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Philip Mangan #3
The Spy's Daughter
The thrilling third novel from multi-award-nominated author Adam Brookes is paranoid, tense spy fiction at its very finest.
Meet Pearl Tao: an American girl with a lethal secret.
Pearl longs for the life of a normal American teenager: summers at the pool, friends, backyard barbecues in the Washington DC suburbs. But she is different.
Her gift for mathematics means overprotective parents and college sponsorship from a secretive technology corporation. And now, aged nineteen, she is beginning to understand what her parents intend for her. The terrifying role she is to play.
Her only hope of escape lies with two sidelined and discredited spies: Trish Patterson and Philip Mangan. Finding out the truth about Pearl will be the biggest mission they'll ever undertake.
"Authentic, taut and compelling. Brookes is the real deal."
Charles Cumming
Meet Pearl Tao: an American girl with a lethal secret.
Pearl longs for the life of a normal American teenager: summers at the pool, friends, backyard barbecues in the Washington DC suburbs. But she is different.
Her gift for mathematics means overprotective parents and college sponsorship from a secretive technology corporation. And now, aged nineteen, she is beginning to understand what her parents intend for her. The terrifying role she is to play.
Her only hope of escape lies with two sidelined and discredited spies: Trish Patterson and Philip Mangan. Finding out the truth about Pearl will be the biggest mission they'll ever undertake.
"Authentic, taut and compelling. Brookes is the real deal."
Charles Cumming
448 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 31, 2017
100 people are currently reading
1272 people want to read
About the author
Adam Brookes
8 books176 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 93 reviews
February 24, 2018
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A girl is a math prodigy. Her parents want her to grow up to be a spy, but she wants her own life, and tries to escape.
This is a book people either love, or meet with ambivalence. Unfortunately, I seem to be in the latter camp.
A girl is a math prodigy. Her parents want her to grow up to be a spy, but she wants her own life, and tries to escape.
This is a book people either love, or meet with ambivalence. Unfortunately, I seem to be in the latter camp.
January 17, 2018
I usually don't read spy fiction stuff. Well, thank goodness this one turned out pretty darn good. Maybe better than good, since I did give it a 5.
It does take more than a few pages to figure out who the main characters are going to be. But it was worthwhile to just keep on reading - the author does sort them out nicely though.
It's an interesting spy story that does have a 'what?' type of ending.
Enjoy the book. I did.
It does take more than a few pages to figure out who the main characters are going to be. But it was worthwhile to just keep on reading - the author does sort them out nicely though.
It's an interesting spy story that does have a 'what?' type of ending.
Enjoy the book. I did.
August 21, 2017
The last of Adam Brookes' trilogy featuring the reluctant spy, Philip Mangan. It's good; although, in my opinion, not as good as the first, The Night Heron, which was a superlative read. Or the second, Spy Games.
While the writing is taut and the tension runs high, the character of Pearl Tao, daughter of Chinese immigrants to the USA, felt slightly off to me. She was clearly savvier than her role in the book would have indicated. It left me thinking, really? Would she know to do that? Unless... spoiler omitted.
While the writing is taut and the tension runs high, the character of Pearl Tao, daughter of Chinese immigrants to the USA, felt slightly off to me. She was clearly savvier than her role in the book would have indicated. It left me thinking, really? Would she know to do that? Unless... spoiler omitted.
July 13, 2018
A GIRL LIKE THAT.
"“The basic principle for China is that we are in favor of more overseas Chinese, who were born in their residing countries and are willing to stay there, acquiring the nationality of those countries.” - Zhou Enlai, First Premier of the People's Republic of China.
For much of spy fiction’s history, there has never been a truly great spy thriller focusing on China. The highly complex nature of the subject has meant that more comprehensible or at the very least, easier topics like Islamic Terrorism or the Russian peril have been favoured over modern China. Long gone are the days when the PRC was under the sway of the whims of Chairman Mao disciples, caught up in abstract ideological points. Also gone is the PRC under Deng Xiaoping’s vision, of an easier going, eager to learn developing economy. Instead there is a new nation fuelled with a new fire and purpose from the riches brought to it by state capitalism, and the growing hubris of the nation having clawed its way back to the heights on the surface, only rivalled by Imperial China.
In the last decade, no writer came close to capturing the true nature of the world’s most sophisticated authoritarian state. Standing out brightly in a sea of outdated portrayals that should have been left to collect dust in the last century, in this decade one writer has finally hit the sweet spot. His name is Adam Brookes. A highly experienced journalist and BBC correspondent, Brookes has written a trilogy of 3 spy novels that focus on modern China in a nuanced, coolly realist style. With the gloriously cynical atmosphere of Graham Greene and Eric Ambler, the research of Forsyth and the dog eat dog plotting of John Le Carre, Brookes has created some of the finest spy fiction seen in the first part of this century.
His third book “The Spy’s Daughter”, is the finale of a trilogy focusing on an SIS asset whose involvement in the covert wars between China and the West have destroyed his life. In this story, a young, naturalized Chinese American woman learns the awful truth about why her parents left China, and makes a break for the authorities. This sets off alarms bells in Beijing where a certain Ministry decides that one person’s life is irrelevant compared to the safety of its North American asset network and dispatches killers to liquidate the threat. Standing in their way is a down and out SIS officer who races to seize this opportunity before it passes. Now to the review. Can someone’s loyalty be enough for two countries?
The novel begins with the shadow of death poking around the corner. A man has shot himself in a Maryland park. He is found almost immediately, investigators are called in we find that the deceased in question is an analyst working at the US state department. Those investigating his death speculate with futility about its motivation with all their stock guesses turning up wrong. Across the world, Elieen Poon, the elderly Hong Kong Chinese Plastics tycoon and senior China asset of Her Majesty’s Secret Service arrives in Beijing for a routine business trip. After briefly reflecting on her advanced age, which has done absolutely nothing to affect her superb tradecraft that has allowed her to remain standing even as the PRC intelligence services have become richer and more sophisticated, Poon commences servicing a dead drop.
The recovery goes off without a hitch save for Poon’s keen eye noticing an anomaly in the form of a stranger with the aura of a pro. Returning to her hotel, Poon wonders what is going on back at Babylon on Thames, with her handler, Valentina Hopko, queen of the Firm’s Asia ops developing a new asset who shows great promise. Down south in Indonesia in the turbulent backwater of West Papua Indonesia, washed out journalist Philip Mangan gets a nasty shock when he learns Ministry of State Security officers are on his tail. He’s been following an interesting development that was left hanging in book 2 and the MSS are keen to scare him off or find out what he knowns. And in America, a young woman, by the name of Pearl Tao, blissfully enjoys the final peaceful moments of her life which will be thrown into turmoil. This turmoil is caused by an awful truth that she tries to handle in a law-abiding manner, but one which puts her in the gunsights of a Ministry in the land of her ancestors who will not let their entire HUMINT network be destroyed by one American Chinese teenager. All these threads come together in a climactic hurricane of violence and betrayal, a hurricane where the few good people involved don’t come out intact. From Beijing to Maryland and Suriname and Los Angeles California, Mangan fights in one final covert war over the spy’s daughter who possesses the means to wipe out the entire HUMINT network of a major foreign power. And as the end draws near for our spies, only one question remains. Is there any escape route for those living on the edge, who want to check out of the spying game?
In Terms of plot, The Spy’s Daughter is a most emotional heartfelt story about the stresses loyalty puts on people in the espionage business. Loyalty to the nation, country or asset is taken for granted by people outside of the espionage business, but the ability to manage relationships and commitments is what makes or break a spy, and this challenge is the heart of the story. Over the course of the book, most of the protagonists are faced with the choice of having the back of the asset in the field, abandon their national allegiances or knuckle down and follow orders. Perhaps the best example of this is the author’s amazing depiction of the conflict among different generations of the Chinese diaspora who have varying degrees of loyalty to the motherland. Pearl Tao, as part of a younger Ethnic Chinese generation that has fully naturalized into American society, is forced into conflict with her parents who still have a deeper, sentimental loyalty to the PRC motherland. And it’s this conflict and the attempts to work towards a resolution that drive the plot forward to its devastating finale.
Action and setting? A bit of a step back to be honest. This book felt a bit slower than the harrowing, violent game in the second book. But this doesn’t mean there aren’t any highlights. The three best ones are Granny Poon getting down to business with helping to manage an operation in Beijing, a MSS contract employee being sent on a warpath across America to hunt down Pearl Tao, and the final climax in the Hotel California where Mangan finds himself in the gunsights of his own people. The backdrops of the story are still great as usual. From the most wretched backwater of South East Asia, to the streets of smog covered Beijing, Brookes even manages to make the Post 9/11 contemporary American settings that appear in the story, fresh and even at times, menacing.
Research? Impeccable as usual. Brookes looks into several ongoing issues in this story, primarily contemporary intelligence gathering ops the MSS mounts against the United State of America. Gone are the crude, bare bones methods China once used to get industrial/military intelligence. These days, they have a smorgasbord of options to chose from cyberwarfare, to less covered measures. These include leveraging members of the Chinese diaspora in vulnerable places to do their duty to the Motherland, and more recently, becoming venture capitalists and investing in foreign technology start ups legitimately, much to the teeth gnashing of domestic intelligence organizations. Then, there is the motivation behind this industrial espionage, which is quite possibly the single most important initiative of China’s global strategy to finally take super power status. All those advances in artificial intelligence are being put to excellent use and wouldn’t have been possible without contributions from the “shopping cart” managed by the MSS and PLA second directorate. Another highlight is a realistic look at damage control conducted by the MSS. While not officially possessing a paramilitary section like their counterparts in Russia, the MSS does train its officers in combat skills and in this story, they’re broken out as their operatives mount a manhunt across the USA.
Characters? Well, a few standouts here and there. I’ll focus on three. Pearl Tao, Valentina Hopko and Trish Patterson. First, Pearl Tao. Pearl is a Chinese American who has fully assimilated into the land of the free and home of the foolish. A teenage prodigy who is a dab hand with drones and artificial intelligence development, Pearl finds herself gaining a scholarship and research grant from a major American defence and armaments firm. However, all is not rosy in her world. Her parents are temperamental and bickering and the feeling that something was always off in her world has grown to breaking point. She has by far the most compelling story arc in the book, with Brookes masterfully exploring the choice the overseas Chinese diaspora is now being forced to make under the current Xi Jingping regime which now controlling a strong China, is demanding the diaspora finally pay their dues to the PRC and the motherland that they have never resided in. Pearl is faced with an even worse choice when uncovering the dark family secret that’s been hanging over her head. She’s not a spy, lacks absolutely no training and is going up against Asia’s best intelligence service, but her quick thinking and common sense makes her a most relatable character and one of the more successful “ordinary person thrust into extraordinary situation” characters in recent memory.
Next, we have Valentina Hopko. Hopko would be considered the Empress of China at Vauxhall Cross. A half Lebanese Russian whose family moved to Britain, she runs all China operations at Legoland with a stern, professional fist. A highly experienced pro who is at home running an operation as she is with the nasty office politics that most field officers would find incompressible, Hopko in the previous two books was a somewhat benevolent God, helpful but with her own agenda as well. In this book, the God decides to smite the people who have become less useful to her. She has a good thing running and eventually deems two assets and one of her officers as dead weight. Brookes captures the nastiness that a spymaster must possess to be capable in the form of Hopko and turns her into a slightly scary figure in the climax.
Finally, Trish Patterson. Patterson is the SIS officer that has done the heavy lifting for Hopko during the story. Her career is at a knife edge when we meet her in the story. After the events of the previous two books, she’s been exiled to Washington DC. Safe, luxurious but ultimately a dead end for operations officers like herself. Soldiering on despite the injustice she feels, Trish soon finds herself sucked into the war over the titular spy’s daughter, and despite the damage it would do to her future at the firm, she decides to try help save this opportunity which comes once in the lifetime of a spy. Tough and resourceful, Patterson soon finds herself wrestling with her morals which she’s forced to reconcile when dispassionate expediency is demanded of her. It’s this conflict that drives her story arc and the final choice she makes in the climatic scene of the book.
Constructive criticism? Well, I hate to be a wet rag, but once again, It’s Philip Managan. The man just didn’t seem to click with me in this book. Perhaps it’s because he’s been overshadowed by what I consider a far more compelling supporting cast and players. And in this tale, while he is just as important in the tale of the spy’s daughter, he just didn’t seem to make his presence felt compared to the trials and tribulations of Pearl Tao. However, he does share an amazing character moment in his final conversations with the girl he’s pursued throughout the novel and gotten to know and befriend.
Overall, The Spy’s Daughter, does not reach the heights and brilliance of its predecessor Spy Games. However, it is still better than most 21st century China spy fiction and is one of the best contemporary spy novels written this decade. Featuring a dark, realistic plot that expertly explores some serious themes with real world relevance, impeccable research on interesting real-world details that will fascinate readers, and a cast of imperfect but very human characters, The Spy’s Daughter is a spy novel for those looking for a serious story about this serious time we live in. Channelling the best traditions of British espionage literature, Adam Brookes has created the first truly good and definitive spy thrillers focusing on China, a nation that confounds and infuriates outsiders. Having carved out a very big unoccupied space for himself in the crowded 21st century thriller fiction genre, where Mr Brookes heads will remain to be seen. But one things for sure. The genre has a new Emperor, one whose reign is just getting started.
RECOMMENDED.
"“The basic principle for China is that we are in favor of more overseas Chinese, who were born in their residing countries and are willing to stay there, acquiring the nationality of those countries.” - Zhou Enlai, First Premier of the People's Republic of China.
For much of spy fiction’s history, there has never been a truly great spy thriller focusing on China. The highly complex nature of the subject has meant that more comprehensible or at the very least, easier topics like Islamic Terrorism or the Russian peril have been favoured over modern China. Long gone are the days when the PRC was under the sway of the whims of Chairman Mao disciples, caught up in abstract ideological points. Also gone is the PRC under Deng Xiaoping’s vision, of an easier going, eager to learn developing economy. Instead there is a new nation fuelled with a new fire and purpose from the riches brought to it by state capitalism, and the growing hubris of the nation having clawed its way back to the heights on the surface, only rivalled by Imperial China.
In the last decade, no writer came close to capturing the true nature of the world’s most sophisticated authoritarian state. Standing out brightly in a sea of outdated portrayals that should have been left to collect dust in the last century, in this decade one writer has finally hit the sweet spot. His name is Adam Brookes. A highly experienced journalist and BBC correspondent, Brookes has written a trilogy of 3 spy novels that focus on modern China in a nuanced, coolly realist style. With the gloriously cynical atmosphere of Graham Greene and Eric Ambler, the research of Forsyth and the dog eat dog plotting of John Le Carre, Brookes has created some of the finest spy fiction seen in the first part of this century.
His third book “The Spy’s Daughter”, is the finale of a trilogy focusing on an SIS asset whose involvement in the covert wars between China and the West have destroyed his life. In this story, a young, naturalized Chinese American woman learns the awful truth about why her parents left China, and makes a break for the authorities. This sets off alarms bells in Beijing where a certain Ministry decides that one person’s life is irrelevant compared to the safety of its North American asset network and dispatches killers to liquidate the threat. Standing in their way is a down and out SIS officer who races to seize this opportunity before it passes. Now to the review. Can someone’s loyalty be enough for two countries?
The novel begins with the shadow of death poking around the corner. A man has shot himself in a Maryland park. He is found almost immediately, investigators are called in we find that the deceased in question is an analyst working at the US state department. Those investigating his death speculate with futility about its motivation with all their stock guesses turning up wrong. Across the world, Elieen Poon, the elderly Hong Kong Chinese Plastics tycoon and senior China asset of Her Majesty’s Secret Service arrives in Beijing for a routine business trip. After briefly reflecting on her advanced age, which has done absolutely nothing to affect her superb tradecraft that has allowed her to remain standing even as the PRC intelligence services have become richer and more sophisticated, Poon commences servicing a dead drop.
The recovery goes off without a hitch save for Poon’s keen eye noticing an anomaly in the form of a stranger with the aura of a pro. Returning to her hotel, Poon wonders what is going on back at Babylon on Thames, with her handler, Valentina Hopko, queen of the Firm’s Asia ops developing a new asset who shows great promise. Down south in Indonesia in the turbulent backwater of West Papua Indonesia, washed out journalist Philip Mangan gets a nasty shock when he learns Ministry of State Security officers are on his tail. He’s been following an interesting development that was left hanging in book 2 and the MSS are keen to scare him off or find out what he knowns. And in America, a young woman, by the name of Pearl Tao, blissfully enjoys the final peaceful moments of her life which will be thrown into turmoil. This turmoil is caused by an awful truth that she tries to handle in a law-abiding manner, but one which puts her in the gunsights of a Ministry in the land of her ancestors who will not let their entire HUMINT network be destroyed by one American Chinese teenager. All these threads come together in a climactic hurricane of violence and betrayal, a hurricane where the few good people involved don’t come out intact. From Beijing to Maryland and Suriname and Los Angeles California, Mangan fights in one final covert war over the spy’s daughter who possesses the means to wipe out the entire HUMINT network of a major foreign power. And as the end draws near for our spies, only one question remains. Is there any escape route for those living on the edge, who want to check out of the spying game?
In Terms of plot, The Spy’s Daughter is a most emotional heartfelt story about the stresses loyalty puts on people in the espionage business. Loyalty to the nation, country or asset is taken for granted by people outside of the espionage business, but the ability to manage relationships and commitments is what makes or break a spy, and this challenge is the heart of the story. Over the course of the book, most of the protagonists are faced with the choice of having the back of the asset in the field, abandon their national allegiances or knuckle down and follow orders. Perhaps the best example of this is the author’s amazing depiction of the conflict among different generations of the Chinese diaspora who have varying degrees of loyalty to the motherland. Pearl Tao, as part of a younger Ethnic Chinese generation that has fully naturalized into American society, is forced into conflict with her parents who still have a deeper, sentimental loyalty to the PRC motherland. And it’s this conflict and the attempts to work towards a resolution that drive the plot forward to its devastating finale.
Action and setting? A bit of a step back to be honest. This book felt a bit slower than the harrowing, violent game in the second book. But this doesn’t mean there aren’t any highlights. The three best ones are Granny Poon getting down to business with helping to manage an operation in Beijing, a MSS contract employee being sent on a warpath across America to hunt down Pearl Tao, and the final climax in the Hotel California where Mangan finds himself in the gunsights of his own people. The backdrops of the story are still great as usual. From the most wretched backwater of South East Asia, to the streets of smog covered Beijing, Brookes even manages to make the Post 9/11 contemporary American settings that appear in the story, fresh and even at times, menacing.
Research? Impeccable as usual. Brookes looks into several ongoing issues in this story, primarily contemporary intelligence gathering ops the MSS mounts against the United State of America. Gone are the crude, bare bones methods China once used to get industrial/military intelligence. These days, they have a smorgasbord of options to chose from cyberwarfare, to less covered measures. These include leveraging members of the Chinese diaspora in vulnerable places to do their duty to the Motherland, and more recently, becoming venture capitalists and investing in foreign technology start ups legitimately, much to the teeth gnashing of domestic intelligence organizations. Then, there is the motivation behind this industrial espionage, which is quite possibly the single most important initiative of China’s global strategy to finally take super power status. All those advances in artificial intelligence are being put to excellent use and wouldn’t have been possible without contributions from the “shopping cart” managed by the MSS and PLA second directorate. Another highlight is a realistic look at damage control conducted by the MSS. While not officially possessing a paramilitary section like their counterparts in Russia, the MSS does train its officers in combat skills and in this story, they’re broken out as their operatives mount a manhunt across the USA.
Characters? Well, a few standouts here and there. I’ll focus on three. Pearl Tao, Valentina Hopko and Trish Patterson. First, Pearl Tao. Pearl is a Chinese American who has fully assimilated into the land of the free and home of the foolish. A teenage prodigy who is a dab hand with drones and artificial intelligence development, Pearl finds herself gaining a scholarship and research grant from a major American defence and armaments firm. However, all is not rosy in her world. Her parents are temperamental and bickering and the feeling that something was always off in her world has grown to breaking point. She has by far the most compelling story arc in the book, with Brookes masterfully exploring the choice the overseas Chinese diaspora is now being forced to make under the current Xi Jingping regime which now controlling a strong China, is demanding the diaspora finally pay their dues to the PRC and the motherland that they have never resided in. Pearl is faced with an even worse choice when uncovering the dark family secret that’s been hanging over her head. She’s not a spy, lacks absolutely no training and is going up against Asia’s best intelligence service, but her quick thinking and common sense makes her a most relatable character and one of the more successful “ordinary person thrust into extraordinary situation” characters in recent memory.
Next, we have Valentina Hopko. Hopko would be considered the Empress of China at Vauxhall Cross. A half Lebanese Russian whose family moved to Britain, she runs all China operations at Legoland with a stern, professional fist. A highly experienced pro who is at home running an operation as she is with the nasty office politics that most field officers would find incompressible, Hopko in the previous two books was a somewhat benevolent God, helpful but with her own agenda as well. In this book, the God decides to smite the people who have become less useful to her. She has a good thing running and eventually deems two assets and one of her officers as dead weight. Brookes captures the nastiness that a spymaster must possess to be capable in the form of Hopko and turns her into a slightly scary figure in the climax.
Finally, Trish Patterson. Patterson is the SIS officer that has done the heavy lifting for Hopko during the story. Her career is at a knife edge when we meet her in the story. After the events of the previous two books, she’s been exiled to Washington DC. Safe, luxurious but ultimately a dead end for operations officers like herself. Soldiering on despite the injustice she feels, Trish soon finds herself sucked into the war over the titular spy’s daughter, and despite the damage it would do to her future at the firm, she decides to try help save this opportunity which comes once in the lifetime of a spy. Tough and resourceful, Patterson soon finds herself wrestling with her morals which she’s forced to reconcile when dispassionate expediency is demanded of her. It’s this conflict that drives her story arc and the final choice she makes in the climatic scene of the book.
Constructive criticism? Well, I hate to be a wet rag, but once again, It’s Philip Managan. The man just didn’t seem to click with me in this book. Perhaps it’s because he’s been overshadowed by what I consider a far more compelling supporting cast and players. And in this tale, while he is just as important in the tale of the spy’s daughter, he just didn’t seem to make his presence felt compared to the trials and tribulations of Pearl Tao. However, he does share an amazing character moment in his final conversations with the girl he’s pursued throughout the novel and gotten to know and befriend.
Overall, The Spy’s Daughter, does not reach the heights and brilliance of its predecessor Spy Games. However, it is still better than most 21st century China spy fiction and is one of the best contemporary spy novels written this decade. Featuring a dark, realistic plot that expertly explores some serious themes with real world relevance, impeccable research on interesting real-world details that will fascinate readers, and a cast of imperfect but very human characters, The Spy’s Daughter is a spy novel for those looking for a serious story about this serious time we live in. Channelling the best traditions of British espionage literature, Adam Brookes has created the first truly good and definitive spy thrillers focusing on China, a nation that confounds and infuriates outsiders. Having carved out a very big unoccupied space for himself in the crowded 21st century thriller fiction genre, where Mr Brookes heads will remain to be seen. But one things for sure. The genre has a new Emperor, one whose reign is just getting started.
RECOMMENDED.
November 3, 2017
i received this E-book from the giveaway and was not sure about reading the third book of a series to began. i am very glad that i got past this wanting to start at the beginning and read this book. there was a slight disconnect with the characters at the beginning but the story quickly takes over and i found myself turning the pages. as a lover of spy books, this one did not disappoint. it was great to have the agents showing a bit more of the true human emotions of fear and doubt, while still doing their jobs. nice set of surprises near the end that made the read all that more enjoyable.
December 5, 2023
"The Spy's Daughter", last of the Adam Brookes' trilogy starring Brit spies Patterson and Mangan, continues the excellence of its predecessors. It, too, is a well-written, tightly plotted, action-packed, believable spy novel with strong yet flawed characters. You wouldn't necessarily have needed to read the first two in the series, but it'd be best to do so. You definitely don't want to miss them.
The Spy's Daughter is the story of Pearl, math wunderkind and budding world-class scientist, a Chinese-American student at Johns Hopkins. Unbeknownst to her, she'd been groomed practically from birth to become a spy for the Chinese, stealing intellectual property after her graduation and eventual hiring at a major technology company. The British secret service meanwhile is running a few spies in delicate circumstances in mainland China. Mangan, a Brit MI6 alum and on the run from the Chinese operators who think he knows secrets that a blown agent possessed, makes a hazardous journey to South America. There he discovers connections that eventually lead him to a reunion with his old handler, young black female Patterson, a return to DC, and an encounter with Pearl, the spy's daughter. Poor Pearl just wants to be a true, brilliant American innovator but her father, as well as folks in the upper echelons of the Chinese spy organization, have other plans for her. Pearl has had enough, goes on the lam, and the story ends up being a race between the Brits and the Chinese to track her down.
Brookes does fine work in The Spy's Daughter, from the writing, to the spycraft, to the intricacies of the plot. This is a worthwhile end to what has been a great series and I look forward to future contributions from this author.
The Spy's Daughter is the story of Pearl, math wunderkind and budding world-class scientist, a Chinese-American student at Johns Hopkins. Unbeknownst to her, she'd been groomed practically from birth to become a spy for the Chinese, stealing intellectual property after her graduation and eventual hiring at a major technology company. The British secret service meanwhile is running a few spies in delicate circumstances in mainland China. Mangan, a Brit MI6 alum and on the run from the Chinese operators who think he knows secrets that a blown agent possessed, makes a hazardous journey to South America. There he discovers connections that eventually lead him to a reunion with his old handler, young black female Patterson, a return to DC, and an encounter with Pearl, the spy's daughter. Poor Pearl just wants to be a true, brilliant American innovator but her father, as well as folks in the upper echelons of the Chinese spy organization, have other plans for her. Pearl has had enough, goes on the lam, and the story ends up being a race between the Brits and the Chinese to track her down.
Brookes does fine work in The Spy's Daughter, from the writing, to the spycraft, to the intricacies of the plot. This is a worthwhile end to what has been a great series and I look forward to future contributions from this author.
January 3, 2018
Greatly enjoyed this spy trilogy. Solid tradecraft and a story that manages to be both restrained and thrilling at the same time. Looking forward to more from Adam Brookes.
October 14, 2017
I was lucked out and received this book as an e-book giveaway from Goodreads. I thought it sounded interesting when I entered the drawing and I was not disappointed.
I have always enjoyed reading books with stories of espionage. The double agents, dead drops, betrayals and saviors. This book has all of this and more.
With characters and a plot that reminds me of a Le Carre novel, characters that seem to have little in common are eventually brought together for a very unusual ending.
I won’t spoil the book for others who haven’t read this but highly recommend this as a very well written spy thriller.
I have always enjoyed reading books with stories of espionage. The double agents, dead drops, betrayals and saviors. This book has all of this and more.
With characters and a plot that reminds me of a Le Carre novel, characters that seem to have little in common are eventually brought together for a very unusual ending.
I won’t spoil the book for others who haven’t read this but highly recommend this as a very well written spy thriller.
November 8, 2017
Terrific
A fabulous end to a superb spy trilogy. If you like Le Carre, put on your trench coat and dark glasses, and give it a try.
A fabulous end to a superb spy trilogy. If you like Le Carre, put on your trench coat and dark glasses, and give it a try.
October 8, 2017
Like watching a well directed film.
December 23, 2017
The Spy's Daughter, which I received from Goodreads, is the first novel I have read by author Adam Brookes and it was a lot better than good. The entire story is thoroughly character-driven, which I love. I also want to say that the author is brave; you will have to read the story to discover why that is the case. Each of the main characters is well-developed and multi-faceted, which is an other aspect I like so well about the book. It would have been easy to still create a good novel by focusing on the drama and the thrill of the ride, but Brookes cultivated each of these people and made them real, made them interesting. This is a great thriller with extremely high stakes. I highly recommend The Spy's Daughter.
February 3, 2018
The Spy's DaughterAdam Brooks is amazing. Although this is his 3rd book in the series it is a stand alone> I loved Philip he is amazing getting out of trouble. This book has it all thriller, suspense mystery and more. It is so good I need to read the 1st two books.
**** I do not do audio this was a Kindle read. And I have only read this book once .
**** I do not do audio this was a Kindle read. And I have only read this book once .
November 12, 2022
I love a good espionage novel. I'd never heard of Adam Brookes until recently, and now I'm glad I put this novel on my to-read list. I'll be backtracking and reading the first two Philip Mangan novels.
What makes a good espionage novel? First is suspense. As a part of that, the stakes must be high, very high. Life or death high. And the main character(s) need to be human, flawed, but intelligent. Oddly, characters having a conscience will contribute to the suspense as well. Second, point of view. Who is the point of view character? Who the writer chooses can make or break an espionage novel. Using first person point of view can work, but what is more common is third omniscient that focuses close in on one or more characters, as Brookes does in this novel. This gives the reader more information, but it can also heighten suspense as the reader can see who knows what and who doesn't know something that's crucial. Then there's the author's choices about withholding information not only for the characters but also for the reader.
Brookes in this novel withholds a lot until about halfway through the story. We meet Philip Mangan and his tortured soul following a "bead of possibility" given him by a Chinese Colonel. We meet Pearl Tao, a college student and brilliant mathematician who is working for an American tech company already and that company is paying for her education. We meet Trish Patterson who has been brought in from operational duties to become an administrator for MI6 and she's been assigned a job at the UK Embassy in Washington, D.C. She had been Mangan's handler previously. How what these three characters are doing comes together halfway through is a very satisfying moment in this novel and well done by Brookes.
I have to admit, I thought often of the TV series The Americans while I read this book. There are similarities but also huge differences. I loved Pearl Tao and felt sorry for her from the beginning because it was clear that her parents wanted to control every aspect of her life for their own reasons and benefits. But I loved her intelligence and vulnerability, her desire to be herself and free to make her own choices. She ends up making the ultimate choice that stops everything and proves to be the ultimate defeat for those who would control her.
But there's much more to this story than Pearl's story -- she is a part of a much, much larger story with interesting implications in the world we live in now. What is trust between people or nations? How far does an alliance reach in terms of protecting each other from threat or attack? Brookes writes very much in the country of Le Carre, but reserves any cynicism he may feel in order to present his story and characters clearly so that the reader can make their own conclusions.
While the suspense doesn't really start to increase until that halfway point in this novel, Brookes did keep me interested in what the three characters where up to and how their individual stories might come together. Otherwise, he hits all the points for a good espionage novel.
I'd recommend this novel to readers of spy novels and thrillers, Le Carre fans who like messy, human spy stories, and any reader looking for a good yarn. I look forward to going back and reading the first two books in the Philip Mangan trilogy.
What makes a good espionage novel? First is suspense. As a part of that, the stakes must be high, very high. Life or death high. And the main character(s) need to be human, flawed, but intelligent. Oddly, characters having a conscience will contribute to the suspense as well. Second, point of view. Who is the point of view character? Who the writer chooses can make or break an espionage novel. Using first person point of view can work, but what is more common is third omniscient that focuses close in on one or more characters, as Brookes does in this novel. This gives the reader more information, but it can also heighten suspense as the reader can see who knows what and who doesn't know something that's crucial. Then there's the author's choices about withholding information not only for the characters but also for the reader.
Brookes in this novel withholds a lot until about halfway through the story. We meet Philip Mangan and his tortured soul following a "bead of possibility" given him by a Chinese Colonel. We meet Pearl Tao, a college student and brilliant mathematician who is working for an American tech company already and that company is paying for her education. We meet Trish Patterson who has been brought in from operational duties to become an administrator for MI6 and she's been assigned a job at the UK Embassy in Washington, D.C. She had been Mangan's handler previously. How what these three characters are doing comes together halfway through is a very satisfying moment in this novel and well done by Brookes.
I have to admit, I thought often of the TV series The Americans while I read this book. There are similarities but also huge differences. I loved Pearl Tao and felt sorry for her from the beginning because it was clear that her parents wanted to control every aspect of her life for their own reasons and benefits. But I loved her intelligence and vulnerability, her desire to be herself and free to make her own choices. She ends up making the ultimate choice that stops everything and proves to be the ultimate defeat for those who would control her.
But there's much more to this story than Pearl's story -- she is a part of a much, much larger story with interesting implications in the world we live in now. What is trust between people or nations? How far does an alliance reach in terms of protecting each other from threat or attack? Brookes writes very much in the country of Le Carre, but reserves any cynicism he may feel in order to present his story and characters clearly so that the reader can make their own conclusions.
While the suspense doesn't really start to increase until that halfway point in this novel, Brookes did keep me interested in what the three characters where up to and how their individual stories might come together. Otherwise, he hits all the points for a good espionage novel.
I'd recommend this novel to readers of spy novels and thrillers, Le Carre fans who like messy, human spy stories, and any reader looking for a good yarn. I look forward to going back and reading the first two books in the Philip Mangan trilogy.
January 9, 2018
I won a copy of
The Spy's Daughter
from a Goodreads Giveaway.
I'm not a fan of the spy genre but this was a good read and works as a standalone, since I didn't read the first two books in the series.
Philip Mangan is once again embroiled in international affairs, this time with Chinese intelligence and their intention to recruit a young, brilliant mathematician named Pearl Tao, who is trying to develop sentient intelligence involving warcraft.
When Pearl realizes her parents intend to deliver her to the enemy, Philip and Trish come to the conclusion that their own governments can't be trusted and must choose between duty and loyalty to save this young woman's life. Earlier, an US intelligence agent is found dead as a result of a suicide but suspicions arise when it is discovered he was a double agent and his death is tied into this brilliant woman's work.
Pearl Tao is a strong, female character that doesn't start off that way and her transition to a formidable opponent was fun to read. In the beginning, she is portrayed as a naive, budding scientist but when she discovers her parents and her entire life is a lie, she is forced to turn herself into a resourceful, cunning and wily spy-to-be as she evades the Chinese agents hot on her tail.
I hated her parents, which I guess is the point.
I really liked Trish, another tough as nails military veteran still struggling with PTSD and forced to work a desk job as she recovers from a previous incident that nearly ruined her career. Her skills and street smarts is only matched by her ability to suspect the very people she's supposed to trust.
I liked Philip, but not as much as I did Trish. I guess when I started the book I saw him as a Jason Bourne or Liam Neeson type but he's not like that at all. I know not all spies need to know how to fight. Philip is capable and smart but I guess I was hoping for more action on Philip's part.
The writing is good but the story is long. There are a lot of moving parts and I got bored at certain times, all the back and forth between character and political speak just passes over my head, but its a good read for any fans of espionage.
This is the last book in the series and the ending is more than satisfying, closing the circle on Philip's and Trish's budding friendship.
I'm not a fan of the spy genre but this was a good read and works as a standalone, since I didn't read the first two books in the series.
Philip Mangan is once again embroiled in international affairs, this time with Chinese intelligence and their intention to recruit a young, brilliant mathematician named Pearl Tao, who is trying to develop sentient intelligence involving warcraft.
When Pearl realizes her parents intend to deliver her to the enemy, Philip and Trish come to the conclusion that their own governments can't be trusted and must choose between duty and loyalty to save this young woman's life. Earlier, an US intelligence agent is found dead as a result of a suicide but suspicions arise when it is discovered he was a double agent and his death is tied into this brilliant woman's work.
Pearl Tao is a strong, female character that doesn't start off that way and her transition to a formidable opponent was fun to read. In the beginning, she is portrayed as a naive, budding scientist but when she discovers her parents and her entire life is a lie, she is forced to turn herself into a resourceful, cunning and wily spy-to-be as she evades the Chinese agents hot on her tail.
I hated her parents, which I guess is the point.
I really liked Trish, another tough as nails military veteran still struggling with PTSD and forced to work a desk job as she recovers from a previous incident that nearly ruined her career. Her skills and street smarts is only matched by her ability to suspect the very people she's supposed to trust.
I liked Philip, but not as much as I did Trish. I guess when I started the book I saw him as a Jason Bourne or Liam Neeson type but he's not like that at all. I know not all spies need to know how to fight. Philip is capable and smart but I guess I was hoping for more action on Philip's part.
The writing is good but the story is long. There are a lot of moving parts and I got bored at certain times, all the back and forth between character and political speak just passes over my head, but its a good read for any fans of espionage.
This is the last book in the series and the ending is more than satisfying, closing the circle on Philip's and Trish's budding friendship.
March 16, 2018
Spies? Third book in a series featuring postulant agent Philip Mangan and his discredited handler Trish Petterson.
Picking up directly from the previous book, Spy Games, Mangan seeks his way back "in", "in" being in the operational status as a spy in behalf of MI6. He acts upon a tip left him by a departing defector and blunders upon a Chinese clandestine network operating in the Americas. In Suriname he chances upon a Chinese-American teenager who at that time was being recruited by the spy network. The teenager, young Pearl, discovers, to her chagrin, what her father is, and has been all along, a spy with the Chinese military, and becomes intent on resisting her forced entry into the intelligence business. She reaches out to Mangan for help. Mangan's former handlers get wind of this and engage him once again to do their bidding, re-uniting him with Patterson in the process. What follows is a wild ride through pursuit and standoffs as Mangan, Patterson and Pearl navigate the convoluted underpinnings of spy agencies and their nakedly feral objectives.
As with the previous two books in the series, the author rather telegraphs the ending, and the last portion of the book is a despairing descent into the inevitable, all the while mulling the wretchedness of the secret life. This journey was cathartic in the first book as Mangan and the Chinese ex-con Peanut ran for freedom through the southern China countryside, tragic in the second book as Mangan rushed along the Thai border with a doomed Chinese revolutionary, but disconcerting here in the third, where Mangan and Patterson try to follow Pearl's escape. I found this so because I lost belief in the character of Pearl, a closeted teenager who finds ways to elude an organized manhunt.
I liked the book for its portrayal of a deer-in-the-headlights Mangan, and a tough-as-nuts Patterson who together stand up to the machinations of their spymasters. But this is a tragedy, of course, because at best they gain a moral victory but, after all is said and done, will once again be left out in the cold.
Picking up directly from the previous book, Spy Games, Mangan seeks his way back "in", "in" being in the operational status as a spy in behalf of MI6. He acts upon a tip left him by a departing defector and blunders upon a Chinese clandestine network operating in the Americas. In Suriname he chances upon a Chinese-American teenager who at that time was being recruited by the spy network. The teenager, young Pearl, discovers, to her chagrin, what her father is, and has been all along, a spy with the Chinese military, and becomes intent on resisting her forced entry into the intelligence business. She reaches out to Mangan for help. Mangan's former handlers get wind of this and engage him once again to do their bidding, re-uniting him with Patterson in the process. What follows is a wild ride through pursuit and standoffs as Mangan, Patterson and Pearl navigate the convoluted underpinnings of spy agencies and their nakedly feral objectives.
As with the previous two books in the series, the author rather telegraphs the ending, and the last portion of the book is a despairing descent into the inevitable, all the while mulling the wretchedness of the secret life. This journey was cathartic in the first book as Mangan and the Chinese ex-con Peanut ran for freedom through the southern China countryside, tragic in the second book as Mangan rushed along the Thai border with a doomed Chinese revolutionary, but disconcerting here in the third, where Mangan and Patterson try to follow Pearl's escape. I found this so because I lost belief in the character of Pearl, a closeted teenager who finds ways to elude an organized manhunt.
I liked the book for its portrayal of a deer-in-the-headlights Mangan, and a tough-as-nuts Patterson who together stand up to the machinations of their spymasters. But this is a tragedy, of course, because at best they gain a moral victory but, after all is said and done, will once again be left out in the cold.
January 2, 2018
***NOVEL THOUGHTS***
Thank you to Goodreads and Hachette Book Group for the opportunity to read a copy from a giveaway.
The Spy's Daughter is a well written book in the spy/thriller genre. It centers around a young woman named Pearl Tao who is the daughter of an immigrant Chinese family living in Virginia and involved in some prestigious scientific work at Hopkins. Her scientific mind and talents are sought by industry as well as private concerns and are encouraged by her overprotective family.
Since this is the 3rd book in a trilogy about journalist turned spy Philip Mangan and former military Trish Patterson, these characters seemed much more developed than some of the others. Nineteen year old Pearl seemed very immature at the start of the story and I chalked that up to her cloistered relationship with her family with whom she lives rather than to be having a college experience living on campus. But towards the end of the story, she becomes very wily and it seemed somehow, out of character.
It took me a long while to get into this book. There are 4 voices that tell the story and a mysterious voice that sends out periodic transmissions to "I still don't know". While it was all meant to keep the reader engaged, for me, it was more confusing. Some of the action was stilted and implausible and some of the axillary characters and their behavior (like Pearl's parents) were just plain weird and bizarre. The sudden impromptu trips they take, her father's irrational even violent behavior was so odd. I expect the kind of cat and mouse tricks of a spy group, the car chases, the toying during an interrogation, and that was all there, but it left me feeling incomplete. Even the ending was unsatisfying.
Thank you to Goodreads and Hachette Book Group for the opportunity to read a copy from a giveaway.
The Spy's Daughter is a well written book in the spy/thriller genre. It centers around a young woman named Pearl Tao who is the daughter of an immigrant Chinese family living in Virginia and involved in some prestigious scientific work at Hopkins. Her scientific mind and talents are sought by industry as well as private concerns and are encouraged by her overprotective family.
Since this is the 3rd book in a trilogy about journalist turned spy Philip Mangan and former military Trish Patterson, these characters seemed much more developed than some of the others. Nineteen year old Pearl seemed very immature at the start of the story and I chalked that up to her cloistered relationship with her family with whom she lives rather than to be having a college experience living on campus. But towards the end of the story, she becomes very wily and it seemed somehow, out of character.
It took me a long while to get into this book. There are 4 voices that tell the story and a mysterious voice that sends out periodic transmissions to "I still don't know". While it was all meant to keep the reader engaged, for me, it was more confusing. Some of the action was stilted and implausible and some of the axillary characters and their behavior (like Pearl's parents) were just plain weird and bizarre. The sudden impromptu trips they take, her father's irrational even violent behavior was so odd. I expect the kind of cat and mouse tricks of a spy group, the car chases, the toying during an interrogation, and that was all there, but it left me feeling incomplete. Even the ending was unsatisfying.
October 11, 2018
Conclusion of the so-called Philip Mangan trilogy (the books are actually much more ensemble pieces than this convenient pigeon-holing suggests). I’ve still never read the first one but the other two are first-rate modern spy thrillers. It’s not that Brookes is doing anything radically different from other writers in this over-populated field, but there’s an assurance and authority to his writing that, to my mind, puts him above everyone else I’ve read in the current espionage game (and I certainly haven’t read them all).
As before, it’s globetrotting stuff but with an overarching Chinese background, as a brilliant young girl gets unwittingly sucked into the murky, high-stakes world of industrial espionage. Brookes is excellent at capturing the feel of a bustling, chaotic city, the tension of an information drop where nothing is happening but everything might happen, the endless fear and dread of people whose whole lives are wrung through with the paranoia of their trade.
The characterisation is authentic, with the hapless Pearl particularly heartbreaking, the dialogue is sharp and the complex plot clearly laid out so that the reader is never unnecessarily confused. The one gripe I would have is that when the action gains pace in the final quarter a few plot holes and slightly unconvincing moments occur, but really it’s minor stuff.
It looks like Brookes will move onto fresh pastures after this. If so I’ll miss Mangan, Patterson and Hopko, but look forward to what he cooks up next.
As before, it’s globetrotting stuff but with an overarching Chinese background, as a brilliant young girl gets unwittingly sucked into the murky, high-stakes world of industrial espionage. Brookes is excellent at capturing the feel of a bustling, chaotic city, the tension of an information drop where nothing is happening but everything might happen, the endless fear and dread of people whose whole lives are wrung through with the paranoia of their trade.
The characterisation is authentic, with the hapless Pearl particularly heartbreaking, the dialogue is sharp and the complex plot clearly laid out so that the reader is never unnecessarily confused. The one gripe I would have is that when the action gains pace in the final quarter a few plot holes and slightly unconvincing moments occur, but really it’s minor stuff.
It looks like Brookes will move onto fresh pastures after this. If so I’ll miss Mangan, Patterson and Hopko, but look forward to what he cooks up next.
August 5, 2017
The Spy's Daughter concludes the Philip Mangan trilogy proposed by Adam Brookes; this is already an inherent merit of the series, that the author announces formally that this will be the end of it and that he will not continue stretching it into an indefinite saga.
In all honesty I thought this third and last book was not the best, yet the trilogy as a whole is definitely a good read; Brookes manages to refresh the spy novel genre by taking it to a contemporary level while maintaining some of the classic ingredients of the cold was espionage stories.
The Spy's Daughter tries to bring home the whole thing, the plot is strong and maintains a good level of tension throughout the book, but I thought there were too many lose ends left open, too many even for an espionage novel.
So I did enjoy the trilogy though I was a bit disappointed by being left with some unanswered questions at the end....
In all honesty I thought this third and last book was not the best, yet the trilogy as a whole is definitely a good read; Brookes manages to refresh the spy novel genre by taking it to a contemporary level while maintaining some of the classic ingredients of the cold was espionage stories.
The Spy's Daughter tries to bring home the whole thing, the plot is strong and maintains a good level of tension throughout the book, but I thought there were too many lose ends left open, too many even for an espionage novel.
So I did enjoy the trilogy though I was a bit disappointed by being left with some unanswered questions at the end....
December 9, 2017
I really got into the character of Pearl and wanted to know what happened to her as the story unfolded. Along with characters Mangan and Patterson.
Buy, it was a little hard for me to get into at the beginning. Perhaps because Mr. Brookes was born and raised in UK ? Most american authors begin a new chapter when a different character takes over. Not so with Mr. Brookes. Sometimes it was several paragraphs in that I figured out which character he was talking about.
Plus on page 155, "searching for tyre indentations". Not sure if that's how UK spells tire.
Page 231: "and Patterson was sat out front"; page 236, was that a typo extra word? "and suddenly they were airside again" Again, the UK reference - "airside". Had to look lot of words up and detracted from reading.
But, am looking forward to buying his other books and reading them !!
Buy, it was a little hard for me to get into at the beginning. Perhaps because Mr. Brookes was born and raised in UK ? Most american authors begin a new chapter when a different character takes over. Not so with Mr. Brookes. Sometimes it was several paragraphs in that I figured out which character he was talking about.
Plus on page 155, "searching for tyre indentations". Not sure if that's how UK spells tire.
Page 231: "and Patterson was sat out front"; page 236, was that a typo extra word? "and suddenly they were airside again" Again, the UK reference - "airside". Had to look lot of words up and detracted from reading.
But, am looking forward to buying his other books and reading them !!
December 24, 2018
I picked this up at the library without realising it's the third of a trilogy: if I like the first few pages of a book I will usually read it, and enjoy *not* knowing in advance what it's supposed to be about. I think it works okay as a standalone, and I don't think I'd've got this far if I'd started with number 1 since I disliked Mangan immediately: another of these forehead-clutching angst-ridden I'm-getting-out-of-this-game-really-I-am because the MORAL AMBIGUITY bozos, spare me. I liked Pearl. I kept reading because of her. Brookes is a graceful writer but this one reminded me of why I stopped reading John Le Carre some years ago, another graceful writer, and I still admire his early books, before he got too bogged down with the endless murkiness of human nature (also his women, when there are any, usually make me crazy). There's only so much forehead-clutching I can stand.
December 22, 2021
Look for linkages, his trainers had once told him. If you have nothing else, look for associations, the place where one thing meets another. That's where the cracks in the cover are. Look there, and you will find what we call intelligence. The hidden, real shape of things. P 161
This is my favorite of the series, which means I'm sad it has ended. There were so many lyrical passages in this one. The story is tragic in so many ways, but mostly for Pearl. And -- spoiler alert? --
(Trish) had told him once, her arms folded, sitting ramrod straight, in that starchy, brittle, voice of hers, not to expect the stories to resolve. The stories just hang there, she said, without endings. (p 86)
This is my favorite of the series, which means I'm sad it has ended. There were so many lyrical passages in this one. The story is tragic in so many ways, but mostly for Pearl. And -- spoiler alert? --
(Trish) had told him once, her arms folded, sitting ramrod straight, in that starchy, brittle, voice of hers, not to expect the stories to resolve. The stories just hang there, she said, without endings. (p 86)
December 7, 2017
I was one of the lucky ones to receive this book as an e-book giveaway from Goodreads. I just love mysteries, thrillers and this sounded interesting when I entered to win it.
There are some unlikely characters that come together and work together in this book. The female Pearl seems to have more knowledge than you would think, but the story flows well.
Although this is his 3rd book in the series you can understand what is going on as it stands alone just fine. Sometimes when you read an ending book in a series you seem lost in what is going on. I will be going back and looking for the first 2 books in the series now.
I would recommend this book, and I have added this author to my watch list for new books coming out!
There are some unlikely characters that come together and work together in this book. The female Pearl seems to have more knowledge than you would think, but the story flows well.
Although this is his 3rd book in the series you can understand what is going on as it stands alone just fine. Sometimes when you read an ending book in a series you seem lost in what is going on. I will be going back and looking for the first 2 books in the series now.
I would recommend this book, and I have added this author to my watch list for new books coming out!
December 2, 2024
This third installment in the Mangan series might have been the best. And among the reasons why is the titular character, not Mangan himself.
Brookes' fog of war approach at times bewilders me. It's not at all clear at times what we're to make of a certain description or development. That was certainly the case here. Yet the "spy's daughter" of the title kept me engaged. Her innocence and subsequent savvy drove the story and made it resonate. Credit too to Paterson, another woman who is being manipulated by more powerful forces but whose strength reinforces the narrative and its resolution.
Magnan is okay. It's just that his story is improved by the women around him - some of them, anyway.
Brookes' fog of war approach at times bewilders me. It's not at all clear at times what we're to make of a certain description or development. That was certainly the case here. Yet the "spy's daughter" of the title kept me engaged. Her innocence and subsequent savvy drove the story and made it resonate. Credit too to Paterson, another woman who is being manipulated by more powerful forces but whose strength reinforces the narrative and its resolution.
Magnan is okay. It's just that his story is improved by the women around him - some of them, anyway.
December 19, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this book, and indeed the series. I am just sorry that this was the conclusion, I could have stayed with the main protagonists for a while longer :-)
I love the espionage genre and this is up there with the best for me. I very much like the main characters, but also the strongly sketched 'lesser' players. The writing style is distinct and evocative with the sense of place palpable. I liked the beats of humour and droll exchanges, with an engaging plot that always kept me interested.
I literally teared up when I realised in the last few pages that it was the end of the series, but I await the next book by Mr. Brookes keenly.
I love the espionage genre and this is up there with the best for me. I very much like the main characters, but also the strongly sketched 'lesser' players. The writing style is distinct and evocative with the sense of place palpable. I liked the beats of humour and droll exchanges, with an engaging plot that always kept me interested.
I literally teared up when I realised in the last few pages that it was the end of the series, but I await the next book by Mr. Brookes keenly.
December 6, 2018
Okay folks 4.5 stars for this one! First book by this author, and will surely not be my last. This book was fast paced, but also much more realistic than the slew of glossy spy novels you see all over the place. You know the ones I am talking about, the novels who's only message seems to be a hope to be made into one of those shallow, unbelievable SUPERSPY movies that make tons of money while insulting your intelligence. This story involves a foreign intelligence service (our ally) trying to operate in America, during a crisis, without informing the CIA or any other of our intelligence services. Very gritty, realistic and entertaining.
April 28, 2020
An authentic, gripping and compelling story! It was not Cold War days with Russia by John Le Carre, even he has moved on from those days (mostly), instead we are in 2020 and there is a new kid on the block by the name of Adam Brookes. He offered us a smart mystery spy thriller about Chinese cyber-intelligence written with frenetic pace, likeable main characters (Mangan and Patterson) and a cracking storyline (Pearl and all her cohorts!). It sailed along, for this reader, on a comfortable four star standard for much of the story, but had a mesmerising and a most satisfying conclusion to complete a very good story. One of the very best books this person has read this year. 5 STARS.
September 12, 2022
I'm giving this novel 4 stars as it is a somewhat complicated yet predictable spy story but it does at least bring the art of spying up-to-date into the 21st century as the plot draws on the increase in trade espionage and vast, slightly hidden global networks of spies, all of which we might suspect exist from various TV programmes of the same ilk. No spoilers here but the ending is rather sad, almost horrifying as well as with a further sharp twist. Many threads start to come together about half-way through the novel and some of the character development is quite good too, adding credibility to what is a jolly good solid read.
November 9, 2025
Another great one. Super-interesting and topical plot. Unbeknownst to her, a Chinese American math prodigy is groomed by her parents to infiltrate and spy on an American defense contractor. A lot of familiar settings in the DMV as well as, similar to the other books, the globe trotting escapades of the protagonist, the journalist/spy Philip Mangan, including East Timor, Brazil, and Suriname. It is unclear whose side MI6 is actually on. Rolling up a network in the West may undermine one of their sources in China. A memorable drive/chase across the country (including to some familiar destinations in Oregon and California for me) as the math prodigy tries to drop off the grid and evade the Chinese spies who are ostensibly running her.
February 13, 2018
Very well written but complex story. I had a really difficult time following the thread of the story with so many variables and characters but periodically the author will stop and state in a plain linear story what has been happening. It is a system that works pretty well.
This is the third in a series and the only one I've read. The many references to previous history did not detract from the whole story.
I'm tracking down the others and already have downloaded another book from this author.
This is the third in a series and the only one I've read. The many references to previous history did not detract from the whole story.
I'm tracking down the others and already have downloaded another book from this author.
April 17, 2019
I've tried hard to keep reading because so many goodreads reviewers like this book, but I'm halfway through it and (a) am not particularly interested in any of the characters, (b) have not been truly engaged by any scene, and (c) am tired of plowing through four or five different storylines that the author is too cute to connect up. The local color in Asia is a little bit interesting. The college student daughter of the spy is so painfully cliché that I wince every time one of her chapters starts up again.
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