“‘You dirty animal!’ he snarled, grabbing Lizard by his shirt front. He shook Lizard until the little bones in his ears rattled. Lizard was terrified. He knew this man could snap his neck as easily as a used satay stick if he wanted to, and he was pretty sure he wanted to.”

Lizard’s Tale is the first novel for younger readers by Singapore-born New Zealand author, Weng Wai Chan. Since his Uncle Archie failed to return from a city trip two years ago, twelve-year-old Lizard has been fending for himself. He quit their house in Changi and came to the city to find his Uncle, surviving on his wits until tailor’s daughter, Lili Mak got him a place to live above their shop, and they became best friends. Now he goes to the Mission School, does errands for petty criminal, Boss Man Beng, and makes a little money on the side writing letters in Chinese.

Beng’s latest assignment promises to pay well, and when Lizard is caught in the act of stealing a plain teak box from a suite at the Raffles Hotel by the spoiled and very bored daughter of the GM of the New British East India Company, he cleverly manages to talk his way out. But the box is clearly unlucky: when he goes to hand it over to the boss, Beng has been brutally murdered.

“The box haunted Lizard. Since it had come into his life, just a few hours ago, he had been caught stealing, been beaten up, seen Boss Man Beng murdered and made Lili mad at him. Lizard feared the box, but he also burned with curiosity. What was the book, and what was it for? And could it have something to do with his uncle’s disappearance?”

Lili Mak is one of a select group of schoolgirls who have been training under the Maximum Operations Enterprise as spies for the British Empire, and she is selected for an important mission at the Raffles Hotel observing a certain GM, because who ever notices a girl? She’s very surprised to see Lizard there in the suite, and even more surprised to see that he has a certain missing teak box. Quickly, however, the situation escalates with a theft and a kidnapping.

There’s plenty of action in this 1940 adventure tale with Japanese spies, miniature cameras, lock-picking, code books and secret messages. Young readers will delight in these clever and resourceful young individuals, as well as being amused by some of the silly character names: Fatty Dim Sum, Brylcreem, Buck Tooth. Chan also inserts a few messages about xenophobia, imperialist practices, nationalism and the cruelties of war, and of course friendship and loyalty.

Chan easily evokes Singapore of the era, the noise and crowding, the cosmopolitan feel and the attitudes of the residents of the city, and the underlying threat of invasion. It may be aimed at younger readers, but adults may well find this an atmospheric and entertaining read.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing