The Expat

by Hansen Shi

A fresh and vivid new voice brings a contemporary edge to the classic espionage novel.

At 26, Princeton grad Michael Wang is trapped. Working at General Motors, he’s straining against the bamboo ceiling, quietly and doggedly at work on a piece of innovative self-driving car technology that he hopes will catapult him out of obscurity. In life he’s dogged by resentment—of the Ivy Leaguers who never accepted him, of a mother and a vanished father who let the very particular gravity of life in America crush them, and of a country that’s eager to perceive him as quiet, complacent and less-than.

But all that changes when one night, on a freelance coding platform, he meets the beautiful and enigmatic Vivian. She’s been admiring Michael’s work from afar, and represents a Beijing-based startup that’s eager to poach him, liberate his ideas from the stifling confines of GM, and help him find success in the wilder, less regulated business environs of China.

For Michael—lonely, ill-used, and unappreciated—it’s no choice at all. But when Vivian vanishes shortly after his arrival in China and the true nature of his new position is made brutally clear, Michael finds himself out of his depth and enmeshed in a dangerous web of industrial espionage and counterintelligence. Caught between two countries that view him as a pawn, where do his loyalties lie?

The Expat brilliantly explores the myth of meritocracy, high-tech immigration, US-China conflicts, identity, and disaffection to ask the question: in the pursuit of self-actualization, who will we betray and how far will we go?

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Espionage, Mystery Thriller, China, Crime

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 2, 2024

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hansen Shi's book received very good reviews so I was happy to learn my local library had it. I expected to be on the edge of my seat reading a thriller or at least a quiet espionage novel but that never happened. The characterization of the protagonist, Michael, felt flat almost like reading the block scenes in a comic strip series. The dialogue is there, you fill in the emotions.

The few women presented remained gauzy and hazy so here too, I tried to imagine more of what I think Shi was writing but it felt tiresome. Situations in which Michael, close to thinking his cover was blown should have had me reading it in one sitting. However, he seemed to accept what his fate could be in a passive way so for me it was just puzzling not an exciting read. Still, Shi is a good writer but I was unmoved and didn't buy into his scenes.

[sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read it cuz i have a very slight and convoluted personal relation to the author.

i do not know how to feel. or maybe i feel too much.

in the end, i can only compare michael, the main character, to the main character of catcher in the rye. he wanders around, driven by pure animal instinct and emotion, with seemingly little to no growth or change beyond regret. while i find his emotions relatable, i feel hollow while watching him struggle.

why must all chinese american men seek to define themselves this way? after reading interior chinatown, i find it a chronic issue that so much of what defines the chinese american experience is shame, humiliation, emasculation, and generational trauma. while these are definitive factors, i'd like something different please.

lastly, what is with these murakami-like ways of writing women. holy shit, even the self awareness of michael acknowledging how much of a misogynist asshole he is isnt enough to make up for me having to read it. asian men do better challenge, impossible.

[John McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a relatively weak ending to his story, the book about Chinese industrial and IP espionage is fascinating, well thought out, and written with a simple elegance that should win points for this writer.

Those, like me, who have spent a lifetime learning about spies, reading spy stories, and learning about clandestine operations will see the holes in his presentation, but that does not negate the thrill of the story this young writer tells. Sadly, what he fictionalizes is based a reality that all of us should recognize and be concerned about.

Good book, good story.

[Jennifer Swain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually had to put this one down for a while (right before the section in which he went to China), since the character was too insufferable. I understand that the author felt he needed to be this way as this was the type of personality susceptible to cons, but meh, he could have been a more interesting, insufferable person. 🤷‍♀️ And the dialogue in the beginning really needed a good editor.

However, the latter half of the book did improve, and there were truly some evocative, well-written moments. The writer’s talented.


P.S. You’ll feel bad for all of the mothers in this book who go ignored, but have to deal with the aftermath of their husbands’ actions.

[Caroline]

page turner but wish he knew how to write women

[rimaaaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I'll find this forgettable long term but it was tiring in the present. The main character is borderline insufferable for a majority of the telling but I wouldn't call this a wholly bad read. There were several genuine, poignant, well written scenes that struck a cord with me. I think by the end none of the espionage portions were all that great for me but the paragraphs depicting scenes of his past and family relations? Those were incredibly strong.

I wasn't expecting to find it to be as relatable as it ended up being. I'm half Japanese and half African American. With an eventually completely absent father and close tie with my mother, I too had those fanciful dreams of finding "something" back in Japan. Completely fanciful as I grew to realize I would always be an "outsider" to both my halves. The guilt in thinking about what my mother gave up in coming to America too was just too real. I have no idea how much of their own background the author put into this work but these aspects were the best parts out of the entire story.

In a way, I'm not sure if my extra level of tiredness comes from my own perceived sense of being "past that point" in my life and I'm not sure how much of my enjoyment came just from personal relatability.

Would still recommend giving a try, fairly fast read.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't want to be cruel about it but this book was horrible.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Expat is an enjoyable read that effortlessly pulls you into a world of corporate espionage and intrigue. Our protagonist, Michael, finds himself in a whirlwind of events that are almost too good to be true. From the outset, his recruitment reeks of a classic honey trap (sans honey?), which should’ve been blatantly obvious to Michael. This almost left me wondering at times, if Vivian, his recruiter, is merely a pawn in a larger game. Almost.

Throughout the narrative, Michael’s journey is almost too smooth, with success served to him on a silver platter, devoid of any significant hurdles or the need for critical thinking. This lack of challenge and the ease with which he obtains high-quality intel should’ve raised suspicion that Michael might be compromised. The fact that Bo, a supposed master spy with the MSS, never suspects Michael has been compromised is a pill that’s hard to swallow. Bo not seeming to suspect anything again almost left me wondering if the FBI was actually feeding Michael their own lies, and that this book was far more complex than I had realized.

Despite these plot conveniences, The Expat remains a captivating read. I had to suspend disbelief for a few hundred pages but was fully able to immerse myself in the world the author crafted. While the narrative could benefit from more complexity and length (I could’ve read on for days), it still manages to provide an entertaining experience. If you’re in the mood for a light, fun spy thriller, this book might just hit the spot.

[Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent debut novel by Hansen Shi. The protagonist, Princeton grad Michael Wang, can be unlikeable but that was by writer’s intent. He’s lost, underappreciated for his talents, and wanting. China will welcome its brethren home and encourage them to foster the motherland’s growth—by stealing US technology. Michael is lured into a honey trap of his own choice by the mysterious and of course beautiful Vivian. Her “uncle” Bo appoints Michael as a senior VP of his fake startup technology capital firm, Naveon. Michael is all-in until he gets nailed by FBI agents and has to bring them Bo, in actuality a high-level Chinese intelligence officer, to evade a long prison sentence. I liked the novel’s presentation of the Chinese perspective. They have a long-held grudge against the West that once humiliated the Middle Kingdom, and they will do what it takes to advance and eventually surpass the West led by the United States. Wang in part justifies his betrayal of his nation by noting America once openly sought to steal European technology in the early years of the Republic. And that’s the major theme of the novel—betrayal, sickening on a monumental scale. This is a novel for our times.

[Emily Carlin]

a bit slow but enjoyed a bit of corporate espionage, different from my normal fare

[Isabella Zanobini · Rating 4 out of 5]

yay great book wish it lasted longer

[Rebecca Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story main character was a whiny misogynistic selfish ass hole.

[Umar Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I do agree with many here that the protagonist came off as very unlikeable, I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book.

[Kashmira Majumdar · Rating 3 out of 5]

god, what a punchable main character. 100/10 no notes.

at first I wasn’t sure if I would like this book. the writing style was stilted and disaffected, and the dialogue unrealistic. not only was everyone insufferable, no one was interesting. every woman was a stereotype, and that too just the outline of one because the reader knows enough to fill in the rest themselves. then I started picking up on the foreshadowing before our main character does and everything starts falling into place.

(to be clear, this is mostly about the characterisation. I checked the author biography and yeah. the writing style is a product of being a man in finance.)

michael is an ivy league grad and big tech employee, invisible to his peers and bosses, and working after hours as a hacker. he gets told at work that he “doesn’t have a degree” and you will not believe the sound I made when I realised this referred to a master’s. carrying the baggage of the failed dreams of his expat parents, michael is an over-educated, overconfident burnout who gives major patrick bateman vibes when describing his daily routine.

and then he’s contacted by a mysterious british woman on the ultra-secret hacker platorm he frequents, and is pipelined into a corporate espionage scheme that actually recognises his talents for a change.

I don’t know if it was the handiwork of the author or if i was picturing qmike’s instagram account the whole time, but there’s is a non-stop yellow-green atmosphere. the pacing is quiet and ticks inexorably on. you can tell where this is going three steps before michael steps on each landmine. the whole book feels claustrophobic and apprehensive. it’s predictable and uses its predictability as a feature, not a bug.

this is the kind of story that can only happen to this kind of main character.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this realistic corporate espionage novel.

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

"As a principle, it's best not to run from reality. Unless it chases you."

I'm not entirely sure what genre this is, but I'll tell you one thing- goodreads lists this as a thriller, and thriller it is not. In fact, it is pretty much the opposite of thrilling. Deeply entrenched inside the head of the protagonist with very little plot, mired in insecurities and false pretention that lead him down a dangerous path. We are presented with a truly insufferable narrator, but of course, that is the point.

Michael feels adrift in his own life, and that fact makes him ripe for the taking from China. He leans incel, both in the actual definition and the general ideology. He has great difficulty connecting to other people partially because of a social awkwardness, but also because he has the unjustified belief that nearly everyone he interacts with is beneath him, which makes them reject him in turn. He has the vague sense that somehow, life has not given him what he is owed (despite, of course, not being owed anything at all). He sees himself as both exceptional and so spiraling in self pity that he drowns himself, making bad decision after bad decision, instead of pulling himself out.

It affects every area of his life- social, familial, professional. At his job in America, he thinks he's a shoe in for a promotion only to be called into the office and essentially scolded for not playing well with others. His indignation at this dressing-down is partially justified- why shouldn't promotions be based solely on tech skills- and the way his boss condescends to him, to me, came off as paternalistic/racist. (It also further alienates himself from America as a home, more on that later.) But on the other side of the coin, he also refuses to acknowledge that getting along with/spending time with others actually is a large part of leadership, and he undervalues these soft skills simply because he doesn't have them. To think himself lacking would break his own self-important conception, so he internally belittles everyone around him for appreciating it.

Another scene that caught my attention- I feel like this could really be the thesis of the entire book- Michael is meeting this "friend" Lawrence at a bar, talking about his dissatisfaction about life- and Lawrence goes on this long tirade of a historical anecdote about how- basically- the US exploited Chinese immigrants for hard labor, and they're still doing the same today, but now they're giving their brains, not their bodies, through Einstein visa like exchanges.

What Lawrence is saying in fact isn't exactly wrong. America, of course, systemically oppresses people of color, finding new iterations for racism and exploitation with every century, every technological advancement beneath the thin veil of social progress. It's the way he presents it the fuels Michael's superiority/incel tendencies. Bo goes on some of these rants about Chinese history too, but I feel like I could get more out of them if I knew more of Chinese history, and was able to read between the lines of how he was presenting it.

Here's the tail end of Michael and Lawrence's interaction. I've probably paraphrased a little too much here but this whole page I'm quoting from is so rife with things to be analyzed:
"So tell me Michael," Lawrence asks, "what kind of Chinaman would you have been, if you had been born a century and a half earlier? A railroad Chinaman, or a gold field Chinaman?"

"Of course I'm a fucking gold field Chinaman," I whisper angrily. Instinctively, I look around again; no one has heard me."

Michael knows what he's saying is wrong, that the whole framework is wrong. Lawrence casually says "us" and "Chinaman" even though he's Korean, it's not his history (but cleverly, the narrative only tells the reader this after Lawrence says the slur) He knows it's wrong, but everything in his life already feels jumbled and wrong, and this gives him the excuse to revel in being the victim, to justify his singular superiority. And through all of this he's still concerned with what others think of him, when he glances nervously around the bar. This is the exact mentality that allows him to be sucked into the Chinese espionage regime, spiting the people at his job and ushering himself into the arms of people more grateful.

And the pathetic thing is that he knows it's fake! He knows he's being taken advantage of, that the want him the data he can mine and nothing else, but he allows himself to be subsumed by the fantasy of being recognized for his talent/intelligence, latching on to every one of Bo's praises like a life line. Towards the end, he's even nervous about how Bo's going to react when he turns him in- he thinks it's a personal betrayal when they preyed on his innermost insecurities to recruit him, when really it's purely professional and Bo does not acknowledge him at all in the aftermath.

Michael is an expat in the truest sense. For a number of reasons- Chinese heritage, racism, social awkwardness, you name it, he's never fit in in America- not in childhood, at college, nor San Francisco where we meet him at the beginning of the novel (besides Australia). It's also this sense of being out of place that lures him to China, he thinks perhaps he'll feel more at home there, the place his parents came from. Instead, he's even more isolated from friends and family, and even though he's pleased with Bo's naked flattery, it's propped up by the fake, surveilled world he's created for him. If this book could be summed up in one phrase, it would be "an imagined nostalgia." He constantly years places/times/relationships that never were, and does desperate things to find them. When one feels adrift from a particular physical place as home, the solution is often to find a home in the people you love, but where next do you turn when you have no close connections at all?

China exploited this in his recruitment with Vivian, if that's even her real name. Again, pulling on those incel-y tendencies, giving him the romantic attention/social clout he's always craved. They go on periodic dates in America, and she strategically falls out of contact for a week or two as if to further pull his interest. She falls in and out of his life with little regularity when she lives in China- like why does she keep coming back to the US if not to recruit him. It's as if she's daring him to point out the improbability of it- knowing he won't because he craves the connection, which helps her sink her claws in further.

Michael's idea that everything around him is fake should be incredibly visceral and frightening, but it's almost more scary that it eventually becomes subsumed by his dominant feeling of detachment, like everything else. The golf simulator was the perfect example- Bo touts it as the language of international business, even though they both know Michael is not a businessman, but a lackey. They're not even actually playing golf, only a simulation. The screen places them in New Jersey, a place that has always felt unreal to him despite having been born there. He likes golf- goes back to the simulator multiple times a week even though he knows it will never amount to anything tangible.

Michael thinks that everyone around him is somehow in on it- all the way from the waitresses of the restaurants he attends to the other tenants of his building, but we're left to wonder if that's really true, or just a manifestation of his paranoia. Continually, the reader is sucked into his accounting of events and then harshly ripped out when they remember who exactly the narrator is. One such time was when he tells Christine to drop the facade, he knows these little nightly dinners are mandated by Bo, and she primly tells him that actually she has not been ordered to do this. He's so self centered, and couldn't possibly imagine anyone, let alone a woman, having her own motivations. So incel of him.

Also- slightly off-topic/unimportant, but I thought Shi really nailed those academic conference scenes, especially the last one at the Princeton reunion. It's the specific details and air of desperation that really convinces you that the author is writing from first-hand experience. The low attendance, the rigid sequence of questioning, the self-importance of the panelists. How usually the questions are pre-screened so as to "avoid anything controversial" ie letting everyone avoid accountability, but mostly stick to their rehearsed talking points and not have to be confronted with anything new. And then there'll be one incendiary e(Hamza in the novel) who calls out one of the panelists thinking it's revolutionary activism, and then the panelist says the requisite number of words to be able to move on and smooth over the disruption. Ripped out of the halls of academia.

I absolutely loved the writing of this. I have been reading SO MANY books lately where the writing has to explain every single little thing to the reader (cough cough Silvercloak, among others) and it was so refreshing to actually have to USE MY BRAIN and read in between the lines. So much is left unsaid, and you can infer so much in the tiny movements, and all of the things that Michael isn't telling us. I know this is a low standard for someone who regularly reads these types of books, but I just found this randomly at the library, so I really wasn't expecting all that much. It was exhilarating, like a breath of fresh air.

The writing really does mirror the character, stilted sentences and very little emotion. It's annoying at first, but that's who Michael is, annoying. lol. It's told in first person, and our main character is telling the whole tale in retrospect. Ostensibly, he's narrating the story to the reader, but he only vaguely makes illusions to the audience, like a random "hear me out," inserted here and there, and you are startled that he remembers you. This is really indicative of Michael, desperately craving connection yet maintaining an emotional distance at all costs. He's trying and failing to connect just like he does with the people in his life. It's fascinating, and such a good job by the author.

Perhaps my only criticism (besides the slow pace) was the ending. It was oddly optimistic in a way that did not match the tone of the rest of the book. Michael briefly goes back to San Francisco to see David's restaurant thriving. He settles down in Australia and teaches coding for people at transition points in their lives, just like him. I don't know, are we really supposed to believe that Michael has found some semblance of satisfaction with life, just because his brush with espionage is over? He vaguely references the possibility of building a family in the future, but that would require a wife. Maybe this is a little too mean, even for a fictional character, but why would he think he has the emotional maturity to have such a deep/long relationship? I certainly don't think he has it.

He offers himself again on Samarkand(?) which I'm pretty sure is a regression, but weans himself off. It then becomes clear why the author needed to do this, when the final line of the novel shows Vivian as active. Literally, why? What is the point of bringing her up again? Her ending was already semi-ambiguous because Michael never finds out what happened to her, beyond the fact that she and Ferris were working together to cool US/Chinese spying. Intentionally open endings like this can sometimes work, but here it just felt like the author wanted to leave off with a bang, and went for a cheap thrill (also very unlike the rest of the novel). What does this mean for Michael? Are they going to reconnect? Is she on there recruiting others? Who knows, and more importantly, who cares.

As you can probably tell, this has really been more analysis than review, except for the end bit there. I just loved picking this novel apart while reading and wanted to write down some of my conclusions. As for the review part, more of my opinion/experience with it- I really loved this book as an intellectual exercise, and little more. It was able to capture my attention because I wanted to analyze it more, but it moved at a glacial pace. As mentioned at the top, there is nothing thrilling about this. The whole point is that Michael is plodding around, adrift, allowing his life to be controlled by others and squandering every exit ramp he gets. It is inherently boring.

That's why I'm struggling to rate this, so for now it's going unrated. I really do see the intellectual merit of this, and I enjoyed picking it apart in that sense, but its actual entertainment value as a story is very little. I was swinging between three, four, and even five, but I just don't know. Maybe I'll figure it out in the future. I was amused but not surprised to learn that the author is a Harvard grad venture capitalist. Seems like the perfect guy for the job. Excited to see what others are saying about this, and hopefully they talk about things I didn't catch.

[Neviot · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are the bones of a terrific thriller here, and I don’t deny I was hooked by the story, the concept, the pacing. But the writing is just a bit off kilter, disjointed, and a little grating so that I found myself trying to read past it to try to understand the characters and emotions. And the main character is really unlikeable. But the exploration of how the Asian American male role has evolved, the main character’s search for his identity - there are definitely moments here that did resonate with me.
-
Quotes:

“For centuries, gold has drawn the Chinese to California like mayflies to lamplight. Like iron shavings to a magnet. We flooded into the ports of Jiu Jin Shan (Old Gold Mountain—what the Chinese called Herb Caen’s Baghdad by the Bay) first on barges, then on planes. After gold, steel. After steel, silicon. That brings us to the present. Remember: we’ve always been looking for gold in San Francisco.”

“I got the sense that many of these men, like me, had come from somewhere else; from other cities, or remote towns, or the countryside, on planes, trains, and automobiles to fracture their past identities in order to be refitted as widgets in the bustling economic machine.”

“The profound depths of this Quiet Man’s fraudulence was nearly biblical and instantly elevated him in my mind to a kind of postmodern mythical hero of Asian America. There was such a sweet spite to his brazen version of the American dream. I relished the fact that he cheated on his own (presumably loyal, unsexy) Chinese wife with a literal stripper. Doesn’t get much more American than that. Even his humble and somewhat folksy given name, “Lou,” is subterfuge; a Chinese character transliterated, the Yellow Peril hiding in plain sight.”

“Somehow, in college and in life more broadly, (Asian x female) seemed to unlock a hidden fast track while (Asian x male) redirected you to the spam box.”

“One of the best things about the Chinese people is that they always want the best for the next generation.”

“When I first came to China I thought, perhaps naïvely, that it would be a place where I could lead a life that would be closer to my “true self,” unencumbered by whatever it ultimately was that kept me at a distance from others in America.”

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommended: eh
For a very quick story, for people who don't know anything about basic cybersecurity or international security and won't see the stupid decisions he makes, for a mopey useless main character who does basically nothing of his own volition

Thoughts:
Maybe it's because I'm familiar with basic cybersecurity practices, but this character seemed like a colossally ignorant idiot and that was tough. xD Now he does at least acknowledge (very late!) that he's aware that some of the things he's being asked to do are illegal, and decides he doesn't really care. Seems to be a bit of hubris, which he is certainly full of. That said, it is kind of interesting to read a story where the main character who is meant to be the "spy" is a clueless idiot. However he's so full of himself and unaware that he's a clueless idiot that I had to watch him brag about how smart and special he is when I as the reader am aware that he is fully wrong. What a dolt.

So he's not my favorite character. The story itself feels pretty small, very contained. There's a specific story being told, and that is what's told. Even though this is a relatively short book, it still sometimes felt like it was dragging since there weren't a lot of major plot points. I'd probably pin it to about 3 total that mattered. The relationship element also felt weak as fuck, as it developed exactly as expected and was basically just a tool to get the main character to take certain actions. I can't be more specific without spoilers, but... meh. There's no romance in this which is fine, but I feel like the relationship was just a mopey irritant to me.

So overall.... this wasn't very exciting or interesting to me. It was okay while I was reading it, but partly because it was so short so it did move pretty quickly. But there was a lot of time just wallowing, and a lot of stupidity from the character (which maybe I can chalk up somewhat to youth and his obvious complexes). Basically this just made me want to go read a different book also called The Expats, by Chris Pavone, that turned me on to the sort of espionage / international spy stuff genre.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh, I thought this was so fun. I read it in under 24 hours, including a restless night where I picked it up every couple of hours & dreamed about it in between. I had the silly feeling reading this, as a reader who infrequently picks up spy books, of "wow, what a great genre!," the same way I feel whenever I read a satisfying mystery or romance or whatever.

Anyway, this obviously moved along quickly and I enjoyed the different settings (particularly SF and Beijing, although the Princeton setting was really funny as someone who has spent like 3 days there - is Nassau Inn thought of as nice/fancy??). I see many found the main character insufferable, but to me he was mostly just sad/pathetic in a way that made him appropriately susceptible to everything that happened to him/that he chose (and I liked his hubris is his GM work). I actually found his incel tendencies to either be a) unpleasant or b) an excellent narrative device that led him to pretty much ignore the women in the book (or c) both) (although his mother devolved into truly JUST a plot device in a way I found silly).

The writing was serviceable (with plenty of good illustrationa of the overuse of adverbs, and odd writing - a favorite of mine was "Lou’s wife of two decades (and the equivalent number of children)" which I'm definitely choosing to read as 20 kids) and I'm sure the plot is quite simple for readers more attuned to the genre. But I found it very satisfying! ugh, even reflecting on this book, silly parts and all, makes me want to read a sequel or prequel or readalike immediately!

[Benjamin Duchek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I host an indie film podcast and as an Army veteran, I'm partial to military stories. Maybe it's nostalgia. Last year, I talked to the creators of a film called "Ranger", where a man who served in the famed 75th Ranger Regiment talked about his stories. And because they didn't have a lot of footage, that was what he did in the film -- against a blue background, he talked about his stories. And the Airsoft cosplay crowd was furious -- you name a film "Ranger" about a guy in the 75th and there's no blood? No shooting? "Get this off my TV", one reviewer wrote.

Thriller/spy genre fans probably feel the same way about "The Expat." There's no chase scenes, no love scenes, no violent scenes! It reads like a venture capitalist working out some of his personal drama in a book. And sign me up, put me on the first bird to China, I'm here for it. If you want books written by former SEALs, they exist and certainly they'll tell you about them. If you want a novel that is way more about Chinese-American neuroses, difficulty relating to women, fear of being left out in school, this is your book.

Hansen Shi's debut novel is something special -- thriller stans, look away -- because of what it's not. More of this, please.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a review that compared this to a certain red-covered book with yellow text,* but, having read that one in high school, college, and full-grown-adult mode, I disagree. This male protagonist is not in high school, not from a wealthy background, and not white. Though he may be disaffected and guileless, and this is a coming of age story [for new adults, I suppose], Michael's world doesn't appear in a hundred other books.

Are you reading about the Gray Man? No! But to my earlier comment, if you:

- have a sense of the Bay, especially before and since the current iteration of Silicon Valley . . .
- went to an Ivy League school, or to a West Coast Ivy League (inside joke), or have a friend who survived one . . .
- are 1st/2nd generation Chinese American or love someone who is . . .
- understand awkward non dates and disappearing friends and the struggle to find your people . . .

You might find yourself in this book.

*Shout out to my fellow kids of English teachers and professors, whose high school reading books were often already on our parents' bookshelves!

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

finished 17th deccember 2024 good read three stars i liked it kindle library loaner first from shi an entertaining "spy" story the focus on an american-born chinese princeton graduate working in san francisco. michael wang is not your six-pak commando born to be a rat-eating force equal to any task presented. first person narrator, the telling is all after the fact, from australia where he has landed. working on self-driving vehicle code while also spending time on some internet place i forget the name of...saragush...saramunde...sapahoopy...something...where he is noticed by chinese mss operatives and the story unfolds to china back to the u.s.a. to an arrest...that gave me pause...something about landing (plane) he was already in the u.a.a. visiting family east coast...so maybe i missed something, was returning to china...land to refuel? anyway...one thing leads to another, additional trips to u.s.a. and he eventually succeeds in a request from u.s.a. law to win his release. thought the princeton reunion curious...a dig at princeton?...events seemed sophomoric and perhaps his continued...awkwardness at social settings was the point. good read.

[Avery · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.75

I really enjoyed it. It’s fun and engaging and did “thrill” me; however, there were too many loose ends and the writing is rather mediocre. The novel is a generously spaced <240 pages and easily could be <200 that without the generous spacing. The timeline of the novel makes no sense and there are important side characters and plot points that go nowhere. I genuinely cannot understand anyone who reads intelligent fiction giving this anything more than a middling review.

I actually read this book because I saw the cover on Pinterest and I also read ‘Asian American Psycho’ on substack which I will now have to go back to reread. I do think he discusses issues of Asian American (male) identity in a very spoon feeding, safe manner. I do think Michael is psychologically complex however Shi is not a skilled enough writer to convey that. The lack of skill is what I think really holds the novel back and I refuse to believe this is the best our Ivy’s (Harvard!) can do. I definitely see the vision and to me the does suggest potential but I regularly read far stronger debuts. That said, I am willing to read another novel written by him.

[Joy Ramlogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

stylish and interesting novel with a vulnerable protagonist, Michael Wang. He is a coder in the less sexy division of General Motors working on the self-driving car. The author's research on the tensions between the US and China on economic IP and the more complicated historical strands that make this conflict interesting are very well set up. Like Michael Wang, I was bewildered at the pace at which Bo and Vivian moved, was not entirely convinced with Michael easy fall into less than skilled spying. As he bumbled along, with sharp observations on the constructed life in Beijing, I truly admired that certain plot lines were left loose. I did not understand the absence of Michael's mom (who had kept him going after the father disappeared) in the narrative. Also, wondered how he so easily was able to live in Australia and why he would be willing to live in Bo's apartment. On the whole, this was an intriguing entrance into the lonely and unhappy world of a spy who unfortunately formed a father son bond with his Chinese spy master then betrays him. very clever.

[Mark Maddrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Nothing is ever completely real, and nothing is ever completely fake” thinks Michael Wang, the protagonist of this novel of deception and lies. Michael is a 26 year old spinning his wheels in the Bay area and the novel follows what happens to him as he is draw into a seductive situation with a start up based in Beijing. What happens from there plays on the resentments and unanswered questions from Michael’s life up to this point and deals with living between two worlds. I thought the book did a fantastic job of showing how Michael was drawn in, something that often feels forced and unrealistic. Here I totally understand why he makes the choices he makes since he doesn’t have the omniscience we have as a reader. The story gets probably a little crazy toward the final third of the book and there is an extended trip back to Princeton, his alma mater, that feels a bit overdone, but all in all I found this intriguing.

[The One and Only Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm this was def interesting.. At first it was your typical corporate pessimism with a good discussion of feelings around loyalty to countries, and then became like spy novel? The IP theft was interesting. I'd say there wasn't much of an arc of anything, plot or character.
Some of the main characters thoughts are interesting but then never really examined or looked backed on with a new understanding. Like, at one point he says "it wasn't until the end of the night that I realized I didn't ask her any questions" which is so real like I appreciated that but then wanted some follow up that we didn't get. Also he was dumb for buying Bo's BS and like destroying his own life for a vague promise.
I did like this one quote:
"A certain degree of betrayal, I've learned as well, WAS inevitable- and looking back, I wonder if I had listened to him closely enough in that moment."

[Courtney Shike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know that I really enjoyed this book because I read it in a few sittings in a single day. I agree with other reviewers that the protagonist was one-dimensional and the depiction of women gave a sense of simplistic misogyny. But I guess I took this as a lens on Michael’s immaturity and flawed thinking. I thought the writing was clear and engaging, and I really, really enjoyed the real-life details about Kellogg, Princeton, SF (and tech), and Beijing — from 798 to Nanluoguxiang to Blue Frog in Sanlitun. It feels like the author has a keen sense and respect for detail. I look forward to his next book.

[Christine Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I’m Being Honest, It Needed Editing
★★★

The Expat opens strong. The first half is tight, well-paced, and structurally sound—enough to earn four stars on story alone. But the writing doesn’t hold. The second half reads like a different draft: looser, flatter, and less confident. Dialogue slips, commas go missing, and filler phrases like “If I’m being honest” and “to be honest” start to pile up. Even “whether or not” shows up, as if the prose were afraid to leave anything implied.

Still, the premise carries weight. Shi’s take on transnational ambition and identity dislocation is compelling, even when the execution falters. Worth reading, but uneven.

[Philip Abboud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend the Expat to anyone looking for a fun read this summer. In his topical, captivating, and lightly satirical first novel, Shi has created a self-contained and tight story that touches on a variety of relevant issues today like corporate espionage, China-US relations, and questions of cultural identity. While billed as a spy thriller, the novel stood out to me more for its look at Michael’s journey in navigating questions of belonging and trust in an increasingly isolated and competitive world. Looking forward to the next book!

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is where I got hooked:

(the main character’s friend explains how the Chinese laborers were abused and exploited in the construction of the transcontinental railroad and says) The punchline is that we didn’t learn our lesson. Only now instead of Central Pacific, it’s . . . only this time what the Chinese who come to California are giving away for pennies on the dollar is the work of their minds, not their limbs.

I just love this novel. Well, that may be an understatement. Fuck the time of Joy Luck Club, when we so wished to be seen good and extended ourselves thin. (I’m not saying JLC was a NG book. I’m pointing out the overall sentiment toward the Asian immigrants that still haunts us)