A review by lfro2013
Hong Kong Black by Alex Ryan

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I decided to pick this book just because I'm visiting Hong Kong in a few weeks and I wanted to read a book that was set there to get me in the mood. It was pretty good, I did think it was really interesting that they have China and the Chinese intelligence community as an ally with the Americans in this as opposed to an enemy. I think that usually an American espionage books the Chinese are a big bad, but it was interesting to see it from a different side. That being said, there was something about it that didn't quite grip me. Maybe I didn't feel entirely that the characters were tremendously fleshed out? The part of it might have been that there were several characters he could consider Maine, whereas I'm used to books like this having just one big strong male protagonist. Overall, I did enjoy it, but another thing that annoyed me is that it keeps hearkening back to the events of the previous book, which of course I did not read. Usually I find that thrillers in a series are standalone to a certain extent, but this one is always referencing back to the previous one and then at the end setting up for a subsequent one. Which I just found slightly annoying. It was also a bit graphic with the violence to a certain extent which isn't exactly my favorite thing, but that wasn't a huge part of it. To a certain extent which isn't exactly my favorite thing, but that wasn't a huge part of it.
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