Philip Mangan just can’t cope without the spice that espionage adds to his existence so seizes the opportunity to be involved again when it is offered.
It is good to read a story where the main protagonists are flawed people.
Set again across Asia it moves at a good pace and remains interesting throughout.
I have enjoyed all three books in the Philip Mangan series of spy novels

I haven't read the first two books of this trilogy, so I felt like I missed out on something. Not that you needed to read the first two books, but I wanted to because this was such a good book that I wanted to know the characters better. This had the feel of a real spy novel without the weight of all the espionage details that sometimes bogs you down. I'm pretty sure I held my breath in chapters 49 and 50. Happily, they weren't long chapters. I look forward to Mr. Brookes' future writings. Maybe he'll even surprise us with another episode in this series! Thanks for the read! #NetGalley

I read Adam Brookes's first book in this series Night Heron when it was released four years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the main character journalist Phillip Mangan's introduction into the skills of tradecraft. He is the anti-Bourne. He doesn't kick or shoot his way out of trouble; he knows how to read people and as his superiors say, he's "a natural!"  The humanity has been stripped away from many of the characters in the spy novels I read, but Brookes has written a realistic character who has only gotten better as the series has gone on. 

The Spy's Daughter picks up where the second book Spy Games left off. Mangan is seemingly off the grid in Thailand, but the world of espionage continues to plot around him and he is quickly flushed out of hiding and back into the game. In the DC area, a high-level American intelligence officer with ties to China has died of an apparent suicide, a first-generation genius Chinese-American college student is eyed by the defense industry, and Mangan’s former handler Trish Patterson has been relocated to take some time off after her last assignment. The threads become intertwined and the reader is left trying to figure out how it will all work out.

I frequently recommend this series to friends who read spy novels. The Spy’s Daughter could definitely be read as a stand-alone, but starting the series at the beginning would be the way to go.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Redhook Books, and the Mr. Brookes for providing the advanced copy for this review.

The third novel from Adam Brookes continues to improve on his past novels and puts him as a true heir of Jonh le Carre. Masterfully plotted and populated with rich characters, a strong contender for thriller of the year!

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.

The Spy's Daughter (The third Philip Mangan Book) is a slow read which I had difficulty getting into. The storyline was complex and I could not relate to the characters. Not a bad story but just not for me.

The Spy’s Daughter continues the exploits of British journalist Philip Mangan turned secret agent for MI6, his handler Trish Patterson and a host of other characters first met in Night Heron and Spy Games. At the end of Spy Games Mangan and Patterson are left with an unsuccessful mission; their Chinese contact who has been giving them valuable information has been betrayed and captured.

When The Spy’s Daughter opens, Patterson has been exiled to the US where she is a sort of go between with the CIA and FBI. In fact, she is doing busy work that any one could easily do and it seems that she is being barred from working in her field of expertise China. Mangan, meanwhile, is haunted by a last muttered message from the betrayed agent and decides to follow one final thread to a Chinese attorney living in Paramaribo Suriname. He may know something, but what? After watching the attorney’s office for a week, the only thing that piques Mangan’s curiousity are two meetings Teng has with a Chinese American man from Washington DC who is traveling with his wife and daughter. Magnan sees the teenager in the hotel coffee shop, chats with her and is interrupted by the mother who viciously slaps the girl for speaking to a stranger. He manages to slip the girl his card with a whisper that if she ever needs to talk, she can contact him via email

And here is where Mangan and Patterson link up for the crux of the book. Pearl Tao is a nineteen year old genius whose field is Super Artificial Intelligence. She is already considered one of the top experts in the field and is being recruited by multi-global corporations. She is on the radar of intelligence agencies and her parents might be shopping her to darker sponsors. Yet for all her brains, she is still just an American teenager with all the doubts and worries of a college student. When she realizes she is being manipulated and is merely a pawn in a global power game to dominate the field of SAI, she contacts Mangan who contacts Patterson.

Patterson and Mangan try to keep the girl out of the clutches of the shadowy powers who want her knowledge Seems a no brainer that MI6 and the CIA should support their efforts, but they are told to stand down. Who is preventing them from helping Pearl and exposing the people trying to manipulate her? Are there more double agents high in the intelligence community?

This is an intricate novel which connects all strands which were left dangling in Night Heron and Spy Games. It is fast-paced, gritty, and disturbing. It is a story out of today’s headlines.

The author states that this is the last story about Mangan and Patterson. I hope he changes his mind. Or perhaps he can give the back story on one of his most fascinating characters Granny Poon. Please?