A spy story with a difference. Set in china , as opposed to the west, this makes a refreshing change in this genre. I know it all has to be taken with a pinch of salt – it’s fiction after all, but the all invasive surveillance portrayal of Chinese society is food for thought.
The anger of Peanut when he realises all the changes he missed whilst in prison is well described. The downloading of data from the military establishment seemed implausible but the final double cross seems only too realistic.

I don’t understand why it’s taken me so long to find about this book. Now set to read the follow-up novels.

night heron by Adam Brookes.
A lone man, Peanut, escapes a labor camp in the dead of night, fleeing across the winter desert of north-west China.
Two decades earlier, he was a spy for the British; now Peanut must disappear on Beijing's surveillance-blanketed streets.
A very good read. little slow in places. 4*.

I thought this was a good book but I didn't love it. This one just didn't quite work for me. The writing was a little too descriptive at times but after a couple of chapters I thought the flow of the writing settled. In my opinion there were too many characters and I would have liked to have more character depth. The story itself was good, although a little slow at first. I really enjoyed the setting of this book. Overall this was good but something just didn't quite work for me.

A very insightful novel about modern China. Two rich characters show different perspectives of life in this country, The writing style reminds me of John le Carre,