To make ends meet, Mei drives a limo allowing customers to pay under the table. When driving a cross country road trip with a man with a suspicious suitcase, things get thrown out of proportion big time.
This book really wasn’t my style, although it did really interest me. The characters were fleshed out and incredibly interesting. The book was relatively short, but it had a very powerful message regarding Chinese imprisonment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt for an eARC of this book

Recent Dartmouth dropout Mei, in search of a new direction in life, drives a limo to make ends meet. Her grandfather convinces her to allow her customers to pay under the table, and before she knows it, she is working as a routine chauffeur for sex workers. Mei does her best to mind her own business, but her knack for discretion soon leads her on a life changing trip from San Francisco to Syracuse with a new client.

Handsome and reserved, Henry piques Mei’s interest. Toting an enormous black suitcase with him everywhere he goes, he’s more concerned with taking frequent breaks than making good time on the road. When Mei feels Henry’s suitcase wiggle, she has no choice but to confront him. What Henry reveals rocks her to her core and shifts this once casual, transactional road trip to one of moral stakes and dangerous consequences.

Eye opening, truly. This was a pretty short read, but it was fascinating to learn more about human rights abuses in China. This is not my typical reading fare, but I enjoyed it a lot. I loved going on this road trip with Mei. Fantastic premise. Very interesting and thought-provoking.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

Full of depth and emotion, an excellent read. It also made me more aware of the Uyghur crisis. I loved the way Soma Mei Sheng Frazier tied this story together. Off the Books is a must read.

Off the Books can be added to the recent trend of novels about drivers for hire. Mei dropped out of Dartmouth after her father's suicide and with the help of her grandfather began to work as limo driver. Mei is hired by Henry, a handsome 29-year old, to drive from Oakland to Syracuse. Henry lugs a large oversized suitcase with him on the trip and Mei becomes curious about its content. The novel opens up into a story about Uyghur activism and the plight of little girl named Anna whose father is a professor at an American university and whose mother is being held captive. Author Soma Mei Sheng Frazier has provided readers with an original, compelling novel.

This book was hard to keep focused. I found I was putting it down and then had to re read the page I last read. It did not keep my attention unfortunately. I did finish it as I was feeling sick today so I spent most of the day just lounging and reading.


Off the books was kind of hard for me to really get into if I am being honest. However, it was very eye opening to what China's imprisonment is like, which I really had to prior knowledge to. The main character Mei is a driver who takes "off the books" jobs to make some extra money. One of her customers Henry makes her stop often on their trip. Mei figures out why he stops often and when Henry explains why it's an eye opener for Mei on how horrible and kind people can really be.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read the advance copy of this book!

- Měi is a limo driver who takes “off the books” jobs to make ends meet. One trip driving a man named Henry reveals much more than she expected— about Henry, what he’s transporting, the meaning of family, and geopolitical landscapes.
- This was my first education on China’s imprisonment, genocide, and sterilization of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. I was horrified. It felt like a timely and important read. If you are unaware of the human rights abuses against the Uyghur people, this was an approachable introduction.
- The book had one of the most well-written and layered main characters I’ve read in a long time. I really loved seeing Měi grow and change throughout the short trip.
- I felt like the pacing was a little inconsistent, but the setting of a major road trip aligns with that.
- I loved the depictions of family across ethnicities, language barriers, generations, and chosen family. It was beautiful.