The novel, within its expansive narrative framework, possesses a rich psychological depth and profound humanistic themes.
— Li Jingze (Famous literary critic, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Writers Association)

Through logical reasoning, the novel delves into the mysteries of human nature, thereby expanding the narrative realm of this genre.
— Yan Jingming (Famous literary critic)

An innovative work that combines elements of suspense and psychological insight.
— Zhang Qinghua (Professor at Beijing Normal University)

By utilizing the structure of detective novels, the novel explores the hidden and complex psychology of contemporary people, providing a nuanced and multi-dimensional portrayal of both the physical and spiritual worlds.
— Wu Yiqin (President of the Chinese Novelists Association)

★ Rights sold: Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, English, Thai, French, Burmese, German, Arabic!

★ This book has won the 11th Mao Dun Literature Prize, the 8th Lu Xun Literature Prize for Novellas, and the 5th Shi Nai’an Literature Prize, and was named a “Good Book of China” for 2021!

★ Since its publication, the novel has repeatedly topped bestseller lists and new-release charts on major e-commerce platforms. On Dangdang.com, it has garnered nearly 40,000 reviews with an impressive average rating of 4.8 stars (out of 5)!

★ The TV series of the same name, directed by Feng Xiaogang, premiered in 2023 and ranked second in popularity among dramas in the same period.

★ A masterpiece of “psychological realism” that deserves to be savored with patience! The novel offers a sharp and precise portrayal of the fatigue, suspicion, and inner tensions in middle-aged marriages, shedding light on the emotional dilemmas and trust crises faced by contemporary individuals in a fast-paced, high-pressure society.

★ The novel employs a unique dual-narrative structure that blends “mystery” and “psychology”: A murder case drives female police officer Ran Dongdong to exhaust herself in her quest for the truth—yet as she delves deeper into the investigation, she also finds herself ensnared in a web of marital uncertainty.

The novel employs a dual-narrative structure, with “case investigation” and “psychological reasoning” running in parallel, to tell a story in which a murder case and a marital crisis become intricately entangled, each probing and challenging the other.

During her investigation into the “Big Pit Case”—the murder of a young woman—female detective Ran Dongdong inadvertently discovers hotel check-in records belonging to her husband, Mu Dafu. From that moment on, her life splits into two distinct battlefields:
Outwardly: As a police officer, she must rely on reason and logic to solve the real-life murder of the young woman, Xia Bingqing.
Inwardly: As a wife, she applies the same investigative mindset—and the same obsessive, almost paranoid intensity—to conduct an inner emotional interrogation of her husband, one that probes the boundaries of loyalty and betrayal.

These two narrative threads run in parallel throughout the book with exquisite structural precision: odd-numbered chapters follow the investigation into the “Big Pit Case” (Who is the killer of Xia Bingqing?), while even-numbered chapters track the unfolding marital crisis.

“The Big Pit Case”: A Social Allegory About Desire and Destruction
This murder case functions like a vortex, drawing in characters from different social strata—wealthy businessmen, masterminds, and blue-collar workers—and revealing how desire, money, and human indifference are transmitted through layers of society, ultimately culminating in tragedy. The process of solving the case also serves as a window through which Ran Dongdong observes the complexities of human nature.

“The Marriage Case”: An Inner Storm of Trust and Self-Discovery
Ran Dongdong brings her professional habits into her marriage, subjecting her husband to relentless questioning, testing, and deductive reasoning. Yet in the realm of emotion, there are no hard facts or single, definitive truth. Her obsessive interrogation gradually evolves into a brutal excavation of the very essence of love, the fragility of marital trust, and the hidden depths of her own psyche. Interestingly, as the investigation deepens, she begins to suspect that she herself may be “mentally unfaithful,” turning her interrogation of her husband into a projection of her own moral dilemmas—and a way of evading them.

In the final chapters, the two narrative threads converge, creating a profound thematic “echo”: the title “Echo” refers both to the chain reactions triggered by clues in the course of the criminal investigation and to the lingering reverberations within the characters’ inner worlds.

By transcending the confines of a conventional mystery novel, the work delves into the intricate, often shadowy psychological landscape of modern individuals, examining the blurred boundaries between marriage, trust, love, and deception.

Tian Dailin (pen name: Dongxi)

One of China’s most influential contemporary writers, currently serving as Chairman of the Guangxi Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Chairman of the Guangxi Writers Association, and Professor at Guangxi University for Nationalities.

His major works include the novels Echo, Loud Slaps in the Faces, Regret Record, and Fate Rewritten, as well as the novella The Life Without Words. Several of his works have been adapted into films and television series, and some have been translated into English, French, Swedish, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, German, Czech, Danish, Japanese, Italian, and Greek, and published or released in these languages.

The novella The Life Without Words won the First Lu Xun Literary Prize for Novellas. The film Heavenly Lovers, adapted from this novella, received the “Best Artistic Contribution Award” at the 15th Tokyo International Film Festival. His novel Regret Record was awarded both the “2005 Novelist of the Year” prize at the 4th Chinese-Language Literature and Media Awards and the “2005 Best Book of the Year” award from The Beijing News. His novel Loud Slaps in the Faces was adapted into the film “My Sister’s Dictionary” and a 20-episode TV series. His novel Echo won both the Lu Xun Literary Prize and the Shi Nai’an Literary Prize in 2022, and the Mao Dun Literary Prize in 2023; it has also been adapted into a web series of the same name by the renowned director Feng Xiaogang.

Chapter One: The Big Pit
Chapter Two: Entanglement
Chapter Three: Planning
Chapter Four: Testing the Waters
Chapter Five: Excuses
Chapter Six: Implications
Chapter Seven: Business
Chapter Eight: Trust
Chapter Nine: Guilty Love
Afterword