The Beijing Conspiracy

by Shamini Flint

'Flint . . . creates fascinating, unforgettable characters' BooklistA LONG-LOST DAUGHTER. AN EXPLOSIVE SECRET. A LETHAL CONSPIRACY.Ex-Delta Force soldier Jack Ford is trying to put the past behind him. But when he receives a letter from someone he hasn’t spoken to in thirty years, claiming he has a daughter, he can’t resist investigating for himself.Soon he’s on a plane to China, a country he hasn’t returned to since witnessing the atrocities of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But on his search he stumbles upon a document which both the Chinese and American governments are desperately chasing. Now Jack is trapped in an impossible save his daughter or prevent a new world war where thousands will lose their lives.

Genres: Thriller, China, Fiction, Politics, Contemporary

349 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2021

About the author

Shamini Flint lives in Singapore with her husband and two children. She began her career in law in Malaysia and also worked at an international law firm in Singapore. She travelled extensively around Asia for her work, before resigning to be a stay-at-home mum, writer, part-time lecturer and environmental activist, all in an effort to make up for her 'evil' past as a corporate lawyer!

Shamini writes children's books with cultural and environmental themes including Jungle Blues and Turtle takes a Trip as well as the 'Sasha' series of children's books. She also writes crime fiction featuring the rotund Singaporean policeman, Inspector Singh. Singh travels around Asia stumbling over corpses and sampling the food ...

Reviews

[Jay Pruitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This thriller involves a conspiracy at the highest levels of the U.S. and Chinese governments, whereby hardliners from both countries plot to prevent reforms from occurring within China, thus keeping the status quo of the two political power structures. In the middle of this conspiracy is an ex-CIA agent who must travel to China to protect his newly-discovered daughter, while becoming enmeshed in the high-stakes game of espionage. And finally, the story involves the “Tank Man”, the brave Chinese student who stood his ground at Tiananmen Square in 1979, for all the world to see.

The Beijing Conspiracy is a thrill ride from start to finish, with lots of twists and turns. The last few chapters are so engaging, and scarily realistic. I would rate it a 5-star, had the book not been so blatantly obvious that the President, portrayed as a buffoon, is meant to be Trump (in all but name) and that his wise Vice President is somehow Hillary Clinton. The story was strong without the need for introducing political bias.

Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the opportunity to provide my review.

["Avonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out all of my reviews at: https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com

THE BEIJING CONSPIRACY by Shamini Flint is a high intensity international political thriller by a new to me author. This standalone has two fast-paced, high octane timeline plots intertwining around players from the Chinese government and the last American administration past and present.

Retired Delta Force Ranger Jack Ford receives a letter from China telling him he has a daughter he never knew he had. In 1989, Jack was a young idealistic spy attached to the Chinese embassy who fell in love with a Chinese student leader involved in the Tiananmen Square uprising. Why now, thirty years later has Xia revealed this news and asked him to return to Beijing?

This story is a thrill ride from start to finish with plenty of intrigue, back-stabbing, action and even some cutting humor at our past President’s expense. Jack is a stereotypical older, disillusioned soldier protagonist, but he was still different enough to have me rooting for his success. The secondary characters all have their own agendas and could never be taken at face value. I easily read this book in one sitting because I did not want to put it down.

I can recommend this thriller and I will definitely be looking for other books by this author.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Critically-acclaimed writer Shamini Flint is back with another thoroughly original and exciting tale, and after the superb Inspector Singh series, I am pleased to have some more action set in Asia. It's a complex case but one Flint crafts to flow exceptionally well with an easy narrative style and the story is very much characterised by nothing really being quite what it seems. China is portrayed in an authentic, true-to-life manner with a beautiful sense of time and place although this isn't surprising given the author has lived and worked in Asia for many years.

Based in the metropolis that is Beijing we are treated to a very readable and compelling yarn about young American spy, Jack Ford, and the daughter he never knew existed. The stakes are incredibly high and with the possibility of starting World War III should he save the life of his long-lost daughter or the lives of many that will inevitably be on the line should war break out? Full of political intrigue and adrenaline-pumping action this is an enjoyable spy thriller. Recommended. Many thanks to Severn House Publishing for an ARC.

[Jane Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect balance of adrenaline-led action and careful suspense building makes this political thriller, exploring the 21st-century cold war between China and the US, a gripping read. The contemporary placing of the action and the undoubted knowledge of the current political climate makes this a believable story. Reinforced with a complex, troubled protagonist, and a cast of realistically flawed antagonists and allies. The line between friend and foe is hard to draw in this novel, adding to the stories authenticity.

Jack Ford’s life changed in 1989 with the Tiananmen Square massacre, his subsequent military service has left him with PTSD, and a life that is an emotional wasteland. An unexpected plea for help from someone he once loved, has him travelling back to Asia, where he is embroiled in a battle between China and the US, with him as the fall guy.

This is a story of factions, misinformation, conspiracy, espionage and political wrangling. Jack is the lynchpin, to maintaining the status quo, and avoiding world war, but is the greater good worth the personal cost, for Jack?

There are some thinly veiled characters in this story, which add to its realism, the problems exposed are realistic, disturbing, and as you read on, you are invested in the outcome, because it feels so close to the world’s present-day crisis.

An easy to read, and fast-paced international thriller, with a strong espionage theme and astute political commentary.

I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fast paced espionage thriller which involves a secret plot between factions in the USA and China which seems only too real given the current political situation in both countries.
Jack Ford an ex CIA spy and former special forces operative is summoned back to China by an ex girlfriend claiming he has a long lost daughter.
Jack and Xia had met 30 years earlier during the Tiananmen Square protests when Jack was a young agent on his first assignment. They fell in love but then drifted apart and he knows nothing about this daughter.
There are flashbacks to their time in Tiananmen Square and what happened to student Xia and Jack is gradually revealed in the course of the novel.
However en route to meet his daughter several violent things happen and Jack ends up with a secret document which is invaluable to both the USA and China. Everyone is looking for him and Jack needs all his skills to stay one step ahead of them.
Although the plot was complicated, it was believable and once I got my head round the different scheming characters I found it one of those books I just couldn’t put down. The POTUS was obviously a thinly veiled description of the current holder of the position and unfortunately his actions in the situation seemed quite plausible.
The author obviously knows a lot about China as Jack’s time there in past and present is extremely well described.
I liked Jack as a character and would be happy to see him in another book if the author decided to write one.
This is an enjoyable modern thriller which was a compelling read and really built up to a very enjoyable exciting climax.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll start by saying I'm a big supporter of fiction by writers living outside the traditional "literary bubbles" of the U.S., England, Scandinavia, India, etc.; and so it's a joy to see someone like Singapore's Flint start hitting the mainstream. She's been around a while now, and done fairly well with her long-running "Inspector Singh" series of Asia-based, semi-humorous mysteries. But with Beijing Conspiracy, she swings for the big leagues with her first international espionage thriller.

Intentional or not, Beijing owes a HUGE debt to Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger, with its crooked White House officials making backroom deals with our so-called enemies, and everything ultimately hinging on the unsanctioned actions of a rogue CIA (or in this case, ex-CIA) man named Jack. Which is fine in itself, except that to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, "I've read Tom Clancy and you, Ms. Flint, are no Tom Clancy."

The problems begin with the far-too-many coincidences that drive the plot, but quickly moves on to the writing itself which abounds with awkward similes:

The words claimed the attention of those present like the icy Siberian winds from the north.
The Navy chief was apoplectic, his hair standing on end and face as red as a hong bao packet.
General Zhang looked as smug as the cat who had ordered a lifetime of cream to be delivered daily and had the family dog arrested.

…and cliché Chinese dialogue:

"Come - let us go back to my place and prepare more flyers for the revolution!"
"The twelfth? But that is the day of the election of our new General Secretary of the People's Congress!"
"The Russian bear is a toothless creature now. The Chinese dragon remains a beast to be feared!"

Plus, while our former spy/warrior hero might be quick with his fists, he's often just a tad slower in other departments. He can kill three armed bad guys and then slip away without breaking a sweat, but then the next day has a panic attack on a plane just because he might bump into an old flame? And later, after killing still more folks who are out looking for him, his long-lost daughter is kidnapped right in front of him - and he wonders if it might just be a coincidence?

Another truly WTF? moment is when the Director of the CIA - like, Mike Pompeo-level "Director" - flies unaccompanied into Beijing on basically zero notice and starts going all spooky…I just gotta hope it doesn't really work like that, or we are all in big trouble.

One final note: Flint wisely makes up all her political characters on both the American and Chinese sides…except for the otherwise-unnamed POTUS (President of the United States), who is CLEARLY the mad-tweeting, golf-loving, Coke-swizzling, nonsense-spouting Donald Trump. I can well imagine the fun she had writing those scenes, where he clearly comes off as the totally off-the-rails sideshow freak he truly was. And while no one enjoys making fun of the Not-So-Great Pumpkin as much as I do…I gotta admit that it bites just a bit to see a foreign writer doing so, especially when I know that writing similarly about the leaders of either country she calls home - Singapore and Malaysia - could well land her in jail. (And to clarify, I've lived over seven years in those two countries, and while I deeply love them both, bastions of liberal democracy they are not.)

So yeah, go ahead and make fun of ol' Girth Vader - he certainly deserves it. But understand that here in the States we're actually allowed to do it too, without fear of repercussion* - as well as vote his corrupt, fat ass out of office.

* Unless, of course, you're a Republican Congressperson like Liz Cheney - in which case you will be drummed out of power by your so-called "colleagues." But stay tuned...that girl is JUST gettin' started...

[Jo Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can remember so vividly the sight of the 'tank man' standing in front of the tank holding his shopping bag, during the Tiananmen Square massacre. My daughter was an International Relations in Asia postgrad, so I know that there are people who were not born at the time who are also aware of the incident and the iconic image it created. It was one of only a handful of the images of news events in my life that will stay with me forever, and like many people I always wondered what happened to him.

I really enjoyed the flashbacks to the troubles in Tiananmen, and it was clear to see that events that took place back then shaped the person Jack Ford was to become. My only minor bugbear with the present day story-line, involving rising tensions between China and the United States was that I would have preferred all present day politicians to have been fictional. Although the current US President was not specifically named, he was identifiable by his foibles. A completely fictional President would have been better. That being said, that was my only minor issue with the book. The rising tensions, however, were completely believable because of the current state of world politics, and international relations, which really added to the tension in the story-line.

I loved the spy element to the story, and found the side characters both compelling and interesting, particularly Confucius, whose personality jumped off the page for me. I found the action gripping, and as the main character, Jack Ford was a commanding force to be reckoned with. As heroes go, Jack Ford was pretty much perfect, just the right level of jaded cynicism combined with a sharp mind and excellent military skills. I really hope that Shamini will write another book starring him, because I would love to read it!

[Jacob Stelling · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting premise for a spy thriller which went with the China-US relationship rather than the tired Russian version of the story. The main character was one who you felt you related to, and I enjoyed the way the story became clearer through gradual flashbacks, which often revealed twists that you didn’t expect.

A good political angle to the story as well - from both nations - but did feel the presentation of the president as Trump almost felt satirical, but was written as if it was genuinely serious, which let the story down as it felt cliche.

Enjoyed this thriller and was kept guessing right til the end.

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of espionage that spans from the cold war to the present day

The story spans the lives of two Americans and a Chinese woman that meet in Beijing in their youth and are destined to cross paths again because of a secret.

Jack Ford finds out that he has a daughter out of the blue and that she is in danger and that he needs to return to China, a country he last visited as a young man. In 1989 he was an American spy, undercover and reporting on the student activists challenging the ruling government. He meets Xia, a student activist and they fall in love. The backdrop of the Tiananmen Square massacre sets the scene for their relationship, as the Chinese students battle the government forces and are arrested and imprisoned. Jack returns to the States and they lose touch until Xia sends him a letter with the startling news that he is the father of her daughter.

Jack enlists the help of his old friend Peter before returning to China but the meeting proves disastrous. Jack ends up with a deadly piece of espionage that the Chinese need to keep out of the hands of the Americans and Jack is caught up in a deadly battle between the two sides. At stake is the life of his daughter and the tentative peace between China and America. Jack has to face the ultimate choice, his country or his child.

Gillian

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bourne Identity quality writing of Robert Ludlum is back with Shamini Flint. The Beijing Conspiracy is a thriller for 2020. Speaking truth to power is once again a theme in Flint’s writing. Here Jack Ford, a tough as nails American soldier, is swept into a taut situation of international intrigue. Nobody anticipated a lethal element who fights for democracy in a political landscape populated by military hardliners in China and a duplicitous NSA chief with an absurd mustache and a President whose main contribution is saying, “we can’t look weak.”

Flint had me rooting hard and totally involved, staying up late to read to the end. “Chaos is come again.”

[Karen Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

In recent years I've become a big fan of espionage fiction, particularly Cold War spy thrillers. The Beijing Conspiracy is sent in the present day but with two Superpowers plotting against one another amidst the deals and double-crossing, this new Cold War between the USA and China proves to be just as tense and exciting a background as the older conflict.
Those of us who remember the shocking scenes of the Tiananmen Square massacre back in 1989 will never forget that stark image of a lone man facing down a line of tanks. It's this moment which we learn proved pivotal to Jack Ford's life but why the young spy left Beijing shortly afterwards isn't revealed until later in the novel. Now a much-decorated ex-Delta Force soldier, Jack is finally tempted back to China when he receives a letter from an ex-girlfriend, claiming he is the father of her daughter, Fei Yen and that they need his help.
Meanwhile, a Chinese spy codenamed EMPEROR has contacted his American handler to inform him that he has a document he wants to send them. In a world where most spycraft is conducted by powerful technology, having to use a boots on the ground courier is anachronistic but those who learned the old-school methods can't help but feel a burst of adrenaline at having to smuggle out human intelligence the old-fashioned way. Nevertheless, it's a risky business, made even more perilous by rogue agents and though Jack's stopover in Singapore should have been fairly routine, he ends up being drawn into a deadly game of brinksmanship which finds him having to confront the ghosts of his past.
Although Jack is the central character, he is largely ignorant of the scheming which has brought him to Beijing and which has led to him being the focus of a manhunt. The Beijing Conspiracy features a fictional US President who bears an uncanny resemblance to the previous incumbent, from his obsessions with golf and hyperbolic tweets to his obtuse understanding of and interest in diplomatic affairs, and his constant 'Make America again' sloganeering. However, we learn that his first Vice President had a heart attack and in the interest of unity, the POTUS appointed a woman, Elizabeth Harris who is widely seen as a bleeding heart liberal by the more conservative members of the Republican Party.
The conflict of beliefs and opinions is mirrored in China where the General Secretary-elect of the Communist Party, Zhu Juntao seems to be a reformist, much to the chagrin of hardliner, General Zhang. With many in the US Government fearing a liberalised China would result in the USA losing its status as the world's largest democracy, The Beijing Conspiracy is a sharply perceptive exploration of global politics. The brutal corruption of the various factions of the Chinese government results in Jack having to employ the skills he learned as a spy and on the battlefield as this complex novel twists and turns becoming ever more tense as both countries refuse to blink first. The supposed ethics of the American administration are held under the microscope here too, with one character observing,
'the United States didn't order the targeted killings of named individuals - except of course when they did. Morality was opaque in this office, especially under the aegis of the present occupant.'
This is the first book I've read by Shamini Flint but it definitely won't be the last; The Beijing Conspiracy has all exactly the intense drama I'm looking for in a spy thriller. Intelligent and compelling with an engaging lead character in Jack Ford and a provocative, high-octane plot, I thought it was a cracking read and thoroughly recommend it.

[Aimee Dars]

During 1989, at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Jack Ford had an affair with Xia, a leader in the student youth movement. Some thirty years later, she sends him a message requesting his help and revealing they have a daughter together.

Jack returns to China the first time since that summer, coincidentally just before a new Secretary General, a reformer, is set to take office. Warring factions both within China and the United States disagree about the new leadership and clandestine machinations, blackmail, and military maneuvers threaten the Secretary General’s ascension. Neither side trusts Jack—and Jack trusts no one—but he is in a unique position to influence events.

THE BEIJING CONSPIRACY is fun and fast-paced, and I particularly got a kick out of the buffoonish President clearly modeled after Trump. The behind-the-scenes power plays seemed both over-the-top but also possible, so they terrified me! Jack’s trajectory was less realistic to me, so even though it was entertaining, it wasn’t completely believable, nor was Jack’s naïveté about certain aspects of the situation.

This novel is an enjoyable political thriller and a good choice if you are looking for a fast-paced read but not necessarily if you are looking for a realistic book with a long-lasting impact.

Thanks to Canongate and Netgalley for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, fun action-packed, well written

[Meredith Rankin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This roller-coaster ride of a thriller is fascinating.

The book opens with the famous "Tank Man." Even those not familiar with the Tiananmen Square massacre probably know the iconic photo: a lone man standing in front of a line of tanks relentlessly driving forward.

I never knew that he spoke with the gunner on the first tank, nor that the man lived, thanks to onlookers who hustled him away. Nor did I know that the photo was taken from a window of a foreign reporter's hotel room and smuggled out of China.

Tank man haunts this book. He looms large in the collective memory of the witnesses and others in China. He's also an apt metaphor for what happens in this book.

He haunts Jack, the former spy and Army ranger, who drinks to rid himself of bad memories. Jack's unsuccessful--imagine that--and conflicted about getting involved in whatever power play is going on between the Chinese and Americans. I rather liked his world-weary nature that is still half-hopeful: longing for some undefinable thing (a daughter? safety? life purpose?) and uncertain whether that will happen.

The power struggle between China and America interested me, though I found the motivations on the Chinese side more compelling. There's a spy who wants to avenge his son's death. There is also the struggle between the hardliners in the Party and those who want reform.

The American side? Let's see. There's a character named POTUS who is a thinly veiled spoof on the current U.S. President; various aides who try to contain the damage from his tweets and stupidity; and one official who takes matters in his own hands.

Plus, there's a vice president who seems like a certain former female Presidential candidate. POTUS appointed her VP after his former VP dropped dead of a heart attack. It's a political concession to the opposing party, we learn. Highly unrealistic. But it makes for dramatic, if somewhat comic, tension within the White House.

A few oddities popped up, though. For one, the American characters use the metric system in descriptions. For example, in Jack's mental description of himself, he refers to his weight as "eighty kilos." In real life, an American man of that age would likely think of his weight in pounds, not kilos. There were a few other places where American characters used British terms; it was hard to imagine that an all-American like NSA head Griffin would use the term "boffin" except, perhaps, in irony. How much does this matter in a novel published in Britain? I have no idea. It just distracted me as an American.

This is a novel where the lines between reality and appearance blur. Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? (Do people ever really tell the truth in espionage?) Furthermore, it's clear that we don't know which side is right or even if there is a right side, given the self-serving, power-grabbing nature of the characters' agendas.

Once I got into the rhythm of the story, I enjoyed The Beijing Conspiracy. The book is a page-turner: lots of action and unpredictable twists, a compelling narrative, and an all-too-realistic scenario that builds to a great climax. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for a free copy of The Beijing Conspiracy in exchange for an honest review.

This review will appear on my blog on September 30, 2019.

[Scilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Ford was with the US Embassy in Beijing in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square student uprising and fell in love with Xia, one of the students. He then was in the Marines. Now, he receives a letter from Xia saying that his daughter (who he didn't know about) was in danger. He contacts his old friend at the embassy, Peter, to find out about Xia and her daughter. Meanwhile, a US agent known as the Emperor, has sent a letter to the embassy saying that there is a conspiracy between General Zhang in China with the National Security Advisor, Griffin.

Peter is on his way to the states with the letter from the Emperor and meets Jack in a Park in Hong Kong. Peter is killed by Chinese trying to get the letter back just as Jack arrives. Jack manages to kill the Chinese and get the letter before continuing to Beijing. Jack has his work cut out for him. He is impressed by his daughter, Fei Yen. While trying to protect her, he must try to stop the conspiracy. While the US President Potus is clueless, the vice president Elizabeth Harris is far more competent in trying to prevent WWIII.

This book is funny, but scary, and quite different from the Inspector Singh books.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of the global conspiracy theory-one man saving the world novel will enjoy this one for the nice details about China and Flint's nod to the current political situation in the US. Jack was a junior officer in Beijing during Tienanmen-and he fathered a daughter he knew nothing about with Xia, one of the activists. Now 30 years later, he's gone back to Beijing to find her and, for want of a better word, rescue her. There's an implausible plot element involving a critical document and the possibility of WW III but heck, that's what makes for a fast paced thriller than might make you think a bit more while watching the evening news. The US VP- that wasn't gonna happen! Note that the characters, even the American ones, seem to think and speak in British terms. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[John Thurlbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this preview copy of The Beijing Conspiracy, and thank you for providing it in return for an honest review.

I warmed to the quirks and foibles, and back history of Jack Ford! I also liked the combination of the plotline now and thirty years’ previously. It resonated too because I recall watching the Tiananmen Square episode on the television and linking that as a central theme anchored the story.

As fast-paced espionage and political thrillers go, this one kept me riveted, as did the double-dealing and political intrigue, both in Chine and the USA.

Shamini adopts an effortless narrative style of writing, and the book flows quickly.

I highly recommend it!

[Siobhan Sheeran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this book, I found it hard to follow all the different characters and different plots but things clicked into place about a third of the way into the book and I just couldn’t put it down. It was fast paced with lots of different twists and turns and it had me holding my breath for most of it. It’s a novel that could very easily be based on fact.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.
#NetGalley #thebeijingconspiracy.

[Vicky Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a slow burner this one, that I found harder to get into and come back to. However the use of historic events to anchor the story added realism, as did the references to the soon to be former President of the United States, which also added some comedic value. Overall however the characters felt underdeveloped and the story didn’t grip me. Thank you to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

[Alyxis Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

You start thinking things are going to happen one way, three or four wrenches thrown in along the way, and you end up where you never thought you’d be.

[Kathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. Particularly enjoyed the not-quite-so-subtle-not-really-a-caricature of our current president

[Mark Ahern · Rating 3 out of 5]

One man is caught up in a lethal global conspiracy in this explosive spy thriller.

“I need your support. There is no one else I can trust. Please help her. Please help our daughter.”

When ex-Marine Jack Ford receives a letter containing news of a daughter he never knew he had, he feels compelled to return to China, a country he hasn’t visited since 1989 when, as a young American spy, he fell in love with a beautiful student activist and found himself caught up in the horrors of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But why has Xia got in touch now, after a thirty-year silence?

On arrival in Beijing, Jack finds himself accidentally in possession of an explosive piece of information both the Chinese and American governments are desperate to get their hands on. Alone in a strange city, suspected of being a traitor by his side, not knowing whom to trust, Jack is faced with an impossible dilemma: should he save his new-found daughter or prevent a new world war from breaking out? –

I think it can be best described as a political action thriller. And not one that the Chinese Communist Party would be too impressed about either. If I suddenly disappear, you can guess what happened! It starts and ends at a frenetic pace. In between not so much and it was tough to keep on reading at times. The book is very long, contains a multitude of characters, and can at times be difficult to keep on top of. The intrigue revolves around two different factions in the Chinese government – one wants the status quo, the other liberalization and democracy.

It also relies somewhat on coincidence, which I found a tad unfulfilling. One man after very many years of inactivity finds himself at the heart of two conspiracies at the one time. A bit of a long shot.

There were things I really enjoyed. The action scenes are enjoyable and very well written. I also found the relationship between Ford and Xia, his old love to be suitably complex and interesting.

All in all, I’d give it three stars out of five.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there’s one thing I like, it’s discovering new authors. Shamini Flint is certainly a new author for me. Anybody who knows me well, knows that I love action thrillers and that I am a huge fan of James Bond type books. So you can probably appreciate why the synopsis for ‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ screamed ‘read me’ at me. Overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ but more about that in a bit.
I actually found ‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ difficult to get into at first. I think that’s down to a combination of me being tired and finding it hard to concentrate as well as getting used to a new author’s writing style. Once I got into the story, I was able to binge read it over the course of three days, which is still pretty good going for me. I would pick the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters but I would become so wrapped up in the story that I would still be sat there reading over half a dozen chapters and a couple of hours later. I did feel as though I was part of the story myself and that’s thanks to Shamini’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ is well written. The author certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and draw you into the story. Shamini has created a believable cast of characters and has devised a clever plot. Reading ‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ felt like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. Just when you thought that things had calmed down for you to gather your thoughts and catch your breath then off the action would go again. I found ‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ to be a gripping read, which kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat.
In short and overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Beijing Conspiracy’ and I would recommend it to fans of action/ thriller type books. I will be reading more of Shamini’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

High stakes: hawks and doves in both China and the US, and POTUS (a would be send-up of Trump but it’s too easy) and Jack Flint an disillusioned US agent. A far right US National Security man in the White House does a deal with General Zhang am ambitious far right thug to destabilise Juntao the General Secretary elect, preparing the US and China for nuclear war. Ford was in Beijing during Tiananmen and fell in love with the beautiful Xia ostensibly student leader (like Chai Ling). But there was a horrible falling out, the equally beautiful Fen Yu being one result. Jack returns to Beijing on Xia’s request and from then on things go very wrong indeed. It certainly is a page turner, it is based on much fact, but in Flints excitement it begins to lose plausibility: a bit of Bay of Pigs with warring factions on all sides and for that I give it 4 stars; many others gave it 5. Too much really: it is fully of writerly tricks. Written In short gasps, with 5 POVs: a page for one and when it gets interesting, sorry, we’re off to another POV, and so on, so that you want to read on to know where the previous plotlet was heading. I would like to see a more sophisticated writer have a go at this, someone like Robert Harris. It is an ingenious plot quite a cliches, like POTUS himself, but he was a real life cliché anyway. Flint is a Malaysian living in Singapore with a string of Inspector Singh stories. I’ll give one a go.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8/4 stars

not gna lie, i was hooked bc of how intense the plot was

i can tell it was so well thought out and really complex, everything was connected, everyone had an interesting backstory

the writing was decent too

the potential was through the roof for this book, and the execution wasn't even bad, just not for me

it's just the amount of politics that i could not keep up with and i felt like there was more politics than actual story (honestly i think if i understood politics more i would have really liked this book. maybe i'm too young)

also why tf was the climax in the last 5 pages of the book bro the ending gave zero closure

finally (this is just my opinion) even just a teeny bit of romance could have made this book so much better. jack and xia had everything they needed for an epic love story, but the opportunity was ignored

[Spicydish · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel’s author, Shamini Flint, was incredibly prescient in her 2023 work. Her mix of fact and fiction about the behind the scenes political shenanigans seem so remarkably plausible. I clearly recall in 1989 watching on television the man in Tiananmen Square who burst out of the crowd and move in front of a tank defying it to mow him down. The tank attempted to take a path around the man who thwarted its movement by positioning himself directly in front of the tank’s averting maneuvers. Another man sprang from the crowd, grabbed the foolhardy man by the arm, yanked him away from the tank and disappeared into the crow. I always wondered what happened to this man following this courageous man who was enraged that the People’s Army would masacre its own people.7
This story imagines the US/China relations 30 years later and what bcame of The Tank Man.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Shamini Flint's Detective Inspector Singh books (they're a kind of cosy crime in which a Singaporean detective is sent to solve crimes in other countries as his boss and colleagues want to get rid of him) - if you haven't discovered them yet, you really need to. This book is very different though. It's definitely not cosy! Political manoeuvrings in China and the corresponding reactions from a President in the US (who isn't named but it so obviously Trump) almost lead the world to nuclear war. An ex-American soldier and spy finds himself in the thick of it and it's down to him to save the world (along with his own life and that of the daughter he never knew he had). I wasn't sure if I'd like it as much as her usual books, but fortunately it was just as good, albeit very different, to her Inspector Singh books.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

For Flint who is well known for her Inspector Singh and children's books, this one is for me a disappointment. It's not that that the satire isn't well founded, it's that the writing is more for a middle school level than an adult read. The characters are almost cartoonish and some are only one dimensional. Therefore I assume that she will turn her creativity to something better.

As and aside, Flint has lived in Malaysia and Singapore where one is the most corrupt of governments and survives on graft on all levels and the other is a technocracy. Maybe she should write something closer to home, or is she afraid of the consequences.

[Elaine Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really get into this book. I would say the plot wasn’t brilliant although the actual prose was good. I just didn’t understand why of all the people who had known the tank man, the powers that be would choose Jack Ford to lure back to China to identify him. With no contact for 30 years and only a chance meeting in the first place, I’m thinking there must be people closer to the tank man who would have the means to hand him over. How would Jack Ford possibly know his whereabouts? I had other niggles but that was a biggy. I understand why he was included, because he gave a sense of historical accuracy in a fictional story, but I don’t think it really worked.

[Alex Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this international Thriller from Shamini Flint, Ex Marine Jack Ford sets out to rescue a Daughter he never knew he had when a letter from his long lost past arrives asking for his help.

Taking him to the Political Hot Bed that is Beijing, China, Ford inexplicably finds himself caught up in the middle of a Global Conspiracy that could shake the Planet to its very foundations.

With the fraught state of relations between the USA and China at its heart, this book is told in two different time zones. The now as Jack fights this crazy conspiracy and the past events of Tiananmen Square in the 80s and Ford’s involvement and subsequent reasons for now returning to the sprawling city.

Conspiracy, Corruption, Espionage, Betrayal and Political Warfare, this complex and well crafted read has it all.

This will no doubt get your adrenaline pumping!

With a couple of characters clearly based on real life politicians - one in particular is used to add some humour - This shows the authors obvious distaste for the person which I would prefer wasn’t in the book. Whatever your feelings i would prefer my reading to be neutral.

That small complaint aside...

This is a Real, Powerful High Stakes Politically charged Conspiracy Thriller!

Break-Neck Thrills and spills await in this first class explosive action fest!