“The Last Mandarin” is a gripping, high-octane rollercoaster ride as authors Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung keep the danger on the front burner with tension that doesn’t abate until almost the last page. From the White House to Beijing, from noodle shops in Hong Kong to the necropolis of the first emperor of China, the jockeying between world superpowers is mind-bending.
The main character is Alice Li, a first generation Chinese American. Her mother, Vivien Li (not the film star), was one of the protestors during the historic Tiananmen Square uprising. She moved to the US and has been a vocal activist for human rights and a free China. She is also a thorn in the sides of the Communist party there. Vivien also, as we find out, has the ear of powerful people, including the President of the United States.
Alice, on the other hand, is a food blogger. Her relationship with her mother is distant, and Alice always feels as if she has disappointed her mother, although she wonders if her mother even cares enough to feel disappointment. While her mother is delicate, small and slender, Alice is not. She resembles her father with her round face and body. People note the lack of resemblance between her and her mom and often comment on it. That wounds Alice every time. Her mother values appearances, and her power suit is her silk Shanghai Tang jacket. That expensive Chinese silk jacket represents Vivien’s place in the world, someone who is bright and respected and valued for her opinions.
Alice is having brunch with her mother when the alarms go off on everyone’s phones. Then fire alarms go off, then every emergency alarm blares, and pandemonium ensues. People in elevators are frantic when the elevator alarms blare. Civil defense alarms and every conceivable alarm is shrieking as people frantically try to get out of buildings while those outside try to get inside. Everyone is absolutely desperate to get to safety. Vehicles bang into each other as their alarms sound. Pilots in airplanes are frantic to discover why the alarms are sounding. Then, as suddenly as it began, all is silent.
Frighteningly, that occurrence has happened around the world, in every city and every country, everywhere on the ground and in the air. Alice’s brother Kevin and his husband Paul are at their mother’s Georgetown home when the women return from the restaurant shaken. But almost immediately, Vivien tells Alice that she must accompany her. Alice asks where, but her mother doesn’t respond.
A government car takes them to the White House, where Vivien clearly knows her way around. They are in a situation room with people questioning Alice about an email and photo that had been sent to her before the alarms went off. Alice recognizes the Director of National Intelligence and is shocked when he asks her about Liam, her classmate at Colombia who is also a food blogger and friend. Alice has a crush on Liam, and he has asked to meet her when he gets to DC. The photo is of Liam on a ferry in the harbor in Hong Kong. It’s unusual because Liam has never taken selfies, and the accompanying text doesn’t make sense either.
The situation is unreal to Alice, even more so when she sees the Secretary of Defense at the meeting. They inform her that Liam is dead, drowned in the harbor, and then their questions about Liam continue. The president enters. Alice and Vivien learn that the signal that set off the alarms originated in China. And as Vivien is an expert on China and knows dissidents there, the officials are asking for her help. Since Alice was friends with Liam, they need her help as well. What’s perhaps most frightening to everyone involved is that to successfully enact such a feat of technology — alarms going off around the world — the planning must have taken years, if not decades. What is coming next? Vivien tells the president that the only thing more frightening than the Chinese planning this is if the Chinese government didn’t plan it, and some clandestine group is in charge.
From that scene, the action ramps up as Alice decides to go to Columbia to see what she can find out about Liam. That leads her to Akron, Ohio, where Liam worked and where his family lived. There she finds what might turn out to be clues about what Liam was investigating in China. While there, she narrowly escapes being a victim to the next worldwide episode of planned terrorism. Untold numbers of people die and others are merely injured, but the event causes worldwide panic.
When Alice returns to her mother’s home, she finds out that Vivien has gone to China. She decides to follow. But she gets kidnapped en route while in Hong Kong and taken to China, where she and her mother begin their journey to discover who is at the center of the attacks. Only slightly less arduous than that task is for mother and daughter to learn how to work together. From the start, we learn a lot about China’s history, the Cultural Revolution, and the way the current government is run.
It’s interesting to note how this novel differs from Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series. Louise Penny’s writing in those novels is slow and gentle. There is no nonstop action; the story centers around the characters and the setting. Three Pines, the mythical Canadian village across the border from Vermont, is an idyllic small town where everyone knows each other. The pacing is about Gamache and the connections he makes with the people he encounters.
This novel, on the other hand, is plot-driven, and the action is intense. Those behind the attacks might be from China, but they have allies everywhere. The accomplices are those people whose “only allegiance is to themselves. To power. And money. They have no other loyalty. If they think doing business with China would be good for their bank accounts, they’d toss aside all human rights.” They are talking about the tech billionaires and wannabes. Those to whom money and power trump all human morals and democracy.
It’s easy to see why this partnership, Penny and Fung, resulted in a finely written thriller. Each author brings a special and unique talent to the story. Fung brings her knowledge and background in China, specifically in Hong Kong. She brings her knowledge, firsthand, of the complexities and brutality of war. Penny brings her ability to write almost poetic passages amidst otherwise brutal subjects. She finds the beauty in people and places.
Together, they have written a novel that is about relationships and secrets. Vivien has many secrets she has kept from her family, secrets that come back to haunt her. There are secrets that Alice and her brother Kevin carry. And secrets about other family members, family from China whom Alice had never met. Then there are also the secrets that the traitors carry, both in the US and in China. And finally, perhaps the most cataclysmic secret is that of a secret organization that has flourished, unseen, hidden, for decades. It’s fascinating to see how Alice’s relationship with her mother changes over the course of the story. First, Alice is intimidated by her mother and her powerful aura, but as the action moves forward, Alice takes more control of the investigation as her brilliant mind, previously hidden beneath the weight of her insecurities, works through puzzles and mysteries, coming to a solution and solving problems. The evolving relationship between mother and daughter is beautiful to behold. And ultimately very satisfying.
Please note: This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.