Companion Star

Companion Star is a full-length mystery novel by financial-media writer Guo Guo, produced by Yanbeitang and published by Beijing United Publishing Company in November 2022. The story begins with a suspicious man who appears at the scenes of two car accidents. Just as the police begin investigating, the man suddenly dies at home; while the police are at a loss, they unexpectedly learn that the suspect's daughter jumped to her death three years earlier, and that the victim of that incident was closely connected to the rich young man who had abandoned the girl back then. As the clues unfold, a large loan inexplicably vanishes, a sales-office manager falls to death, a close friend goes missing, and the suspect suddenly turns himself in... Lies take root in this city, and secrets fill the high-rises. Meanwhile, a plastic-surgery scandal brings beautiful executive Lin Yixin to the attention of policewoman Qiao Zilin—and a police check reveals that her ID information matches exactly that of the long-missing close friend. A revenge story in the name of "love" gradually surfaces, but that is not the whole truth. Using the astronomical image of the "companion star," the novel suggests two women entangled in fate, supporting each other yet forming a single body, asking between love and interest, lies and truth, whether one person can live out another's life. Writing in the manner of social mystery fiction, the author weaves appearance anxiety, female success ideology, workplace bullying, and self-actualization into a suspenseful plot, so that when the truth is revealed, readers face not only a case but the hard reality of a city.