THE NINE DRAGONS

More solid storytelling from Scott (Rampage, 1986, etc.), now with an exciting, albeit uneven, novel detailing a young woman's desperate efforts to salvage her family's storied trading firmall amidst the turmoil and violence surrounding the surrender of British Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997. ``The Turnover'' is an event with enormous implications not only for China but for the entire international business community, and Scott does a good job of filling in American readers unfamiliar with the situation as he recounts how Victoria Mackintosh, returned to Hong Kong after the failure of the New York hotel in which she had persuaded her father to invest, is thrust into the role of taipan of Mackintosh Farquhar at a crucial point in the company'sand the city'shistory. Vicky comes home to find her father engaged in a complicated plan to bring down his oldest enemy (and Hong Kong's richest man), the ruthless Two-Way Wong. Success will not only ensure Mackintosh Farquhar's survival in the new order, it will do nothing less than determine the future leadership of the People's Republic. When her older brother dies in an accident and her father is murdered, Vicky must take over the company and work (much against her will) with her father's mistress and confidante, the beautiful Vivian Loh, to carry out his plans. Two menTwo-Way Wong's strikingly attractive son Steven and budding tycoon Alfred Chingbecome key players in her terrible struggle, as well as supplicants for her heart. Scott is a pedestrian stylist at best, butwhile some of the early going seems padded and slowthere's no letup in tension once the story gets rolling, with enough twists and surprises in the closing pages to satisfy all who persevere.