I have wanted to read this book for quite some time, so thanks to Netgalley!
Never knew what it was about, I just blindly trusted a recommendation without checking what it was about. And I do not regret, at all. It was a real whirlwind to read in a good way, and it was sick and menacing all at once. We follow a young teenager who all of a sudden gets visited by an old childhood friend accompanied by a young girl he met at an orphanage. After a day out they are unknowingly witnesses to a double-homicide and decide to blackmail the murderer... I mean, what can go wrong?

This book was sadly just not for me. I wanted to like it but the actions of the kids went too far for me and I wasn't able to finish it. It was easy to read, though a bit clunky at times which is probably the fault of the translation and not the author.

I really enjoyed this, and was hooked from the very beginning! This is a very fast paced and intriguing read. This will also leave you questioning nature vs. nurture. Are people born bad or are they the victims of upbringing/circumstance? This is told from multiple POVs, and the story flowed very well. I will say, at times this did read a bit "YA" to me, but that did not bother me. I found the ending to be a little unsatisfying, but that did not take away from the overall story.

Compelling story. Some of the dialogue felt a little stilted but that may have just been some lost in translation issues. Thanks for the early review copy!

The book involves a murder that is witnessed and inadvertently filmed by three kids. Rather than report the murder to the police, they decide to blackmail the murderer for money in exchange for the footage. The writing style is concise and at times a bit choppy. You will question whether the kids are actually bad or are they victims of circumstance.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars

Three children inadvertently capture a murder on video while horsing around. Instead of contacting the police, they devise a plan to blackmail the killer. Soon things spiral out of control and we're left asking the question: is it nature or nurture that pushes someone to kill?

This was a page-turning novel and the translation was great. Perfect for fans of books like Strangers on a Train and Stand By Me.

I received this arc for free on netgalley in exchange for a review.

I was attracted by the premise of Zijin Chen's Bad Kids, originally written in Chinese and translated into England by Michelle Deeter. Zhang Dongsheng has planned the perfect murder: he pushes both his in-laws off a mountain and makes it look like an accident. Unfortunately for him, he's videoed by a group of teenagers who then decide to use the film to blackmail him. I'd hoped this would be darkly comic in the vein of Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, The Serial Killer or Parini Schroff's The Bandit Queens (though I didn't exactly click with either of those novels, so perhaps that should have been my first clue). And the opening scene, which deals with the aforementioned pushing, is nicely deadpan. But after that, the writing becomes so clunky as to be almost unreadable, and also leaves Zhang behind as we trail off on a tangent about the teenagers' backstory instead. I wasn't sure if this was perhaps a translation issue, or mismatched cultural expectations about storytelling, but this wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good! Its like in the same vein of Keigi Higashino. If you love psychological exploration of a crime, you will love this. Its brilliantly told in the varying perspectives of a child, a detective, a killer and a professor. I found the plot to be very engaging and you will want to know how everything unfolds.

You knew what happened, you dread the whole situation yet you will be so repulsed and intrigued by the mastermind of the whole events. Its mindblowing and absolute vile to read. Highly recommended.

Grade: B

Bad Kids is not just a book about bad kids. It is also a book about bad adults. In fact, it is established early in the story that someone not being a bad person is the exception to the rule in this world.

But does that mean that this is a bad book? Absolutely not.

While this book begins with a murder, to think that this is a murder mystery would be incorrect. This book has nothing mysterious—we always know who did what and why. Instead, the tension comes from the twists and turns that lead all the characters to a conclusion that is both forgone and completely surprising. The pace of this book is nonstop, and every word seems to serve as a piece of the puzzle. For this, I credit both the author and the translator.

The characters are not likable—but that is intentional. They are, however, incredibly well-drawn. The author clearly has insight into human psychology, and it shows here—while some of these characters do unthinkable things, the reader will still know why those actions were made.
The plot is riddled with twists and turns, and there were several times when I had to put it down in shock and re-read what just happened. Did that really happen? Yes, yes, it did. The author does not allow himself to become distracted from the path he is creating at any moment.

However, here is the thing about this book: it isn’t for everyone. First of all, if you are looking for books with likable characters, this won’t work for you. I also struggled to describe this book to friends when I was in the early stages of it. I knew it reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. Finally, it hit me; it feels similar to Quentin Tarantino’s films. If you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino and his work, go get this book immediately.

The problem is…I really don’t like Quentin Tarantino, and while I could easily appreciate the qualities of this book, it isn’t the kind of book I enjoy. It kept my attention, and I thought the ending was superb, but I didn’t want to read anything like it again. This is, I recognize, a “me problem.” For many readers, this will be quite a hit.

So, if this sounds good to you, give it a try. This will hit the spot for those who like books with unlikable characters and a fair amount of violence.

I usually don’t read books that have to be translated because I always feel like things are ‘lost in translation’ as it were but Michelle Deeter did an excellent job on this.
That being said, BAD KIDS by Zijin Chen is an action-packed, thrill ride from start to finish. I am SO GLAD I took a chance on this one. Just when I went to zig, I found out I should have zagged (if that’s a word) and I was turned around all over again, spinning to the end…and beyond.
When three tweens find themselves in possession of a damning video, they decide on extortion to solve all of their money woes. While one of the kids wants to be noticed (by his father), the other two prefer to stay hidden (from authorities ). But how can nine deaths be linked to this one group? It’s six degrees of separation in this one. But who will walk away and is it really as a victor? Does the survivor really win anything?
My pulse was pounding, my heart rate went through the roof and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to get to the end, and what a shocking ending. it was! While I couldn’t wait to see how it ended, I was sad when it did because I would have loved to see what happened beyond that. But, I suppose this way, I can carry on the story to any conclusion I want. I will be thinking about this one for some to come. For me? That’s the best kind of book! BRAVO!

I did enjoy the cat mouse push me pull me effect
The children sounded like well children just something was off and was very jarring somehow like a characarture of how children talk .
I did though enjoy it and we have liked an even more twisty end and can’t say how or will give away but was good ending none the less
Clever children capable of anything as all abandoned in some way versus a lethal focused and desperate murderer
Some excellent scenes that grip you and you are surprised by how sudden and quick an action can take place .
Leading to all sorts of situations
Sins of detached parenting by the father
I would read another

I really enjoyed reading Bad Kids by Zijin Che, the most intriguing crime thriller of a Chinese teenage boy, Zhu Chaoyang, his two friends, his mother, father, step-family, grandparents, and a police detective - and a series of 9 murders. I really enjoyed reading Bad Kids by Zijin Chen: a most intriguing crime thriller and story of a Chinese teenage boy, Zhu Chaoyang, his two friends, his mother, father, step-family, grandparents, and a police detective - and a series of 9 murders.

The language of the translation, at times, seems a little awkward but in a way that added to the exotic-ness of the story, which serves as a window into Chinese family/parent-child culture (perhaps). There are many cultural nuances that will feel odd to the western reader and I enjoyed this aspect of the book.

Zhu Chaoyang is hard-working and very successful student with no friends. He is the occasional victim of class bullies. His parents are divorced; his father remarried and neglects to maintain a positive relationship with Chaoyang. And he's mean with his money and his affection for his son.

A friend from several years ago appears at Zhu Chaoyang’s front door and asks to stay with Chaoyang for a few days. He and a younger girl have run away from an orphanage.

Meanwhile, Zhang Dongsheng, a teacher, murders his parents in law and the murder is captured on video by Chaoyang and his new friends. Their dilemma is that if they take the video to the police, the friends will be returned to the orphanage. So they hatch a plan to blackmail the murderer.

Around the same time Chaoyang meets his father, but it is clear that the father is completely under the control of his second wife and young daughter, fueling shame and financial hardship for Chaoyang and his mother. The meeting ends when the step-mother and step-sister appear and Chaoyang is introduced by his father as the nephew of a colleague. This upsets Chaoyang and...

Grateful for Chaoyang’s hospitality, his new friends offer to help exact some revenge on his nasty step-mother and spoilt-brat step-sister for being the source of his financial and emotional difficulties. This goes wrong and the step-sister is accidentally killed. This leads to the blackmail arrangement changing and I should probably stop telling the whole plot…

The story/plot is very well-constructed. At a distance, the plot seems far-fetched, but up close, sentence by sentence, it works well. The plot is told quickly and economically. We’re not bothered by too much florid description of the setting, and this brevity works well for this story, and keeps the plot ticking along at a rapid pace.

The characters are convincingly authentic and the reader will quickly develop a sympathy for the three kids, Chaoyang especially and his mother. The principal detective is no chump and it was interesting to read him being included into the relationship-driven plot.

It’s been fun to read that other reviewers were not happy with the ambiguous ending, but the ending is as clear as can be. And, in my opinion, it’s the perfect end and is perfectly satisfying. This is the most interesting and best-written crime fiction that I’ve read in a long time.

Un romanzo eccellente, che esplora senza timore le parti più oscure della natura umana e insieme le peculiarità di una società, come quella cinese, lontanissima dalla nostra. Leggerò sicuramente altro di questo disturbante autore.

I loved this. The setting was fascinating to me and I want to learn more about China and the modern culture there. I thought the author did an amazing job of expressing the thoughts, views and conversations of 13 year olds. The different points of view were utterly immersive and this, combined with the setting, made for a book which seems more fact than fiction,

Fast paced from the first page. These kids are big trouble but there isn’t much supervision to keep them in line.

When 3 kids find evidence of a murder, instead of reporting it to the police they take the time to blackmail the murderer and perhaps use him for his skills.

I absolutely powered through this book, the opening prologue was brilliant to capture your attention and to them follow the kids throughout the novel kept it entertaining and easy to read! I loved the storyline as it became more and more thrilling and I think the ending was perfect! I can't wait to recommend this to people!

I was actually really enjoying this thriller and it was quite fast-paced and dramatic. The setup is very intriguing and it has short snappy chapters.
However, I didn’t realize there was going to be discussion of child sexual assault in this book and that’s something that makes me DNF immediately.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I've always appreciated Vertigo for translating entertaining murder mysteries from a range of under-appreciated regions and authors. This is the first Chinese-language mystery I've read, and the plot was fast-paced and generally entertaining. However, I'm not sure if the issue is with the translation or the writing itself, but the prose was quite flat and the overall story not particularly imaginative if you are familiar already with the genre.

I read it because I heard good things about this book, especially the adaptation.

It's a fast paced thriller book about our three main characters who's witness a murder, and decided to blackmailed said murderer.

It was an enjoyable read, I finished it in one sit. It has everything I expected to. Dark, and reminded us just how viled and twisted children could be. Some part are hard to read here and there. Overall, there isn't really anything new in this kind of genre, but still good enough to keep the readers sit throughout it.

I liked the premise but have a really difficult time trying to get into the meat of this story. The kids were desperate and the gentleman the same for different reasons. Nobody came out the winner in this one.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc