This note contains spoilers for the book.

The title may be unfortunate; making me think of "a dog's breakfast" every time I see it.

The reading was spread out; I forgot to pack it for a week in California, so I finished it when I got back.

Set around a year after the Laotion communists took over, this shows a country that hasn't yet descended into complete hopelessness. The title character is a retired doctor pressed back into service as the national coroner, with no experience in forensic pathology. He'd hoped to retire.

Of course he gets involved in political trouble. Luckily he's in good standing with the party (his girlfriend was a real revolutionary, and he joined and didn't get in trouble, though he seems to have felt little enthusiasm for revolution), and his brother is an important official.

The details of living under that regime are interesting, if they can be trusted. There's no information about the author's background in this edition, and I haven't gone out to research it.

It does become a contemporary fantasy, though; various traditional superstitions seem to be ttreated as true. Oh well.