Adam BrookesRecensioni

Excellent thriller with a completely unexpected twist at the end.
Goes to show that for high-profit everyone is disposable and government is just a tool or stepping stone to reach ones goals. Pretty, pretty scary picture of behind-the-curtains events and how easily do people get discarded because of "inconveniences".

Highly recommended for all thriller enthusiasts.

Espionage in modern China (and UK and USA). More John Le Carre than Ian Fleming.
A plot complex enough that I often felt I was looking at it through a mist.
The phrase "industrial espionage complex" has now entered my vocabulary.

It was very slow for most of the book, and only really picked up the pace near the end. There wasn't anything very exciting that happened, the plot just trudged along without any real twists.

Suspenseful, well-written, and full of the kinds of details about modern espionage that could only be dreamt up by somebody with inside knowledge of what's possible in China today.

Recently randomly won this as a Goodreads Giveaway. What I found compelling enough about the book description to enter the Giveaway was that the main character was Chinese and that I would get a vivid description of the labor camp he escapes from and the China that he escapes into. Unfortunately, there is barely a glimpse of the camp and the escape/flight across China underwhelmed me (largely he hid in a hole then he slept while hidden on a train—then suddenly we’re in the big city). And almost as suddenly the perspective shifts to that of the actual main character—Philip Mangan, a western journalist freelancing in China.

Mangan is not without his charms. As with most of the characters in the book, he is well sketched out. I didn’t doubt the presentation of his working life for a second. Credit the author’s extensive experience with international reporting for delivering these parts of the story so well. The author’s very success with these parts of the book sewed my discontent with the rest. I never quite recovered from Peanut, the labor camp escapee, being put in the backseat. He remains relevant and interesting, but the author’s heart is clearly with Mangan—and who can blame the author for wanting to insert himself into the story (plus the caucasian journalist is the centerpiece of a planned trilogy). But as good as Mangan appears to be at his job, he doesn’t bring much of that skill set to the espionage he takes part in—and he becomes the donut hole at the center of his own story. Peanut and the various intelligence agencies swirling around the central conflict in the book are all quite interesting—their various agendas distilled quite nicely with regards to each agency and even many members within each agency. Yet Mangan seems to be left running in place. I get that the journalist is caught between Peanut and the Eastern/Western intelligence communities determined to capture/exploit the Chinese asset but when Mangan is challenged to be his most interesting he fails to deliver as a character.

The conclusion is exciting though I was not thoroughly satisfied with the mechanics that brought it about. Without providing spoilers, I’ll just say that a Western Intelligence group does one of those stupid things that the TV show LOST IN SPACE always counted on Dr. Smith to do in to create the conflict for that episode. (If no one has ever used the term “Dr. Smithing it” for a nonsensical plot complication then they should be.) Likely I sabotaged my own reading experience by hoping the book would be something it wasn’t—but the author failed to compel me to do anything else.

I liked "Night Heron," but wasn't impressed by this one.

Impressively researched spy story, both in tradecraft and the various exotic locations the characters visit. Sometimes the level of detail can be a bit overwhelming and overly complex, making it hard to come back to the story after a break and try to grasp all the threads again. However the chase sequences are very gripping. At the end I wasn't sure if the supposed good guys were that or really the bad guys...

I didn't realize this was the third in a series of books, but it wasn't necessary to read the first two. I don't usually read spy novels, and this was not a particularly good one in my opinion. The idea of a young girl being used to spy for her Chinese parents who were Chinese agents was intriguing, but didn't keep my interest.½

I don't read many thrillers or spy stories, preferring non-fiction books about espionage, but two friends recommended this one and one lent it to me, and I was spellbound from the first paragraph. Brookes is a fabulous writer, and clearly knows his territories, geographic, emotional, etc.½

The Spy’s Daughter continues the exploits of British journalist Philip Mangan turned secret agent for MI6, his handler Trish Patterson and a host of other characters first met in Night Heron and Spy Games. At the end of Spy Games Mangan and Patterson are left with an unsuccessful mission; their Chinese contact who has been giving them valuable information has been betrayed and captured.

When The Spy’s Daughter opens, Patterson has been exiled to the US where she is a sort of go between with the CIA and FBI. In fact, she is doing busy work that any one could easily do and it seems that she is being barred from working in her field of expertise China. Mangan, meanwhile, is haunted by a last muttered message from the betrayed agent and decides to follow one final thread to a Chinese attorney living in Paramaribo Suriname. He may know something, but what? After watching the attorney’s office for a week, the only thing that piques Mangan’s curiousity are two meetings Teng has with a Chinese American man from Washington DC who is traveling with his wife and daughter. Magnan sees the teenager in the hotel coffee shop, chats with her and is interrupted by the mother who viciously slaps the girl for speaking to a stranger. He manages to slip the girl his card with a whisper that if she ever needs to talk, she can contact him via email

And here is where Mangan and Patterson link up for the crux of the book. Pearl Tao is a nineteen year old genius whose field is Super Artificial Intelligence. She is already considered one of the top experts in the field and is being recruited by multi-global corporations. She is on the radar of intelligence agencies and her parents might be shopping her to darker sponsors. Yet for all her brains, she is still just a teenager with all the doubts and worries of an American college student. When she realizes she is being manipulated and is merely a pawn in a global power game to dominate the field of SAI, she contacts Mangan who contacts Patterson.

Patterson and Mangan try to keep the girl out of the clutches of the shadowy powers who want her knowledge Seems a no brainer that MI6 and the CIA should support their efforts, but they are told to stand down. Who is preventing them from helping Pearl and exposing the people trying to manipulate her? Are there more double agents high in the intelligence community?

This is an intricate novel which connects all strands which were left dangling in Night Heron and Spy Games. It is fast-paced, gritty, and disturbing. It is a story out of today’s headlines.

The author states that this is the last story about Mangan and Patterson. I hope he changes his mind. Or perhaps he can give the back story on one of his most fascinating characters Granny Poon. Please?

This is the story of Peanut a rebel in China who escapes from the reform farm, he used to be a spy for the British and wants to meet up again with his handlers and eventually defect to the West.
I found this book very confusing in places and also boring it failed to engage me, I didn't care for the characters, the plot is Peanut teams up with a British journalist they steal secrets from the Chinese military and are chased by the baddies eventually get away.
I will try and stay away from Spy books in future. Not for me.

This is a great spy thriller, a worthy successor to the great 'Night Heron' by Adam Brookes. Many of the same characters are involved, the story is complex yet not overly so, and the writing is superb. Unfortunately, Mr. Brookes has no back catalog, so I'm now in the position of anxiously awaiting his next novel, whether another installment of this series or any other sort. Let's go, man!

Seriously, this is an exciting novel full of not only exotic characters but also 'everyman' folk with whom readers can identify. I've tried to think of why I've been so impressed with his two stories, and I think part of it (beyond the excellent writing, great plots, intricate spycraft, and fine character development) is that the key protagonists (Mangan and Patterson) are both people that are pretty normal (especially Mangan), with personal foibles, jobs, etc. They just happen to get caught up in the spy game and, believe me, once that happens in these novels you just can't put the books down. Wonderful stuff!

An intelligent story, but didn't hold my interest to the end.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Redhook Books via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

I really liked this novel for its descriptions of contemporary Asia,
but I am not a huge fan of this sort of mystery that brings in so many characters and so many locations that the focus is all on action with no
real time for character development. I would find it virtually impossible to describe most of the characters using words that describe their personalities, rather than their physical appearance or their status and occupation.

If you like le Carre you will love Brookes, who pens modern spy stories with traditional style and panache: a former foreign correspondent who spent years in the Far East, Brookes has an air of unmistakable authenticity in his writing.

Spy Games is the sequel to his debut, Night Heron, and continues the story of Philip Mangan, journalist-cum-spy, who has fled from China to the dusty streets of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Espionage is not a game from which you can retire however, as Philip discovers when he is approached by a Chinese agent known as Rocky.

Trish Patterson from the British Secret Service is his handler, and Mangan is soon back in the fray, running Rocky for the British and trying to discover just how deeply Chinese influence extends in Africa. Naturally there are double crosses and nothing ever goes as smoothly as it should, but that’s what makes this book a winner.

This is the first I've read from Mr Brookes, and I now can't wait to see more. The characters were well developed and the plot was very interesting. A top notch spy novel.

I love a good spy vs spy novel and I’ve been a huge fan of writers such as Robert Ludlum. Night Heron is in this same vein. I found it quite enjoyable.

It begins with a Chinese political prisoner, Peanut, breaking out of the work camp where he’s been confined for 20 years and heading to Beijing. He was an informant for the British government back in the day and he would like to resume that relationship. It’s Peanut versus the Chinese intelligence community.

As Peanut tries to reconstruct his life after being imprisoned for so long, he sets in motion events that get the intelligence agencies in Britain, the United States and China in an uproar. I love this part of espionage novels. I don’t know if what is portrayed is at all realistic but it’s fun to see the behind the scenes running of an operation.

This definitely has a Robert Ludlum-esque feel, the difference being the setting. The cold war era novels of Ludlum felt more familiar because they were set in Europe. This has a more exotic feel, being set in China. Peanut is moving in the really low parts of society so it feels grungy and gritty. It has a lot of atmosphere.

I didn’t have any emotional attachment to Peanut. I didn’t care whether he got caught or not but I did have an emotional attachment to the British journalist he was working with and the journalist’s friends so that was kind of interesting to realize. Peanut just wasn’t a sympathetic character but others in the story were.

I listened to the audiobook version of this and the narrator did a good job with the Chinese dialects.

I received this book in the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program in return for an honest review.

I received a digital audiobook from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. The British reader adds a lot to this thriller. Parts feel like a detailed news report, but it isn't boring. This carefully told tale kept me listening and enjoying it.

I received this book as a free book from Librarything. It was a card that had a code on it that I could use to download the audio book.
I would have read this a lot sooner if just given the book version.
To start off it took me forever to connect to the site and figure out how to download said book.
Then it took another long time before I could figure out how to open the file they sent and download it to my MP3 player.
I love books and reading and am even a fan of audiobooks but this was kind of a pain. There were no instructions and I had to fish around on the internet to figure it all out.

Once I got to the novel itself it was pretty entertaining. Although kind of hard to follow what was going on. Instead of simple little sections it came in 5 2hour blocks and I kept losing my place and having to start over a section.
The narration was good and he did all the characters well but just a little hard to follow.½

Terrible read. The characters aren't all that interesting. The plot isn't compelling. Possibly the most boring start of any spy novel I've read.

**This was an advanced reader copy won through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.**

it was a good spy thriller was moving good and really picked up to the point of couldn't put it down at the end. would recommend it to anybody who likes thrillers. this was a library thing giveaway

A great read!

Well paced, engaging thriller that exposed me to a view of modern China that I've not experienced elsewhere. Recommended.½

Nice modern spy thriller set in China. Escaped prisoner who spied for the Brits makes his way back to Bejing and hooks up with a thoroughly unprepared journalist to act as his cutout give it an old school Cold War feel. Dabbles into the cyber frontier and hints at industrial espionage keep it current. Great first novel. Recommended for any thriller lovers looking for something completely different.

This is a well written book and a great spy story. It moved at measured pace with twists and turns at spots. this is not the type of book I normally read however if was an enjoyable journey.