Overall quite informative, albeit the writing style of the author is at least annoying: the quantity and frequency of question marks is staggering, almost cartoonish- more appropriate for a comic book

Moreover, considering that there is more than a relapse into "gossip about the powerful", maybe the overall content of the book could be kept more balanced if the author were to share the "network maps" that can be derived from the content (maps that he obviously prepared)

Otherwise: it reads more as a XIX century novel that was published on newspapers, than an essay on the recent (mainly, XX century) history of intelligence and counterintelligence in China and by China

A pity, because obviously the author collected a wealth of information, but way too often his comments and gossip background noise makes knowledge snippets lost

Obviously, I am biased, as my interest is on the organizational culture and development of any organization or society

Still, as I wrote at the beginning, it can be informative and helpful to connect threads with XX century history not just in Asia ( )