have figured out that this was a "sensitive" book that they had to intercept -- if that is indeed what happened to it?

The other mystery, of course: is it any good? Stay tuned.