So when an elderly man emerges from the seas off the New Territories, claiming to know secrets he will share only with the Governor himself, a young MI6 agent, Joe Lennox, sees an opportunity to make his reputation.
But when the old man, a high-profile Chinese professor, is spirited away in the middle of the night by Joe's superiors, in collusion with the CIA, it's clear that there's a great deal more than a young spy's career at stake. The professor, it seems, holds the key to a sinister and ambitious plan that could have awesome and catastrophic repercussions for China in the 21st century.
©2008 Charles Cumming; (P)2008 WF Howes Ltd
An avid audio fan, I listen mainly whilst walking my dog. I enjoy many and varied subjects,history,travel,espionage,crime,anything good
"Entertaining from beginning to end"
This is the 2nd of Cummings' books to which I have listened.(The Trinity Six being the 1st)
A strong,credible,relevant plot.Believable characters and scenery.
I look forward to more of his books
"Routine Foreign Intelligence Thriller"
Charles Cumming is a very good writer, but good writing can only go so far in rescuing a mediocre plot and characters involved in tedious inter-personal relationships. Typhoon posits the unlikely activities of a rogue unit in the Pentagon/CIA trying to destabilize China in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, on the one side, against the good-guys British Intelligence, who are in opposition to the Americans and are trying to save the Chinese from the CIA. Add to this a boring and repetitious love affair between the British intelligence hero of our story and an attractive female, who dumps him at the beginning of the story to marry a disliked rival of sorts in American intelligence, a loss which plaques our hero-unrequited-lover for seven years. Still, there’s a enough forward momentum and local Chinese color to keep you reading, but with the gnawing feeling that you’re wasting your time. As for the narrator, he was adequate.