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. ( )

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? ( )