An interesting, engaging international/espionage thriller.

At the heart of THE BEIJING CONSPIRACY is a plot by high-level officials in the US and China to maintain the status quo in China: prevent reforms, ensure and entrench the Party's power, etc. Meanwhile, a former-CIA agent travels to China to meet with his daughter, who he only recently found out about. Naturally, this means he's caught in the middle of the action and conspiracy.

Flint does a good job of explaining the situation in China (past and present), and has populated the story with interesting and engaging characters. It's well-written, and kept me interested throughout.

Recommended.

The Beijing Conspiracy seems ripped from the headlines. The China/America relationship is a focus. There is a lot of action and the story moves fairly quickly. Shamini Flint takes a bit of license with his characters, they seem to be based on real life US political members. I enjoyed the story, I thought the characters were well drawn, and the plot flowed rather well. I would read more from Shamini Flint.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

A tale of espionage that spans from the cold war to the present day

The story spans the lives of two Americans and a Chinese woman that meet in Beijing in their youth and are destined to cross paths again because of a secret.

Jack Ford finds out that he has a daughter out of the blue and that she is in danger and that he needs to return to China, a country he last visited as a young man. In 1989 he was an American spy, undercover and reporting on the student activists challenging the ruling government. He meets Xia, a student activist and they fall in love. The backdrop of the Tiananmen Square massacre sets the scene for their relationship, as the Chinese students battle the government forces and are arrested and imprisoned. Jack returns to the States and they lose touch until Xia sends him a letter with the startling news that he is the father of her daughter.

Jack enlists the help of his old friend Peter before returning to China but the meeting proves disastrous. Jack ends up with a deadly piece of espionage that the Chinese need to keep out of the hands of the Americans and Jack is caught up in a deadly battle between the two sides. At stake is the life of his daughter and the tentative peace between China and America. Jack has to face the ultimate choice, his country or his child.

Gillian

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

Fans of the global conspiracy theory-one man saving the world novel will enjoy this one for the nice details about China and Flint's nod to the current political situation in the US. Jack was a junior officer in Beijing during Tienanmen-and he fathered a daughter he knew nothing about with Xia, one of the activists. Now 30 years later, he's gone back to Beijing to find her and, for want of a better word, rescue her. There's an implausible plot element involving a critical document and the possibility of WW III but heck, that's what makes for a fast paced thriller than might make you think a bit more while watching the evening news. The US VP- that wasn't gonna happen! Note that the characters, even the American ones, seem to think and speak in British terms. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This roller-coaster ride of a thriller is fascinating.

The book opens with the famous "Tank Man." Even those not familiar with the Tiananmen Square massacre probably know the iconic photo: a lone man standing in front of a line of tanks relentlessly driving forward.

I never knew that he spoke with the gunner on the first tank, nor that the man lived, thanks to onlookers who hustled him away. Nor did I know that the photo was taken from a window of a foreign reporter's hotel room and smuggled out of China.

Tank man haunts this book. He looms large in the collective memory of the witnesses and others in China. He's also an apt metaphor for what happens in this book.

He haunts Jack, the former spy and Army ranger, who drinks to rid himself of bad memories. Jack's unsuccessful--imagine that--and conflicted about getting involved in whatever power play is going on between the Chinese and Americans. I rather liked his world-weary nature that is still half-hopeful: longing for some undefinable thing (a daughter? safety? life purpose?) and uncertain whether that will happen.

The power struggle between China and America interested me, though I found the motivations on the Chinese side more compelling. There's a spy who wants to avenge his son's death. There is also the struggle between the hardliners in the Party and those who want reform.

The American side? Let's see. There's a character named POTUS who is a thinly veiled spoof on the current U.S. President; various aides who try to contain the damage from his tweets and stupidity; and one official who takes matters in his own hands.

Plus, there's a vice president who seems like a certain former female Presidential candidate. POTUS appointed her VP after his former VP dropped dead of a heart attack. It's a political concession to the opposing party, we learn. Highly unrealistic. But it makes for dramatic, if somewhat comic, tension within the White House.

A few oddities popped up, though. For one, the American characters use the metric system in descriptions. For example, in Jack's mental description of himself, he refers to his weight as "eighty kilos." In real life, an American man of that age would likely think of his weight in pounds, not kilos. There were a few other places where American characters used British terms; it was hard to imagine that an all-American like NSA head Griffin would use the term "boffin" except, perhaps, in irony. How much does this matter in a novel published in Britain? I have no idea. It just distracted me as an American.

This is a novel where the lines between reality and appearance blur. Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? (Do people ever really tell the truth in espionage?) Furthermore, it's clear that we don't know which side is right or even if there is a right side, given the self-serving, power-grabbing nature of the characters' agendas.

Once I got into the rhythm of the story, I enjoyed The Beijing Conspiracy. The book is a page-turner: lots of action and unpredictable twists, a compelling narrative, and an all-too-realistic scenario that builds to a great climax. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for a free copy of The Beijing Conspiracy in exchange for an honest review.

This review will appear on my blog on September 30, 2019.

A smart, engrossing thriller that reads like it's right out of the headlines - or soon may be.. Forrmer spy and Delta soldier Jack Ford returns to China after s 20 absence, compelled by a letter from the anti-regime demonstrator he met and loved in the Tiananmen Square riots informing him that he has a daughter by that long-ago liaison. On a stopover in Singapore he is waylaid by a colleague from those days who's been checking out the facts in the letter and also carrying a briefcase chained to his wrist containing a purloined memo that has vast implications for the upcoming change in China's leadership and relationship with the United States. When the men trailing his friend attack him and take a chainsaw to his wrist, Ford fights them off, grabs the briefcase, and sets in motion a plot that culminates in a breathless and surprising denouement that will keep the reader guessing to the last sentence.

Jack Ford was with the US Embassy in Beijing in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square student uprising and fell in love with Xia, one of the students. He then was in the Marines. Now, he receives a letter from Xia saying that his daughter (who he didn't know about) was in danger. He contacts his old friend at the embassy, Peter, to find out about Xia and her daughter. Meanwhile, a US agent known at the Emperor, has sent a letter to the embassy saying that there is a conspiracy between General Zhang in China with the National Security Advisor, Griffin.

Peter is on his way to the states with the letter from the Emperor and meets Jack in a Park in Hong Kong. Peter is killed by Chinese trying to get the letter back just as Jack arrives. Jack manages to kill the Chinese and get the letter before continuing to Beijing. Jack has his work cut out for him. He is impressed by his daughter, Fei Yen. While trying to protect her, he must try to stop the conspiracy. While the US President Potus is clueless, the vice president Elizabeth Harris is far more competent in trying to prevent WWIII.

This book is funny, but scary, and quite different from the Inspector Singh books

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC. I loved reading The Beijing Conspiracy.. It has a credible plot, interesting characters, real suspense, and a superb conclusion. I had not heard of the author before, but will now watch out for further books from her.

This is a fast paced espionage thriller which involves a secret plot between factions in the USA and China which seems only too real given the current political situation in both countries.
Jack Ford an ex CIA spy and former special forces operative is summoned back to China by an ex girlfriend claiming he has a long lost daughter.
Jack and Xia had met 30 years earlier during the Tiananmen Square protests when Jack was a young agent on his first assignment. They fell in love but then drifted apart and he knows nothing about this daughter.
There are flashbacks to their time in Tiananmen Square and what happened to student Xia and Jack is gradually revealed in the course of the novel.
However en route to meet his daughter several violent things happen and Jack ends up with a secret document which is invaluable to both the USA and China. Everyone is looking for him and Jack needs all his skills to stay one step ahead of them.
Although the plot was complicated, it was believable and once I got my head round the different scheming characters I found it one of those books I just couldn’t put down. The POTUS was obviously a thinly veiled description of the current holder of the position and unfortunately his actions in the situation seemed quite plausible.
The author obviously knows a lot about China as Jack’s time there in past and present is extremely well described.
I liked Jack as a character and would be happy to see him in another book if the author decided to write one.
This is an enjoyable modern thriller which was a compelling read and really built up to a very exciting climax.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I almost gave up on this book, I found it hard to follow all the different characters and different plots but things clicked into place about a third of the way into the book and I just couldn’t put it down after. It was fast paced with lots of different twists and turns and it had me holding my breath for most of it. It’s a novel that could very easily be based on fact.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.
#NetGalley #thebeijingconspiracy.

Critically-acclaimed writer Shamini Flint is back with another thoroughly original and exciting tale, and after the superb Inspector Singh series, I am pleased to have some more action set in Asia. It's a complex case but one Flint crafts to flow exceptionally well with an easy narrative style and the story is very much characterised by nothing really being quite what it seems. China is portrayed in an authentic, true-to-life manner with a beautiful sense of time and place although this isn't surprising given the author has lived and worked in Asia for many years.

Based in the metropolis that is Beijing we are treated to a very readable and compelling yarn about young American spy, Jack Ford, and the daughter he never knew existed. The stakes are incredibly high and with the possibility of starting World War III should he save the life of his long-lost daughter or the lives of many that will inevitably be on the line should war break out? Full of political intrigue and adrenaline-pumping action this is an enjoyable spy thriller. Recommended. Many thanks to Severn House Publishing for an ARC.