The Last Mandarin | Book Review

Lisa Harvey
May 7
2 min read

By Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung

A DEEPLY COMPELLING INTERNATIONAL CYBERTERRORISM Mystery

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY

Alice Li, a first-generation Chinese American and food blogger, and her estranged but iconic mother, Vivien Li, a human rights activist, are having lunch in an upscale DC hotel. What happens next is pandemonium as alarms sound everywhere.

Alarms, not just in DC or the United States, but everywhere in the world. Every type of alarm sounded: from cell phones and fire alarms to security alarms and sirens. No one knew where to go or what to do; it was total pandemonium, and there was no safe place inside or out.

The White House and the President are scrambling to identify the source of the signal and determine who is responsible for this attack, and, more importantly, whether something bigger, something more deadly, is coming.

When it is discovered that Vivien and Alice may have vital information about a specific group of dissidents, they are called to the White House. Early assessments point to somewhere in China. Vivien heads to Hong Kong to get answers. Alice lost a friend in Hong Kong on the morning of the attack, and some officials think that her friend, Liam, may be connected to the attack. She soon follows her mother to Hong Kong.

REVIEW

THE LAST MANDARIN is deeply compelling and immediately grabs your attention when the alarms go off. The writing is riveting, focusing on cyberterrorism, geopolitics, and a complicated mother-daughter relationship. Alice and Vivien evade capture as they travel across China in search of the group that may be responsible for the cyberattack.

The characters are plentiful, including Alice and Vivian’s family and friends, as well as many government officials from both the US and China. At times it’s a little difficult to keep everyone straight, but I like how Vivian and Alice drive much of the narrative. I appreciate the courage, determination, and fortitude of these two strong but vulnerable women. While some parts of the story seemed far-fetched, I really appreciated its global scope and relevance to today's world full of artificial intelligence.

Author Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung have teamed up to write an intriguing and terrifying international thriller. Penny is best known for her beloved, bestselling Armand Gamache/Three Pines series, and Fung is an award-winning journalist and has written the bestseller Between Good and Evil: The Stolen Girls of Boko Haram (2023)

I listened to the audiobook of THE LAST MANDARIN, narrated by Eunice Wong, and thought the performance was solid. The listening experience could have been much easier with a multi-cast production, given the story's many diverse characters. I had to pay very close attention to keep up with the story, with barely a pause between scene changes at times.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of the audiobook. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Publisher Macmillan Audio

Published May 12, 2026

Narrated Eunice Wong

Review www.bluestockingreviews.com