Genre: Spy thriller
Publisher: Severn House
Publication date: October 1, 2019
Summary
“I need your support. There is no one else I can trust. Please help her. Please help our daughter.”
When ex-Marine Jack Ford receives a letter containing news of a daughter he never knew he had, he feels compelled to return to China, a country he hasn’t visited since 1989 when, as a young American spy, he fell in love with a beautiful student activist and found himself caught up in the horrors of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But why has Xia got in touch now, after a thirty-year silence?
On arrival in Beijing, Jack finds himself accidentally in possession of an explosive piece of information both the Chinese and American governments are desperate to get their hands on. Alone in a strange city, suspected of being a traitor by his own side, not knowing whom to trust, Jack is faced with an impossible dilemma: should he save his new-found daughter or prevent a new world war from breaking out? (from Goodreads)
My thoughts
This roller-coaster ride of a thriller is fascinating.
Tank Man
The book opens with the famous “Tank Man.” Even those not familiar with the Tiananmen Square massacre probably know the iconic photo: a lone man standing in front of a line of tanks relentlessly driving forward.
I never knew that he spoke with the gunner on the first tank, nor that the man lived, thanks to onlookers who hustled him away. Nor did I know that the photo was taken from a window of a foreign reporter’s hotel room and smuggled out of China.
Tank man haunts this book. He looms large in the collective memory of the witnesses and others in China. He’s also an apt metaphor for what happens in this book.
Jack
He haunts Jack, the former spy and Army ranger, who drinks to rid himself of bad memories. Jack’s unsuccessful–imagine that–and conflicted about getting involved in whatever power play is going on between the Chinese and Americans. I rather liked his world-weary nature that is still half-hopeful: longing for some undefinable thing (a daughter? safety? life purpose?) and uncertain whether that will happen.
A power struggle
The power struggle between China and America interested me, though I found the motivations on the Chinese side more compelling. There’s a spy who wants to avenge his son’s death. There is also the struggle between the hardliners in the Party and those who want reform.
The American side? Let’s see. There’s a character named POTUS who is a thinly veiled spoof on the current U.S. President; various aides who try to contain the damage from his tweets and stupidity; and one official who takes matters in his own hands.
Plus, there’s a vice president who seems like a certain former female Presidential candidate. POTUS appointed her VP after his former VP dropped dead of a heart attack. It’s a political concession to the opposing party, we learn. Highly unrealistic. But it makes for dramatic, if somewhat comic, tension within the White House.
One distraction
A few oddities popped up, though. For one, the American characters use the metric system in descriptions. For example, in Jack’s mental description of himself, he refers to his weight as “eighty kilos.” In real life, an American man of that age would likely think of his weight in pounds, not kilos. There were a few other places where American characters used British terms; it was hard to imagine that an all-American like NSA head Griffin would use the term “boffin” except, perhaps, in irony. How much does this matter in a novel published in Britain? I have no idea. It just distracted me as an American.
Reality vs. appearance: who knows?
This is a novel where the lines between reality and appearance blur. Who’s lying? Who’s telling the truth? (Do people ever really tell the truth in espionage?) Furthermore, it’s clear that we don’t know which side is right or even if there is a right side, given the self-serving, power-grabbing nature of the characters’ agendas.
Once I got into the rhythm of the story, I enjoyed The Beijing Conspiracy. The book is a page-turner: lots of action and unpredictable twists, a compelling narrative, and an all-too-realistic scenario that builds to a great climax. Recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for a free copy of The Beijing Conspiracy in exchange for an honest review.
Similar titles
Enjoy this? Check out my reviews for other thrillers set in Asia: The Pyongyang Option by A. C. Friedan and Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh. Or see what other spy thrillers I’ve been reading in my 5 Spy Novels You’ll Love post. Feel free to recommend other titles in the comments!