Night Heron

By: Adam Brookes

Narrated by: Jason Isaacs

Set in China, and ripped from today's headlines, comes a pulse-pounding debut that reinvents the spy thriller for the 21st century.

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. Desperate and ruthless, he reaches out to his one-time MI6 paymasters via crusading journalist Philip Mangan, offering military secrets in return for extraction.

But the secrets prove more valuable than Peanut or Mangan could ever have known. . . and not only to the British.

Critic reviews

"One of the best and most compulsively readable spy-fiction debuts in years."—Kirkus

"The pace is frenetic and Brookes does a wonderful job with both the high-tech world of cyber intelligence and survival on Beijing's gritty, smog-smothered streets. Highly recommended."—The Bookseller

Night Heron is a fascinating portrait of the dangerous complexities of spying in a restricted country, the competing agendas driving international intelligence, and China's startlingly varied social realities.A must-read for fans of espionage and smart global fiction in general.—Booklist (starred review)

"Night Heron is a wonderfully cinematic novel -- I felt myself visually transported into every scene, watching the action unfold -- that also immersed me in the sounds and smells and feel of China, all the while telling a rich, complex espionage story. A remarkable accomplishment."—Chris Pavone, author of international bestseller The Expats

"Fans of the international espionage genre will inhale this fast tale in a few suspenseful breaths. Brookes uses multiple narrators -- the spy, the engineer, the journalist, the agent, the boss -- whose conflicting alliances tell the real story."—Library Journal

"Brookes, a correspondent for BBC News in Washington, DC, who was formerly based in China, takes readers deep inside the culture and daily routines of that country in his outstanding fiction debut... Good chase scenes and tense dialogue, coupled with a convincing picture of what actually happens in the corridors of power, make Brookes a thriller writer to watch."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Excellent Spy Novel set in China.

I enjoyed this novel which is written with craftsmanship and an eye for the details of daily life in China. A well rendered spy novel with excellent narration from Jason Isaacs.

Great contemporary spy novel.

Would you listen to Night Heron again? Why?

I would listen to Night Heron again. Though it the plot moved along quickly, Brookes managed to include quite a lot of detail (as far as fiction goes) on the workings of China's state security apparatus, which is seldom found in spy thrillers.

What does Jason Isaacs bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jason Isaacs had a good pace, but his Chinese was terrible in the small quips that are thrown in here and there throughout the story (always well translated into the narrative). This shortcoming won't matter much to those that don't speak any Chinese, but might bother speakers of the language.

Any additional comments?

Night Heron is not only a great book, it's also an important contribution to contemporary spy fiction. Very few books, to my knowledge, deal with actors from China in contemporary espionage thrillers. This book not only deals with China's spy infrastructure, but also introduces important elements of recent Chinese history and draws in issues of private sector presence in a once state-dominated sector. Though the story is slightly choppy in its delivery (the books rather short, and moves almost too fast), it's very much worth the read/listen. I look forward to new entries in the series, and hope that Brookes takes more time to add further dimension and detail to the complex historical and global linkages that he unearths in his narrative.

Highly recommend this first time author and former BBC journalist!

A good but not great spy novel

thought the character development was good, not great. A little disappointing in the conclusion of the story. A timely subject and setting. would recommend it to readers of spy novels but would say it's a "B player".

Captivating!

Enjoyed listening while on the treadmill! Highly recommend this book.
The story is captivating. Look forward to 'reading' the next book by Brookes.

A spy novel in the grand British tradition

Hands down, Adam Brookes is the best international spy thriller novelist since John Le Carré. I had mustered through a few tepid spy novels until I came across Night Heron. Now I’m on to the number two book in the Philip Mangan series (Spy Games). Outstanding characters, creative description that immerses the reader in the scene, well-crafted tension and plot, in short everything you want in a spy thriller in the British heritage of Le Carré. Brookes is every bit as good as the master who preceded him.

Just an OK book

Story moved along very slowly. Did not seem to be much of a story until the last two hours.

A "read".

What did you love best about Night Heron?

Rings true. Involving.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The character of "Peanut" is ripe for a sequel. Hard to leave behind at the end of the book.

Any additional comments?

The tech premise is interesting. One suspects not too far beyond reality.

I'd Love to see this made into a series by HBO. Would work. But "read" it first.

Great spy novel

Do not have read many of these but really enjoyed it, was recommended by a co-worker.

Excellent,new author for me.Contemporary espionage

Hard to stop listening, had reset sleep timer quite often. Looking forward to hearing more from him. A bit LeCarre a bit Furst a bit Kerr.

Good but confusing

The story was good however as an audio book it was too confusing to follow along.