"What?" she cried. "Surely he wasn't serious?"
"No, Madame," said Cheng, with an indulgent smile. "It was satire."
When it came to the villain in Mystery Manor, there could only be one nationality - Chinese. Not because they're inherently nastier than any other, but because (i) China is unique in the type of capitalism that it operates, and (ii) its wealth and strength mean that other countries, with the possible exception of the US, are too weak to stand up to it.
Though that may be about to change, as Europe now is beginning to wonder if there may not be a price to pay for accepting Chinese investment. As the villain Cheng Wei mockingly puts it, 'We're coming to eat you in your beds!'
Mystery Manor can be read in different ways. A mystery story and a horror story, certainly, but also as a satire. It may not be what strikes a reader first, but it adopts the method of satire, denouncing a situation by describing, apparently in all seriousness, an excessive version of it. In that sense, as Orwell pointed out, 1984 is also a satire.
In the context of Mystery Manor, where food plays such an important part, the inescapable reference was to Jonathan Swift, whose Modest Proposal, published in 1729, purported to solve the problem of poverty and hunger in Ireland: I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasee, or a ragoust ... A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.
As with all satire, the premise of Mystery Manor is meant to be seen as plausible - so naturally I was pleased when a reader informed me that it is, horrifically so. But the underlying aim of the food metaphor is to raise a question about the nature of Chinese capitalism, of which Cheng is the symbol. Are they really coming to devour us? Personally, I'm not as worried as the book might lead one to think. But it isn't a bad thing, as Emmanuel Macron has said, for Europeans to be less naive in their dealings with China. A message which never quite got through to the Europeans dining with him in Mystery Manor.