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Philip Mangan #2
Spy Games
In a world of lies, one man wants the truth.Journalist Philip Mangan is trying to stay out of trouble in East Africa, his reputation and his life in tatters. But when he is caught in a terrorist attack in East Africa and a shadowy Chinese figure approaches him in the dead of night with information on the origins of the attack, Mangan is suddenly back in the eye of the storm.Meanwhile, thousands of miles away on a humid Hong Kong night, a key British Intelligence source is murdered minutes after meeting spy Trish Patterson. From Washington, D.C. to the hallowed halls of Oxford University and dusty African streets, a sinister power is stirring, one which will use Mangan and Patterson as pawns -- if they survive.Deeply steeped in tension and paranoia, Adam Brookes's second novel is a remarkable, groundbreaking spy thriller.
480 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 7, 2015
129 people are currently reading
650 people want to read
About the author
Adam Brookes
8 books177 followersAdam Brookes was born in Canada, but grew up in the UK, in a village in Oxfordshire. In the 1980s, he studied Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and went on to become a journalist, working briefly in magazines before landing a post as a 'copytaster' at the BBC, a job now extinct. Adam became a radio producer at the BBC World Service, and then a foreign correspondent, based first in Indonesia, then China and the United States, where he now lives. Along the way he has reported from some thirty countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea and Mongolia, for BBC television and radio. His latest book is 'Fragile Cargo: The Wartime Race to Save the Treasures of China's Forbidden City', a narrtive non-fiction account of the astonishing jouner taken by China's imperial art collections during the Second World War. 'Fragile Cargo' is out in the UK, and will be published in the USA in Fenrurary 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
December 12, 2015
Following "Night Heron" (a tremendous first novel), journalist Philip Mangan gets pulled deeper into the workings of British intelligence, driven by his need to live on the edge. He certainly gets his fill of the edge in "Spy Games," because he becomes part of a dangerous war between two powerful families within the Chinese establishment. Mangan is approached by a Chinese intelligence colonel (as it turns out) while working as a journalistic stringer in Ethiopia, where a Chinese presence is making itself known, as in the rest of East Africa. The colonel promises a deeper glimpse into the workings of the Chinese power structure than MI6 has ever gotten. Once Mangan dangles this contact to people he knows as conduits to British intelligence, the MI6 response is swift. Despite opposition from within M6 from non-aversive-to-risk types, Valentine Hoppo, an intelligence controller who appeared in "Night Heron," uses her ex-military agent, Patterson, to rope Mangan into working for her. But what do the sources of this new intelligence want in return? What is their end game?
It soon becomes clear, to the reader if not to Mangan, that he is the pawn of two forces: British intelligence and a particular powerful family that is determined to ruin another powerful family, thereby rising in the Chinese power structure. We learn about this while watching what happens to two young college students at Oxford, one from each family. They (male student ,Kai, and the female student, Madeline) are cautiously drawn to each other, but their contact becomes known to their family minders, especially those of the male scion of the family that has contacted the British via Mangan. The novel's points of view range from the Chinese male student, to Mangan, to Mangan's British handler, to an omniscient third person view of the human events in this novel. Other interesting characters appear: "Peanut," the escaped prisoner from "Night Heron," who works for Thai intelligence; the Poon family (the very competent anti-communist mercenary family who work for the British); "Rocky," the Chinese colonel; the Clown (the colonel's chef thug); "NIcole," the seductive penetration agent Chinese intelligence use to gain access to Madeline; and the various members of British intelligence who watch over Mangan, especially Patterson. It is a dizzying mix of plot elements and characters, but it is never less than interesting, and it remains clear throughout, even when confusing to the characters in it.
Mangan is a mixed bag, as major characters go. He is smart and brave, but also shows remarkably poor judgment, and his audacity is often almost throttled by his fear. Like most nonprofessionals roped into working as agents, he is both strong and weak, attractive and maddening, clear and muddled, innocent and a danger to all around him. Adam Brookes remains an author to watch carefully because he understands things about the twilight world of intelligence work that reach to the heights of the work of Eric Ambler and Alan Furst.
It soon becomes clear, to the reader if not to Mangan, that he is the pawn of two forces: British intelligence and a particular powerful family that is determined to ruin another powerful family, thereby rising in the Chinese power structure. We learn about this while watching what happens to two young college students at Oxford, one from each family. They (male student ,Kai, and the female student, Madeline) are cautiously drawn to each other, but their contact becomes known to their family minders, especially those of the male scion of the family that has contacted the British via Mangan. The novel's points of view range from the Chinese male student, to Mangan, to Mangan's British handler, to an omniscient third person view of the human events in this novel. Other interesting characters appear: "Peanut," the escaped prisoner from "Night Heron," who works for Thai intelligence; the Poon family (the very competent anti-communist mercenary family who work for the British); "Rocky," the Chinese colonel; the Clown (the colonel's chef thug); "NIcole," the seductive penetration agent Chinese intelligence use to gain access to Madeline; and the various members of British intelligence who watch over Mangan, especially Patterson. It is a dizzying mix of plot elements and characters, but it is never less than interesting, and it remains clear throughout, even when confusing to the characters in it.
Mangan is a mixed bag, as major characters go. He is smart and brave, but also shows remarkably poor judgment, and his audacity is often almost throttled by his fear. Like most nonprofessionals roped into working as agents, he is both strong and weak, attractive and maddening, clear and muddled, innocent and a danger to all around him. Adam Brookes remains an author to watch carefully because he understands things about the twilight world of intelligence work that reach to the heights of the work of Eric Ambler and Alan Furst.
July 13, 2018
PLAYER OR PAWN.
“Ensuring the security of the state through effective measures against enemy agents, spies, and counter-revolutionary activities designed to sabotage or overthrow China's socialist system." – Official mission statement of the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Family. For a culture which prides itself on family loyalty and strong ties, not even Chinese families are immune to the wretchedness of human nature. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and social/political upheaval, the traditional family structure on the mainland had taken a battering and under the Maoist tenure, it was encouraged by family members to stab each other in the back for the service of the great Helmsman. As a result, compared to the overseas Chinese diaspora, specifically the ones who have lived their lives outside of the PRC, the Mainland Chinese are far less unified or willing to stick their necks out for their relations in a life or death situation. But what would make one betray flesh and blood?
That’s the centrepiece of novelist Adam Brooke’s second thriller on modern China, “Spy Games.” Brookes is an author who has written what are possibly the three finest spy thrillers focusing on Modern China and the geopolitical issues that have arisen with its transformation from supersized Communist hell hole, to a modern, cut throat State – Capitalist economic giant. Over his three books, we follow the journey of a British SIS asset by the name of Magan whose life intersects with a female SIS officer, Patterson and her superior, the manipulative Hopko who is in charge of Britain’s covert wars against China and its Ministry of State Security. In “Spy Games”, this war comes home in a big way as a new, up and coming spymaster seeks to settle accounts with those that ruined his family back in the cultural revolution, by targeting a member of that family studying in the most prestigious university in Europe. Now to the review. Can a wronged man with good intentions avoid the road paved to hell?
The novel begins during a struggle session during the Cultural Revolution in 1967. A man is being abused and heckled by a mob that’s been driven to near insanity. They torture him by making him repeatedly kneel on broken glass and make him give up the name of an innocent acquaintance. He leaves the struggle session to an uncertain doom, with some regret that his sin will never be forgotten. We then cut to the present day in Hong Kong. SIS officer Trish Patterson is heading off to meet an asset who manages the financial affairs of the CCP’s top echelon in Beijing. It’s a dark foreboding opening with a category 3 Typhoon bearing down on Hong Kong Island. The dread increases upon meeting the asset. Patterson tries to get him to safety, but the man bluntly reveals that he’s been burned, the people who did the burning were from Beijing, and that they wish to contact Patterson personally.
Suddenly a team of mysterious operatives materializes, and Patterson takes one down during her successful escape. Returning to Legoland, she learns that her asset managed the near impossible feat of ending up under an MTR train, a development which panics the middle managers of the SIS. In Ethiopia, Philip Mangan, the journalist who has pissed off the Ministry of State Security for getting one over them, a year ago, is hiding and busying himself as an independent journo. His efforts at returning to civilian life are derailed by a terrorist bombing and the sudden appearance of a jolly, enigmatic Chinese man in his life. The man offers him the chance to investigate the bombing further, under the condition he begin moving back down the same espionage rabbit hole Mangan managed to climb out of. And in Oxford University, the somewhat melancholic Princeling, Fan KaiKai, finds himself being stalked by a sinister presence and a sense of dread as his involvement with Madeline Chen, a fellow Princeling with an axe to grind deepens. All these threads come together in a glorious cyclone of tumultuous political upheaval in China as the most violent inter – elite factional fighting ever to face the Chinese Communist Party commences. Unexpected friends are made. Enemies go in for the killing blow, and from London to Ethiopia and Myanmar, a conspiracy begun with very good intentions begins to drag those surrounding it along the road to hell. And soon, only one question will remain. Can the righteous win when playing a game for spies?
In Terms of plot, Spy Games is a major improvement over the first book and is quite epic in scope. The pace in this story is a bit faster, with the pace of gambits and mind games picking up steam until the backstabbing and gambits is at a near frenzy. The narrative lives up to its title with competing shell games playing out between everyone from the MSS and PLA Second Directorate and even the SIS gets into the act, with all these institutions using the protagonists as human pawns, ones that get battered and scratched as the story reaches its climax. The author also examines some fascinating themes in this story that are very relevant to current affairs. Whether it be the true power of China’s soft power to eclipse the influence of the West in the Post – Colonial Third World, the new dynamics between the enriched Chinese elite, the old school malicious human nature that causes things to boil over in the post Maoist era, and even the love hate relationship the West and the PRC have with each other where realpolitik will keep kicking the stuffing out of righteous morality ever single time, Spy Games explores this and more with a nuanced, cold maturity that simultaneously makes the narrative rise into a class of its own.
Action and setting? A bit more action than in the previous book, although no one will ever mistake this for a violent romp of the kind Mark Greaney writes. Highlights include the opening asset rendezvous on Hong Kong Island that goes pear shaped, a spectacular counter – terrorist operation in Ethiopia, a synchronized kidnapping in London and the heart of Beijing and a final climax on the Myanmar – Chinese border where those with good intentions reach the end of the line. The backdrops the events of the story take place are a strength of the book. Whether it be a southern Hong Kong apartment building, the decadent and opulent homes of China’s new rulers, or the wild free zone on the Chinese – Thai/Myanmar borderlands, Brookes picks some very impressive stages for the backdrop of his second novel. A particular highlight is Ethiopia which the author captures perfectly. This is not the starving hell – hole run by psychotic Marxists whose crimes inspired one of the great private humanitarian initiatives. Instead, it’s a stable, semi – authoritarian state that has signed on the dotted line and opened up to Chinese investment in everything from transport infrastructure, to modern electronic surveillance technology. The book uses this as a sign of things to come with China making its own mark on the world and erasing the one made by former Western colonial powers whose time in the sun has passed.
Research? Outstanding. This is one of the best researched spy novels I have ever read and has so many highlights. A major highlight is the trauma of the cultural revolution on the Chinese Nation and how successive generations have been denied the chance to come to terms with the wasteful tragedy that nearly destroyed the modern China. Brookes also points out how there will never really be any sort of absolution for the sins that occurred because so many people, whether it be the leadership, ordinary people who didn’t know any better and partook in the bloodshed, or the victims who gave up others in a usually futile effort to save themselves, are all complicit in what went down. So the ones who made it to the end, have resorted to taking solace in the materialistic present and a glorious nationalistic future. Another highlight is an examination of the inter – elite power plays among China’s rulers and the scandalous excesses that are only now finally being curtailed under the Xi Jingping regime. It’s this money which along with the mutually bonding violent oppression is what keeps the PRC’s Standing Committee seeing the big picture in a world where Maoism is long since morally bankrupt.
Finally, there is a further exploration of spying in China. In this case, we have a look at the contemporary MSS tactics such as the use of overseas Chinese Assets and contractors from, say Taiwan or Hong Kong to conduct spying where a boorish mainlander would stick out like a sore thumb. We also get a look at the little-known component of the Chinese intelligence community, namely the PLA Second Department. Few people know about this important organization which is responsible for ticking off the items on China’s military technology “shopping list.” As such, it’s a major player which in this story, engages in a ruthless inter – service faction fight with the MSS. Finally, we have a fantastic look at the real life capabilities of the UK SIS. One of the best bits of the novel features “E Squadron”. Contrary to official statements, the SIS does have a paramilitary team like the American Special Activities Division. In this case however, Vauxhall Cross was sneaky and hid it inside the SAS. Formerly known as “The Increment”, E Squadron is called in during the climax to provide muscle for an ad hoc asset extraction with Mangan and a major conspirator running for their lives with a team of MSS officers nipping at their heels.
Characters? Many, many standouts, much more than the previous book. But I’ll focus on three. Fan Kaikai, Rocky Shi and the Chens. First, Fan. Fan Kaikai is the heir apparent to the Fan dynasty which runs a firm that is basically Huawei with the serial numbers filed off. A somewhat melancholic chap who despite being groomed to become the king of China’s technology sector, is somewhat dissatisfied with the luxurious trappings of life. However he’s knocked out of his rut by the arrival of the granddaughter of a family friend. He and this granddaughter begin to explore the skeletons in their family closet and begin to work out the issues between their clans. His scenes are some of the most intense and harrowing, particularly when he revisits his Grandfather’s diary which is heavily embellished, except for one page of tragic honesty and regrets. Fan’s earnestness and attempts to mend bridges for his family’s sins are quite touching and you will feel great sympathy for him when they all come to naught. But his arc ends in one of the most satisfying places you won’t see coming.
Next, we have Rocky Shi. Rocky is an incredibly smug Chinese military intelligence officer who barrels into Philip Magnan’s life like a clown fired from a cannon. Highly enigmatic and devious, as one of the players in the titular spy game, he turns Magnan into his playing card, manipulating our journalist with consummate skill. But behind the faux affability, lies a much more sympathetic, figure who has long since grown disgruntled with the opportunities of the Post Deng Xiaoping era being squandered by a ruling class that has long since decided to stop “serving the people” in the way that the original CCP activists aspired towards doing. Ultimately he meets a tragic end with murderous realpolitik systematically dashing his hopes and dreams for his country, but until then, his character arc and downfall is some of the most compelling in the book, where one will go from loathing his hubristic sleaze, to having pity for his ignoble fate.
Finally, we have General Chen. The most enigmatic figure of the story, he’s the nominal bad guy of the story. As the man in charge of the PLA second department, General Chen is one of the most powerful members of the Chinese intelligence community, and one who even terrifies the heads of the other services. As a black hole whose past has long since been forgotten by the public and his superiors, Chen’s past drives the narrative of Spy Games. And let me tell you, it’s one tragic backstory, only known to his surviving offspring and henchmen. They say a man’s character is his fate and the same can be said for Chen, who has good intentions and wants to make some very bad people pay, but who ultimately fails due to being blinded by the sin of righteous wrath. Despite not even appearing in the story, Brookes milks the build-up for all it’s worth and creates a spectre who hangs over the story like a sword of Damocles that falls in the final chapters.
Constructive criticism? Not much really. I would have loved at least one chapter from the Chen’s perspective, namely their fall, rise and fall again. The enigmatic General Chen surely deserved at least one inner monologue because while I understand Brookes is going for the coolly realistic approach with no last-minute baddie conversation, the build up was most anticlimactic.
So, Spy Games. My verdict is this. Adam Brookes has written an epic, contemporary spy fiction masterpiece. A story that focuses on the most important country on earth, the realpolitik behind our relations with it and the struggle to come to terms with its growing power. A tale that crosses generations and explores one of the great national betrayals in world history. Spy Games explores how that history and those sins, if unforgiven can motivate men and women with righteous intentions to do terrible things. The author handles his subject matter with deft skill and nuance, exploring a variety of very deep and dark themes that haven’t been seen enough in contemporary spy fiction. The narrative is outstanding and complex. The actions and settings are phenomenal and fully realized. And the characters, their interactions and arcs? The best in recent memory. Having survived his time as a pawn in the game, Managan isn’t done yet with travelling further down the rabbit hole. There’s a spy’s daughter on the loose and he’ll need to find her to make a final exit.
Recommended.
“Ensuring the security of the state through effective measures against enemy agents, spies, and counter-revolutionary activities designed to sabotage or overthrow China's socialist system." – Official mission statement of the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Family. For a culture which prides itself on family loyalty and strong ties, not even Chinese families are immune to the wretchedness of human nature. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and social/political upheaval, the traditional family structure on the mainland had taken a battering and under the Maoist tenure, it was encouraged by family members to stab each other in the back for the service of the great Helmsman. As a result, compared to the overseas Chinese diaspora, specifically the ones who have lived their lives outside of the PRC, the Mainland Chinese are far less unified or willing to stick their necks out for their relations in a life or death situation. But what would make one betray flesh and blood?
That’s the centrepiece of novelist Adam Brooke’s second thriller on modern China, “Spy Games.” Brookes is an author who has written what are possibly the three finest spy thrillers focusing on Modern China and the geopolitical issues that have arisen with its transformation from supersized Communist hell hole, to a modern, cut throat State – Capitalist economic giant. Over his three books, we follow the journey of a British SIS asset by the name of Magan whose life intersects with a female SIS officer, Patterson and her superior, the manipulative Hopko who is in charge of Britain’s covert wars against China and its Ministry of State Security. In “Spy Games”, this war comes home in a big way as a new, up and coming spymaster seeks to settle accounts with those that ruined his family back in the cultural revolution, by targeting a member of that family studying in the most prestigious university in Europe. Now to the review. Can a wronged man with good intentions avoid the road paved to hell?
The novel begins during a struggle session during the Cultural Revolution in 1967. A man is being abused and heckled by a mob that’s been driven to near insanity. They torture him by making him repeatedly kneel on broken glass and make him give up the name of an innocent acquaintance. He leaves the struggle session to an uncertain doom, with some regret that his sin will never be forgotten. We then cut to the present day in Hong Kong. SIS officer Trish Patterson is heading off to meet an asset who manages the financial affairs of the CCP’s top echelon in Beijing. It’s a dark foreboding opening with a category 3 Typhoon bearing down on Hong Kong Island. The dread increases upon meeting the asset. Patterson tries to get him to safety, but the man bluntly reveals that he’s been burned, the people who did the burning were from Beijing, and that they wish to contact Patterson personally.
Suddenly a team of mysterious operatives materializes, and Patterson takes one down during her successful escape. Returning to Legoland, she learns that her asset managed the near impossible feat of ending up under an MTR train, a development which panics the middle managers of the SIS. In Ethiopia, Philip Mangan, the journalist who has pissed off the Ministry of State Security for getting one over them, a year ago, is hiding and busying himself as an independent journo. His efforts at returning to civilian life are derailed by a terrorist bombing and the sudden appearance of a jolly, enigmatic Chinese man in his life. The man offers him the chance to investigate the bombing further, under the condition he begin moving back down the same espionage rabbit hole Mangan managed to climb out of. And in Oxford University, the somewhat melancholic Princeling, Fan KaiKai, finds himself being stalked by a sinister presence and a sense of dread as his involvement with Madeline Chen, a fellow Princeling with an axe to grind deepens. All these threads come together in a glorious cyclone of tumultuous political upheaval in China as the most violent inter – elite factional fighting ever to face the Chinese Communist Party commences. Unexpected friends are made. Enemies go in for the killing blow, and from London to Ethiopia and Myanmar, a conspiracy begun with very good intentions begins to drag those surrounding it along the road to hell. And soon, only one question will remain. Can the righteous win when playing a game for spies?
In Terms of plot, Spy Games is a major improvement over the first book and is quite epic in scope. The pace in this story is a bit faster, with the pace of gambits and mind games picking up steam until the backstabbing and gambits is at a near frenzy. The narrative lives up to its title with competing shell games playing out between everyone from the MSS and PLA Second Directorate and even the SIS gets into the act, with all these institutions using the protagonists as human pawns, ones that get battered and scratched as the story reaches its climax. The author also examines some fascinating themes in this story that are very relevant to current affairs. Whether it be the true power of China’s soft power to eclipse the influence of the West in the Post – Colonial Third World, the new dynamics between the enriched Chinese elite, the old school malicious human nature that causes things to boil over in the post Maoist era, and even the love hate relationship the West and the PRC have with each other where realpolitik will keep kicking the stuffing out of righteous morality ever single time, Spy Games explores this and more with a nuanced, cold maturity that simultaneously makes the narrative rise into a class of its own.
Action and setting? A bit more action than in the previous book, although no one will ever mistake this for a violent romp of the kind Mark Greaney writes. Highlights include the opening asset rendezvous on Hong Kong Island that goes pear shaped, a spectacular counter – terrorist operation in Ethiopia, a synchronized kidnapping in London and the heart of Beijing and a final climax on the Myanmar – Chinese border where those with good intentions reach the end of the line. The backdrops the events of the story take place are a strength of the book. Whether it be a southern Hong Kong apartment building, the decadent and opulent homes of China’s new rulers, or the wild free zone on the Chinese – Thai/Myanmar borderlands, Brookes picks some very impressive stages for the backdrop of his second novel. A particular highlight is Ethiopia which the author captures perfectly. This is not the starving hell – hole run by psychotic Marxists whose crimes inspired one of the great private humanitarian initiatives. Instead, it’s a stable, semi – authoritarian state that has signed on the dotted line and opened up to Chinese investment in everything from transport infrastructure, to modern electronic surveillance technology. The book uses this as a sign of things to come with China making its own mark on the world and erasing the one made by former Western colonial powers whose time in the sun has passed.
Research? Outstanding. This is one of the best researched spy novels I have ever read and has so many highlights. A major highlight is the trauma of the cultural revolution on the Chinese Nation and how successive generations have been denied the chance to come to terms with the wasteful tragedy that nearly destroyed the modern China. Brookes also points out how there will never really be any sort of absolution for the sins that occurred because so many people, whether it be the leadership, ordinary people who didn’t know any better and partook in the bloodshed, or the victims who gave up others in a usually futile effort to save themselves, are all complicit in what went down. So the ones who made it to the end, have resorted to taking solace in the materialistic present and a glorious nationalistic future. Another highlight is an examination of the inter – elite power plays among China’s rulers and the scandalous excesses that are only now finally being curtailed under the Xi Jingping regime. It’s this money which along with the mutually bonding violent oppression is what keeps the PRC’s Standing Committee seeing the big picture in a world where Maoism is long since morally bankrupt.
Finally, there is a further exploration of spying in China. In this case, we have a look at the contemporary MSS tactics such as the use of overseas Chinese Assets and contractors from, say Taiwan or Hong Kong to conduct spying where a boorish mainlander would stick out like a sore thumb. We also get a look at the little-known component of the Chinese intelligence community, namely the PLA Second Department. Few people know about this important organization which is responsible for ticking off the items on China’s military technology “shopping list.” As such, it’s a major player which in this story, engages in a ruthless inter – service faction fight with the MSS. Finally, we have a fantastic look at the real life capabilities of the UK SIS. One of the best bits of the novel features “E Squadron”. Contrary to official statements, the SIS does have a paramilitary team like the American Special Activities Division. In this case however, Vauxhall Cross was sneaky and hid it inside the SAS. Formerly known as “The Increment”, E Squadron is called in during the climax to provide muscle for an ad hoc asset extraction with Mangan and a major conspirator running for their lives with a team of MSS officers nipping at their heels.
Characters? Many, many standouts, much more than the previous book. But I’ll focus on three. Fan Kaikai, Rocky Shi and the Chens. First, Fan. Fan Kaikai is the heir apparent to the Fan dynasty which runs a firm that is basically Huawei with the serial numbers filed off. A somewhat melancholic chap who despite being groomed to become the king of China’s technology sector, is somewhat dissatisfied with the luxurious trappings of life. However he’s knocked out of his rut by the arrival of the granddaughter of a family friend. He and this granddaughter begin to explore the skeletons in their family closet and begin to work out the issues between their clans. His scenes are some of the most intense and harrowing, particularly when he revisits his Grandfather’s diary which is heavily embellished, except for one page of tragic honesty and regrets. Fan’s earnestness and attempts to mend bridges for his family’s sins are quite touching and you will feel great sympathy for him when they all come to naught. But his arc ends in one of the most satisfying places you won’t see coming.
Next, we have Rocky Shi. Rocky is an incredibly smug Chinese military intelligence officer who barrels into Philip Magnan’s life like a clown fired from a cannon. Highly enigmatic and devious, as one of the players in the titular spy game, he turns Magnan into his playing card, manipulating our journalist with consummate skill. But behind the faux affability, lies a much more sympathetic, figure who has long since grown disgruntled with the opportunities of the Post Deng Xiaoping era being squandered by a ruling class that has long since decided to stop “serving the people” in the way that the original CCP activists aspired towards doing. Ultimately he meets a tragic end with murderous realpolitik systematically dashing his hopes and dreams for his country, but until then, his character arc and downfall is some of the most compelling in the book, where one will go from loathing his hubristic sleaze, to having pity for his ignoble fate.
Finally, we have General Chen. The most enigmatic figure of the story, he’s the nominal bad guy of the story. As the man in charge of the PLA second department, General Chen is one of the most powerful members of the Chinese intelligence community, and one who even terrifies the heads of the other services. As a black hole whose past has long since been forgotten by the public and his superiors, Chen’s past drives the narrative of Spy Games. And let me tell you, it’s one tragic backstory, only known to his surviving offspring and henchmen. They say a man’s character is his fate and the same can be said for Chen, who has good intentions and wants to make some very bad people pay, but who ultimately fails due to being blinded by the sin of righteous wrath. Despite not even appearing in the story, Brookes milks the build-up for all it’s worth and creates a spectre who hangs over the story like a sword of Damocles that falls in the final chapters.
Constructive criticism? Not much really. I would have loved at least one chapter from the Chen’s perspective, namely their fall, rise and fall again. The enigmatic General Chen surely deserved at least one inner monologue because while I understand Brookes is going for the coolly realistic approach with no last-minute baddie conversation, the build up was most anticlimactic.
So, Spy Games. My verdict is this. Adam Brookes has written an epic, contemporary spy fiction masterpiece. A story that focuses on the most important country on earth, the realpolitik behind our relations with it and the struggle to come to terms with its growing power. A tale that crosses generations and explores one of the great national betrayals in world history. Spy Games explores how that history and those sins, if unforgiven can motivate men and women with righteous intentions to do terrible things. The author handles his subject matter with deft skill and nuance, exploring a variety of very deep and dark themes that haven’t been seen enough in contemporary spy fiction. The narrative is outstanding and complex. The actions and settings are phenomenal and fully realized. And the characters, their interactions and arcs? The best in recent memory. Having survived his time as a pawn in the game, Managan isn’t done yet with travelling further down the rabbit hole. There’s a spy’s daughter on the loose and he’ll need to find her to make a final exit.
Recommended.
October 27, 2015
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!
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!
January 4, 2025
This was so well done. I was up until 2 am last night because I needed to know how it would end. A very satisfying literary espionage thriller for those discerning readers, like yours truly, who love this genre and genuinely appreciate it when an author just nails it. I look forward to the next book in the series. Cheers!
December 27, 2016
Like the first book, this has lots of exciting tradecraft and a cinematic plot ripped efficiently from contemporary headlines and geopolitics. Also like the first book, this grounded-ness slips away in the final pages in favor of a larger hinted conspiracy that isn't fully delivered on and seems out of place with the initial more limited, realist approach. Will have to see if the author is able to tie those larger strands together satisfactorily in a third book.
December 25, 2017
I truly enjoy the main character, Philip Mangan, in the Adam Brookes' Mangan series. He is kind of an average guy --highly intelligent, and a bit of his rocker-- but just a journalist who gets sucked into the middle of it all. Into the thick of the situation.
Chatter indicates there is an ancient family feud coming to a head. The Fans against the Chens. Two groups scrambling for control. The battlefield is more than just their home country. Their war can influence the economy of the entire planet.
China is coming apart at the seams. Unglued. A college boy's, a Fen, dormroom in broken into. His laptop is swiped. It would seem an innocent enough crime, a theft, to most anyone. What makes it more suspicious is who the kid is. Or not exactly that, but who his family is, that raises red flags. And then a Chen girl, Madeline, goes missing. Time is running out. A play is in motion. But who, what, when, where, and why are all so unclear!
The United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service has someone who can get to the bottom of things. Philip Mangan is officially brought in as an agent, a spy. And he is sent back across the ocean to China to work with old contacts to get to the bottom of the mess before it is too late.
A maze of names, and places, and plots SPY GAMES is intense, and gripping. The writing is crisp, and clean. The characters are full of dimensions and flavor. The suspense begins coiling tight at the start, and only gets more tight after each chapter until it finally explodes at the end.
SPY GAMES was a fast, fun, and scary read. Cannot wait to start the third book in the saga!
Philliop Tomasso
Author of Absolute Zero
and Damn the Dead
Chatter indicates there is an ancient family feud coming to a head. The Fans against the Chens. Two groups scrambling for control. The battlefield is more than just their home country. Their war can influence the economy of the entire planet.
China is coming apart at the seams. Unglued. A college boy's, a Fen, dormroom in broken into. His laptop is swiped. It would seem an innocent enough crime, a theft, to most anyone. What makes it more suspicious is who the kid is. Or not exactly that, but who his family is, that raises red flags. And then a Chen girl, Madeline, goes missing. Time is running out. A play is in motion. But who, what, when, where, and why are all so unclear!
The United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service has someone who can get to the bottom of things. Philip Mangan is officially brought in as an agent, a spy. And he is sent back across the ocean to China to work with old contacts to get to the bottom of the mess before it is too late.
A maze of names, and places, and plots SPY GAMES is intense, and gripping. The writing is crisp, and clean. The characters are full of dimensions and flavor. The suspense begins coiling tight at the start, and only gets more tight after each chapter until it finally explodes at the end.
SPY GAMES was a fast, fun, and scary read. Cannot wait to start the third book in the saga!
Philliop Tomasso
Author of Absolute Zero
and Damn the Dead
December 27, 2015
This book was not catching. I tried twice to get into it but both times I just couldn’t stay with the characters, or in the world. actually some of them were kind of annoying. this was disappointing because I absolutely love crime novels and spy books.
December 21, 2016
I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
I found the characters very bland and difficult to relate too.
The story itself was slow and in places could send you to sleep without any problems.
I found the characters very bland and difficult to relate too.
The story itself was slow and in places could send you to sleep without any problems.
August 23, 2021
Disappointed and surprised. While I found the writing, at times, somewhat cheap and poppy, the plot was very elaborate and quite interesting. I would be lying if I said I was not engaged. I also appreciated the authenticity of the spy craft, geopolitical developments, China’s inroads to Africa, and the realistic ending of the whole debacle.
I was hoping for another John le Care, but I will still read the Sequel.
I was hoping for another John le Care, but I will still read the Sequel.
August 29, 2016
I received a review copy of this book as part of a blogtour.
Fearing for his life, journalist Philip Mangan has gone into hiding from Chinese agents who have identified him as a British spy. but when he is caught in a terrorist attack in East Africa and a shadowy figure approaches him in the dead of night with information on the atrocity, Mangan is thrown back into the eye of the storm...
The book comes bearing a quote from modern master of the spy genre Charles Cumming, and also with the comparisons to Le Carré which are inevitable for anything in the espionage field these days.
In one sense they're apt, in that like those other books this is very good writing, gripping, page-turning, thought provoking. Brookes is, you feel, a total master of his material. He knows what he's doing, he understands the world he has created and his characters, he takes the time and space needed to set things out, then he closes the trap. Everything convinces, right from the start.
Yet I think they're also misleading. In terms of antecedents, this book suggested something older to me. In its relation to a vaguely menacing background of geopolitics (the scramble for East Africa, the direction of China) and in the central character, at-a-loose-end Philip Mangan, clearly bored rigid, itching for adventure, I was drawn to a comparison with John Buchan. No, the book isn't about a bunch of tweedy men anxious for the fate of the Empire (in fact in a quote from - of all people - Richard Murphy, Brookes makes it clear that he has no sympathy for the sleazy financial webs that have succeeded the Empire).
But then nor was Buchan. Those were at heart spiritual books, always seeking - behind their "shocker" plots - some kind of moral centre, some sense of completion, for the protagonist, albeit then he was usually to be found suffering from ennui as he kicked his heels in the gentlemen's clubs of Mayfair. Mangan, by contrast, seeks a life of adventure in Africa as a journalist. But he's frustrated at not being able to get close to the big stories and he looks back with longing (as well as fear) at whatever it was happened earlier in China (I hadn't read Brookes' previous book Night Heron but will obviously have to now). So when a mysterious Chinese colonel appears, offering to whisper secrets in his ear, it doesn't take Mangan long to accept that he's back in the game, to almost casually shrug off Maja, the Danish nurse who's interested in him, to casually note how he's placing her and his Ethiopian friend Hallelujah in danger by associating with them - but not to warn them - and to get himself in deep, deep trouble.
Just like Richard Hannay.
The events in Ethiopia are linked to what at first seems almost a sweet story of two young Chinese students at Oxford. They come from rival families of kleptocrats and both have hard-eyed minders to keep them apart. Will love - or even lust - conquer all? What will happen if it does?
As things speed up we get detailed and, to me, convincing account of Mangan's crash training as a spy: plenty of glimpses of life at Vauxhall Cross, the home of MI6 (the building you saw blown up in the last Bond film, and the one before that) and lots of satisfying thriller-y jargon.
But to me, despite the modern dressing, here we have a modern Richard Hannay preparing for his trip across Germany in wartime to hunt Greenmantle. And I mean that as a sincere compliment - for sheer, compelling writing I don't think any writer has beaten Buchan but if anyone comes close, it's Brookes.
In the end, Mangan remains something of an enigma, as do Patterson, his cool, competent minder and even Valentina Hopko, her controller. In these three, Brookes has I think developed a superb triad of competent, dangerous people (oh, I do like competent, dangerous people - in books!) and stirred things up between them just enough that - together with hints of dark secrets to be revealed - there is bound to be trouble looming in future. (And I trust some of the others come back too: sinister Nicole, for example).
I hope that trouble comes soon because, as with the best books, I really didn't want this one to end, I just wanted to keep reading and reading...
Fearing for his life, journalist Philip Mangan has gone into hiding from Chinese agents who have identified him as a British spy. but when he is caught in a terrorist attack in East Africa and a shadowy figure approaches him in the dead of night with information on the atrocity, Mangan is thrown back into the eye of the storm...
The book comes bearing a quote from modern master of the spy genre Charles Cumming, and also with the comparisons to Le Carré which are inevitable for anything in the espionage field these days.
In one sense they're apt, in that like those other books this is very good writing, gripping, page-turning, thought provoking. Brookes is, you feel, a total master of his material. He knows what he's doing, he understands the world he has created and his characters, he takes the time and space needed to set things out, then he closes the trap. Everything convinces, right from the start.
Yet I think they're also misleading. In terms of antecedents, this book suggested something older to me. In its relation to a vaguely menacing background of geopolitics (the scramble for East Africa, the direction of China) and in the central character, at-a-loose-end Philip Mangan, clearly bored rigid, itching for adventure, I was drawn to a comparison with John Buchan. No, the book isn't about a bunch of tweedy men anxious for the fate of the Empire (in fact in a quote from - of all people - Richard Murphy, Brookes makes it clear that he has no sympathy for the sleazy financial webs that have succeeded the Empire).
But then nor was Buchan. Those were at heart spiritual books, always seeking - behind their "shocker" plots - some kind of moral centre, some sense of completion, for the protagonist, albeit then he was usually to be found suffering from ennui as he kicked his heels in the gentlemen's clubs of Mayfair. Mangan, by contrast, seeks a life of adventure in Africa as a journalist. But he's frustrated at not being able to get close to the big stories and he looks back with longing (as well as fear) at whatever it was happened earlier in China (I hadn't read Brookes' previous book Night Heron but will obviously have to now). So when a mysterious Chinese colonel appears, offering to whisper secrets in his ear, it doesn't take Mangan long to accept that he's back in the game, to almost casually shrug off Maja, the Danish nurse who's interested in him, to casually note how he's placing her and his Ethiopian friend Hallelujah in danger by associating with them - but not to warn them - and to get himself in deep, deep trouble.
Just like Richard Hannay.
The events in Ethiopia are linked to what at first seems almost a sweet story of two young Chinese students at Oxford. They come from rival families of kleptocrats and both have hard-eyed minders to keep them apart. Will love - or even lust - conquer all? What will happen if it does?
As things speed up we get detailed and, to me, convincing account of Mangan's crash training as a spy: plenty of glimpses of life at Vauxhall Cross, the home of MI6 (the building you saw blown up in the last Bond film, and the one before that) and lots of satisfying thriller-y jargon.
But to me, despite the modern dressing, here we have a modern Richard Hannay preparing for his trip across Germany in wartime to hunt Greenmantle. And I mean that as a sincere compliment - for sheer, compelling writing I don't think any writer has beaten Buchan but if anyone comes close, it's Brookes.
In the end, Mangan remains something of an enigma, as do Patterson, his cool, competent minder and even Valentina Hopko, her controller. In these three, Brookes has I think developed a superb triad of competent, dangerous people (oh, I do like competent, dangerous people - in books!) and stirred things up between them just enough that - together with hints of dark secrets to be revealed - there is bound to be trouble looming in future. (And I trust some of the others come back too: sinister Nicole, for example).
I hope that trouble comes soon because, as with the best books, I really didn't want this one to end, I just wanted to keep reading and reading...
December 21, 2024
*** Possible Spoilers ***
This is even better than the first book in the series. The pace remains fast and the plot interesting. True, there is a bit too much introspection for my taste but it didn't become odious. In the first book the bad guys were bad and the good guys were worse. In this one the good guys are utterly corrupt. The world presented by the author is one in which the powerful jockey for wealth and position and make use of society's institutions for their own benefit. No-one can be trusted. Betrayal lurks around every corner. I loved it and will almost certainly read the third volume.
This is even better than the first book in the series. The pace remains fast and the plot interesting. True, there is a bit too much introspection for my taste but it didn't become odious. In the first book the bad guys were bad and the good guys were worse. In this one the good guys are utterly corrupt. The world presented by the author is one in which the powerful jockey for wealth and position and make use of society's institutions for their own benefit. No-one can be trusted. Betrayal lurks around every corner. I loved it and will almost certainly read the third volume.
December 28, 2019
As a conspiracy fiction novelist with an Asia focus, I am on the lookout for inspiration in the form of new authors, new tales and exotic locales. I discard three-quarters of what I try at the 10%-20% mark. This time it was different as I devoured Spy Games by new-to-me Adam Brookes.
Brookes' settings are dead-on based on how he writes about Hong Kong and Chiang Mai/ upcountry Thailand. (I'll take him at his word on Ethiopia as I've not yet visited Addis.) Protagonist journo-spy Philip Mangan could be flesh-and-blood, more prone to shaking with concern than dispatching bad guys with MMA moves. The MI6 ensemble, led by an unlikely Mandarin-fluent female ex-soldier, is better drawn than the stock characters we recognize from prior books. The China-focused plot stretches credulity (I have to be careful as my own books sometimes feature speculative story lines), but you're still left feeling that something like this could have happened/might happen. The pace is brisk and there are multiple intriguing threads running in parallel for a long time, something that few authors dare to do these days as it forces readers to pay attention.
The end was tidied up a little too swiftly and too neatly, which dipped the rating from 5-stars to 4 1/2. However, as soon as I finished Spy Games, I downloaded Night Heron, something I don't do often: Brookes is one of the best authors in this space I've read in many moons.
Brookes' settings are dead-on based on how he writes about Hong Kong and Chiang Mai/ upcountry Thailand. (I'll take him at his word on Ethiopia as I've not yet visited Addis.) Protagonist journo-spy Philip Mangan could be flesh-and-blood, more prone to shaking with concern than dispatching bad guys with MMA moves. The MI6 ensemble, led by an unlikely Mandarin-fluent female ex-soldier, is better drawn than the stock characters we recognize from prior books. The China-focused plot stretches credulity (I have to be careful as my own books sometimes feature speculative story lines), but you're still left feeling that something like this could have happened/might happen. The pace is brisk and there are multiple intriguing threads running in parallel for a long time, something that few authors dare to do these days as it forces readers to pay attention.
The end was tidied up a little too swiftly and too neatly, which dipped the rating from 5-stars to 4 1/2. However, as soon as I finished Spy Games, I downloaded Night Heron, something I don't do often: Brookes is one of the best authors in this space I've read in many moons.
November 20, 2015
A build up that seems a bit slow in places as characters are painstakingly introduced and scenes are set had me wondering if Spy Games was going to turn out to be a drag. The quality of the writing and attention to detail kept me going though, and it slowly built into a fascinating spy story. The characters that been so carefully constructed upped the pace and took the tale to a complex and thrilling conclusion. Brookes has a great writing style, full of little touches that separate out good writers. Be prepared to be patient, but it's worth it.
April 9, 2018
Became a little tedious.
March 15, 2020
It took forever to get to anything remotely intriguing, then ended with a “huh?”
October 19, 2025
Once again, China is making mischief. Two old revolutionary families who hate each other each scheme to bring the other down. Because they each have deep penetration financially in China and global trade, their mischief can affect the rest of the world. And as is so often the case, the political is in the personal.
Fan KaiKai of the Fan family meets Madeline Chen of the Chen family. In Romeo and Juliet style, they talk to each other even though they both have orders not to, they spend time with each other, they fall in love--all at Oxford University in the UK. Meanwhile, a Chinese operative reaches out to Philip Mangan in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and passes some extremely valuable intel. That gets MI6 interested, and an operation begins even though they don't really know much about the Chinese operative or where he's getting the intel. Trish Patterson once again serves as Mangan's handler.
Brookes infuses his prose with the vocabulary of threat, danger, and fear to create a tense atmosphere. He's chosen locations that may be exotic but are also strange and ominous (and hot--most of this story occurs in hot climates). Hopko at MI6 decides to bring Mangan to London in order to give him some training, and he becomes a freelance journalist as his legend. The problem with Mangan as a spy, though, is that his appearance makes him stand out in just about any place--he has bright red hair and he's tall. So, situations don't always turn out well for him.
As with the previous novel, I've enjoyed reading stories in which the Chinese are the bad guys instead of the Russians or East Europeans. Chinese culture and customs are so different from European culture and customs, there is always a frisson of danger with the Chinese characters. There were much fewer caricatures as well this time around. I like Mangan and I like Patterson--they are very different people who often complement each other. Hopko is growing on me. There is also a very real sense--as Philip notes at the end--of something moving behind everything else, something that is actually in control of human events, especially in the espionage sphere.
I really enjoyed this novel and recommend it to readers who love spy thrillers. It's a great read!
Fan KaiKai of the Fan family meets Madeline Chen of the Chen family. In Romeo and Juliet style, they talk to each other even though they both have orders not to, they spend time with each other, they fall in love--all at Oxford University in the UK. Meanwhile, a Chinese operative reaches out to Philip Mangan in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and passes some extremely valuable intel. That gets MI6 interested, and an operation begins even though they don't really know much about the Chinese operative or where he's getting the intel. Trish Patterson once again serves as Mangan's handler.
Brookes infuses his prose with the vocabulary of threat, danger, and fear to create a tense atmosphere. He's chosen locations that may be exotic but are also strange and ominous (and hot--most of this story occurs in hot climates). Hopko at MI6 decides to bring Mangan to London in order to give him some training, and he becomes a freelance journalist as his legend. The problem with Mangan as a spy, though, is that his appearance makes him stand out in just about any place--he has bright red hair and he's tall. So, situations don't always turn out well for him.
As with the previous novel, I've enjoyed reading stories in which the Chinese are the bad guys instead of the Russians or East Europeans. Chinese culture and customs are so different from European culture and customs, there is always a frisson of danger with the Chinese characters. There were much fewer caricatures as well this time around. I like Mangan and I like Patterson--they are very different people who often complement each other. Hopko is growing on me. There is also a very real sense--as Philip notes at the end--of something moving behind everything else, something that is actually in control of human events, especially in the espionage sphere.
I really enjoyed this novel and recommend it to readers who love spy thrillers. It's a great read!
September 15, 2025
This is the second book in a trilogy that focuses on the journalist-turned-spy character, Philip Mangan. It is best to read this book after first reading "Night Heron".
Like many modern action novels, this book jumps back and forth between stories in several different countries and then gradually ties them all together. As in "Night Heron", the author displays his knowledge of China by interspersing (translated) phrases in Chinese. One of his other signature embellishments is to insert phrases in italics that comment on a character's thoughts or situation as if from an ironic independent observer.
On the first two pages of the book, the author reports a betrayal that occurred back during the China's Cultural Revolution in 1967, and the rest of the story plays out the twisted complications that ultimately flowed from that event.
The book blends the usual elements of intrigue, suspense, chases and escapes, and I would have given it 5 stars if the characters had been a bit deeper. It's a clever story and well worth reading.
Like many modern action novels, this book jumps back and forth between stories in several different countries and then gradually ties them all together. As in "Night Heron", the author displays his knowledge of China by interspersing (translated) phrases in Chinese. One of his other signature embellishments is to insert phrases in italics that comment on a character's thoughts or situation as if from an ironic independent observer.
On the first two pages of the book, the author reports a betrayal that occurred back during the China's Cultural Revolution in 1967, and the rest of the story plays out the twisted complications that ultimately flowed from that event.
The book blends the usual elements of intrigue, suspense, chases and escapes, and I would have given it 5 stars if the characters had been a bit deeper. It's a clever story and well worth reading.
November 2, 2025
This guy is just an amazing spy novelist. I liked this one even better than the first book. Follows some of the same characters and plots, including the protagonist, Philip Mangan, a journalist turned spy. At the beginning of the book, he's hiding out in Ethiopia from the mess he left in China at the end of the first book. Very vivid descriptions of Addis and environs. Phillip almost has a fling with a Danish nurse working in rural hospital until he gets sucked back into a battle between two Chinese factions/families, one running a Chinese company that resembles Huawei and another with strong ties to the Chinese military. The battle plays out not only in China but around the families' children studying in Oxford. Most of the last third of the book takes place in a sketchy border region straddling Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and China. As with the first book, a very believable and current plot, great characters, and descriptions of food and places that could stand on their own as travel writing.
June 26, 2020
I read his earlier "Night Heron," to which this is a sequel. You needn't have read the first to appreciate this one, but there are references back to it. I remember enjoying that one too but didn't recall enough of the plot points to know if there were closer connections than I recalled in this one.
In any event, "Spy Games" is very good, filled with lots of detail and tradecraft. The author, a former foreign correspondent, fills the story with detail and really develops a sense of place in his writing. This is no mean feat as the story swings back and forth between Ethiopia, Oxford, China, London, Laos and Myanmar. While the 400+ page story builds slowly, the characters and plot keep you hooked and it builds to an exciting conclusion, and the hint of another sequel, which I will be quicker to read this time.
In any event, "Spy Games" is very good, filled with lots of detail and tradecraft. The author, a former foreign correspondent, fills the story with detail and really develops a sense of place in his writing. This is no mean feat as the story swings back and forth between Ethiopia, Oxford, China, London, Laos and Myanmar. While the 400+ page story builds slowly, the characters and plot keep you hooked and it builds to an exciting conclusion, and the hint of another sequel, which I will be quicker to read this time.
August 11, 2022
This is the second book in the Night Heron/Philip Mangan series. I read this immediately after finishing Night Heron. I am probably going to read the third installment as soon as I can. And there is a part of me that is disappointed knowing that Adam Brookes does not have a fourth book out there. He is very much in the lineage of Le Carre and Alan Furst (at least Alan Furst's earlier Night Soldiers books).
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Brookes does a good job mixing in a bit of history. It makes me want to breakout my old college materials on the early days of the Chinese Communist Party.
My only critique is that this could easily have been two books. One on the Ethiopia/China-in-Africa angle. One on the Chinese/British money laundering angle. Still, I leave both very satisfied...and insatiable for more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Brookes does a good job mixing in a bit of history. It makes me want to breakout my old college materials on the early days of the Chinese Communist Party.
My only critique is that this could easily have been two books. One on the Ethiopia/China-in-Africa angle. One on the Chinese/British money laundering angle. Still, I leave both very satisfied...and insatiable for more.
October 5, 2023
Yes, a good, if conventional spy story, a la John Le Carre. The novel revolves around two main characters, Philip Mangan, a journalist with a spying bent, and Trish Patterson, an MI6 operative charged with running him.
The story begins in Ethiopia where Mangan is living when he is approached by a mysterious Chinese man eager to impart classified information on Communist China. Various developments follow taking Mangan to London, then Thailand. Some group, it seems, wants to discredit a privileged Chinese family and purge corruption from the top ranks of the CCCP.
The story has many of the tropes of espionage stories, including the ending with duplicitous intelligence staff, moving lower-ranks around at their will. Written in 2015, I was impressed by how up to date it sounded about modern China.
The story begins in Ethiopia where Mangan is living when he is approached by a mysterious Chinese man eager to impart classified information on Communist China. Various developments follow taking Mangan to London, then Thailand. Some group, it seems, wants to discredit a privileged Chinese family and purge corruption from the top ranks of the CCCP.
The story has many of the tropes of espionage stories, including the ending with duplicitous intelligence staff, moving lower-ranks around at their will. Written in 2015, I was impressed by how up to date it sounded about modern China.
August 19, 2025
Astonishingly good
A second outing for Philip Mangam, the erstwhile foreign correspondent ‘recruited’ by British Intelligence as a go-between in China and then re-routed to Ethiopia when blown.
This time he’s selected by Chinese Colonel ‘Rocky’ Shi, to pass information to MI6 in London. It’s a ruse, aimed at getting British support for a Chinese faction that aims to expose a corrupt family at the heart of both the Communist Party and the Military.
With his handler Trish Patterson, Mangan is brought back into service, but all is not what it seems. The feud between the Fans and the Chens is at the heart of this. But the British don’t take sides when it comes to morality. With laundered Chinese millions at risk, why should they back the good guys, when the profit so well from the bad guys?
And where does this leave Mangan and Patterson?
A second outing for Philip Mangam, the erstwhile foreign correspondent ‘recruited’ by British Intelligence as a go-between in China and then re-routed to Ethiopia when blown.
This time he’s selected by Chinese Colonel ‘Rocky’ Shi, to pass information to MI6 in London. It’s a ruse, aimed at getting British support for a Chinese faction that aims to expose a corrupt family at the heart of both the Communist Party and the Military.
With his handler Trish Patterson, Mangan is brought back into service, but all is not what it seems. The feud between the Fans and the Chens is at the heart of this. But the British don’t take sides when it comes to morality. With laundered Chinese millions at risk, why should they back the good guys, when the profit so well from the bad guys?
And where does this leave Mangan and Patterson?
August 25, 2022
“Spy Games” had all the hallmarks of the first Philip Mangan novel, “Night Heron.” Evocative of Le Carré, I had commented after reading the first in the series, and that holds. Brilliant descriptions, smart prose, tension, the works for a good spy thriller. But I lost a little faith towards the end. Mangan took on the characteristics of a simpering wanker, though he recovered a bit. British intel comes off badly, but so does the protagonist, and even his stronger protagonist, Patterson. There were loose ends. We got a weak prelude to the next book. Therefore, the series may have already run out of steam for me, and I’m not sure I will move on to number three. Just the same, I believe Adam Brookes may be the best of the current lot of spy thriller writers.
January 14, 2021
Not quite as good as the first of the series, Night Heron, but still an absorbing read. Journalist/reluctant spy, Philip Mangan is initially contacted in Ethiopia by enigmatic Chinese interests as a parallel plot-line involves the Oxford-student son of a mega-rich corrupt Chinese family. Trish Patterson, his handler from the previous novel, is also involved as the plot turns on plotting amongst China’s leadership. The showdown is on the Myanmar border and a little over-the-top but the tension is always well-maintained and the characters nuanced
September 29, 2025
Spy Games is the second in the Philip Mangan trilogy of spy novels. Brookes is a master at building suspense, in this novel as in his last - Night Heron - I was gripped, so much so that on occasion I had to stop, close the book and let the story mature in my mind. Other times, I had to stop and walk around for a moment to allow myself time to absorb and enjoy the tension and drama he had created.
If second novels are tough to write, Brookes has blown past the standard set by Night Heron and achieved a taut, complex, and compelling story.
Another five star achievement.
If second novels are tough to write, Brookes has blown past the standard set by Night Heron and achieved a taut, complex, and compelling story.
Another five star achievement.
May 29, 2017
Spy Games is the sequel to the excellent debut novel Night Heron, though it does not succeed in keeping the same high standards. The book has a rather slow build up throughout the first half and it struggles to find traction; the story is less cohesive and slightly less plausible than the predecessor, yet this is still a pretty good book.
I am definitely going to read the third book when it comes out.
I am definitely going to read the third book when it comes out.
September 3, 2018
Unfortunately I did not realize this was a sequel (to his previous book "Night Heron") which I hadn't read. As such many of the illusions to previous experiences in China, etc which I assumed would add to the character development were never fleshed out. Why keep bringing them up if a reader who has not read the previous book won't get the point? Clearly there is to be a sequel that this book is setting up. I don't think I will read it.
January 4, 2020
The second of three books about Patterson, ex army now secret service, and Philip Mangan, a journalist seconded to aid. I unfortunately have been reading these is reverse order although that has not detracted from my enjoyment. The disadvantage is that if you read about someone in the book that you are familiar with you know they are not going to die in this one! Probably better to read them in order but I would suggest reading them regardless.
April 25, 2024
Really 3.5, rounding up to 4 stars.
It's an interesting read and often compelling writing. A journalist who previously found himself in an espionage caper finds himself once again trying to outwit the spies. Where I think the story suffers at times is from its fog of war approach. Characters and plot elements are introduced without context or prompt reconciliation. In time, we understand. In process, we're well confused. Still, a good book worth the time.
HH
It's an interesting read and often compelling writing. A journalist who previously found himself in an espionage caper finds himself once again trying to outwit the spies. Where I think the story suffers at times is from its fog of war approach. Characters and plot elements are introduced without context or prompt reconciliation. In time, we understand. In process, we're well confused. Still, a good book worth the time.
HH
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