Perfectly choreographed descriptions bring each shoot-out, chase scene or hand-to-hand fight to life, like one harrowing encounter between Roma and Juliette early in the book that incorporates all five senses-from the heat of a bullet flying past to the tang of blood. Gong hasn’t slowed down since “These Violent Delights,” keeping “Our Violent Ends” rolling along at a snappy pace. She takes ample liberties with filling in the blanks between crucial scenes that you might recall from your high school English class, creating a suspenseful storyline that requires plenty of footwork from readers even if they already know how the source material ends. However, Gong elevates Roma and Juliette’s story to far more than a simple re-write. The vicious feud between the White Flowers and the Scarlets has escalated to new heights here, driving most of the bloodshed in “Our Violent Ends.” It’s no easy feat to craft a fresh version of “Romeo and Juliet” when nearly everyone in the English-speaking world has already seen dozens of iterations of the same star-crossed lovers tale, from “ Gnomeo and Juliet” to “ Private Romeo,” “ Warm Bodies,” “ Little Italy” and many more (and those are just from the past 10 years). But Juliette and Roma have much bigger problems: a mysterious blackmailer capable of re-unleashing madness upon the city, the rise of Communist sentiment and the increasing power of Kuomintang forces, to name a few. 16, and picks up a few months after the cliffhanger that closed “These Violent Delights.” After the events of the first novel, Roma seems to have spent most of his spare time gunning down Juliette’s Scarlets, seeking vengeance for the death of his best friend … except Marshall Seo is still alive and well, hiding in a safehouse and moonlighting as a masked vigilante.

Her follow-up, “ Our Violent Ends,” hits shelves today, Nov.

These violent delights book review