Ava Lee is out to avenge the killing of her close friends by Chinese authorities because of them having made a movie critical of the Tiananmen Square affair. Ava, with her usual determination and organization, along with her contacts in the Triads, concocts a bold plan to deal with the individuals who ordered the killings. It's a suspenseful and chilling story that ends with Ava enduring a harrowing escape from China. The story-telling moves briskly as Ava and her allies move from place to place: Taiwan, Los Angeles, Beijing, and even Toronto. This is one of Ava's trickiest capers.

There's plenty of insight in the story about China and its perception of itself in the world. Readers get a close look inside present day China too.

This is the 16th book in the series, but I think it can be read as a standalone. Despite that, reading earlier entries in the series might provide an appreciation of the cast of characters.

The author has written in his Acknowledgements at the end of the book that this "is probably the last book in the Ava Lee series". I hope that is not the case, and am encouraged by him saying that he intends to keep writing. ( )