How to Skin a Cat
- 3.2 out of 5
- 18 ratings
- 156 pages
Overall Content Rating: Restricted R
The story follows journalists and media staff in a competitive Hong Kong publishing world, with a lot of cynical workplace talk, drinking, and adult relationships. Language is a steady part of how the characters speak, especially under stress. Parents should expect frequent strong swearing, homophobic name-calling treated as office habit, adult sexual behavior including at least one explicit hookup reference, party-level crude humor, fistfight injuries, and discussion of serious crimes involving a minor in the news plot. There is brief mention that a woman might be a lesbian; slurs are separate from that gossip.
Reviews first uploaded October 11, 2026 6:13 am. Page updated October 11, 2026 6:13 am.
These summaries are AI-generated from relevant Amazon reviews of this book.
Crude Moderate
4Besides general swearing, sampled matches include a recurring homophobic slur between colleagues and vulgar figurative speech about sex acts used to describe office politics.
Amazon reviews mentioning crude
Specific words
- faggot: 2
- suck: 2
Fbombs Heavy
33Strong four-letter language appears often in dialogue when characters complain about work, sports, danger, and relationships; it functions as emphasis and insult more than constant narration.
Amazon reviews mentioning swearing
Specific words
- fuck: 33
LGBTQ+ Mild
1Orientation is briefly guessed about in gossip; homophobic slurs also appear in workplace speech under Crude.
Amazon reviews mentioning lgbtq
Specific words
- lesbian: 1
Profanity Moderate
24Coworkers and friends use mild to medium swearing throughout office banter, stress, and arguments, including insults aimed at bosses and rivals and frequent casual exclamations.
Amazon reviews mentioning profanity
Specific words
- shit: 9
- bastard: 5
- hell: 5
- damn: 2
- ass: 1
- bitch: 1
- dick: 1
Sex Heavy
7Adult characters flirt, kiss, and groping is described; intercourse is referenced explicitly in at least one sampled scene. Dialogue also covers party objectification, masturbation jokes, paid companions at a work event, and news talk about statutory offenses and a teen without depicting those acts on the page.
Specific words
- tit: 2
- wank: 2
- dick: 1
- rape: 1
- whore: 1
Violence Moderate
11Characters trade punches that draw blood, suffer boating scrapes, and break into a space by kicking a door; injuries and crime-scene blood are discussed in connection with investigations.
Amazon reviews mentioning violence
Specific words
- blood: 5
- kick: 3
- bleed: 1
- punch: 1
- smash: 1
About this book
Journalist Craig Fox arrives in Hong Kong to take up a position as a magazine editor for Pronto Media, and soon finds out that all is not as it seems on the surface. Rather than being serious publications, the magazines are being run purely for advertising profit in a masterly sleight of hand by the proprietor, Mark Chiefly. He sells the advertising on the premise that the printed circulation is far higher than it really is. His mantra is that advertising makes money and editorial costs money. And he allocates his resources accordingly, which means that his staff are either dishonest or demoralised – or both. By day they work – grudgingly. By night, they embark on a spree of drink, sex and drugs that culminates in an episode on a boat where one of their female companions on board overdoses on ecstasy. The tenure of Fox changes with the arrival of two new members of staff at Pronto. Farnsie De Villiers, an accomplished and plain-speaking South African journalist, who reveals to Fox what a sham his place of employment is and instills a mutinous streak in his colleagues. The other is the gorgeous and smart Melissa, with whom the protagonist falls in love. But due to feelings of vulnerability at his lowly place in the scheme of things at Pronto, he is unable to woo her. This is the driver for his pursuit of power. From here the protagonist descends into a moral abyss, as he uses any means possible to get what he wants … Read more