Rach's Reading Club 2024

The Mah-Jong Spies

For my long book, I chose a somewhat outdated, but still compelling thriller called The Mah-Jong Spies by John Trenhaile. The novel takes place mostly in Hong Kong during the 1980s when it was still a British colony.

Anyway, if you remember that time, you'll remember that everyone wondered what would happen in 1997 when Britain gave the colony back to the People's Republic of China. (As it turns out, not much, which is why this novel feels a little outdated, but that's beside the point.) Anyway, plot involves a story about how the KGB wishes to bankrupt the colony and meanwhile the government of China wants to pull a fast one on the Russians. T

The protagonist of the story is a British businessman named Simon Young. He finds himself being recruited by both the Russians and the Chinese to help with the plot. His Chinese wife turns out to be connected to the Chinese secret service.

Anyway, this story is not easy to follow, but it is also suspenseful and for someone like me who has been to China and Hong Kong, it's something of a nostalgia trip.

I understand that Trenhaile wrote a sequal to this. I may read it, but not right away.