The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung is a fast-paced political thriller. I’m a huge fan of Louise Penny and her Inspector Gamache series. I also loved State of Terror, the political thriller Penny co-authored with Hillary Rodham Clinton. This novel is written in collaboration with Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung and it is delightful.
Like State of Terror, this is a gripping political thriller with international intrigue, powerful politicians behaving badly, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. There’s also an alarming amount of real-world reality lightly cloaked as fiction to keep you up at night. And there is all the warm, cozy food elements that the Gamache fans will love too.
Alice Li is an American food blogger who hasn’t quite figured out how to get out from the shadow of her formidable mother Vivien Li. Vivien escaped China following the Tianamen Square protests and has become an internationally celebrated human rights activist. She’s famous, influential, and enjoyed being fawned over. Alice, meanwhile, can barely get her mother’s attention unless she’s being criticized.
During one tedious breakfast meeting with her mother, Alice’s world is completely disrupted by an unknown global attack on alarm systems. Alarms set off around the world, causing widespread panic. The US believe the disruption originated in China and Vivien is summoned to the White House to offer insights into what her underground sources have to say. Alice is dragged along to this meeting and soon finds out that her friend and fellow food blogger Liam is involved in the attacks. The connection to the attack is not clear but he’s been murdered in China and the US government wants to know what Alice knows about her now-dead friend, who apparently was a spy.
This turn of events is a shocking wake up call for Alice, who’d rather be eating dumplings. Vivien is obviously better connected that Alice realized, she’s on a first-name basis with the President, and seems to know a lot about spying on China. When a second attack traps people in elevators around the world, it’s clear that bigger plans are afoot. Vivien hightails it to China to sort things out. Alice does the only sensible thing and jumps on a plane to follow her.
As the adventure unfolds, Alice discovers more of her mother’s hidden history. Turns out Alice’s father is not dead, and is a high-ranking officer in China’s Ministry of State Security. Is he a double agent or just a bad dude? Alice has to parse what is real vs. improbable coincidence vs. lies. Is being a foodie and journalist enough to sort out what’s happening on the global stage? Alice takes it one noodle at a time.
One thing I particularly appreciated was how seamlessly Penny and Fung’s writing comes together. There is no sense of two authors taking turns or separate stories stitched together. The novel is cohesive and there’s a consistent voice. There is also a wonderful balance of the suspense and family drama Penny writes so well with the Chinese history and international politics that are Fung’s domain.
The Last Mandarin is about family secrets, political secrets, and all the ways that stories are carefully constructed to obscure the truth. It’s clever, entertaining, and alarming.