The Mandarin Club
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A contemporary Washington mystery with a high tech, China twist . . . A brilliantly-conceived spy novel introducing seven engaging characters whose lives are transformed by crisis. Provocatively detailed through the knowing voice of a prominent Washington expert, this is highly literate fiction. It fuses Big Chill themes with Le Carré rhythms in a post-Cold War story of espionage.Publishers WeeklyCurrently a D.C. lobbyist who has worked as a congressional and Senate staffer, Warburg brings decades of policy experience to bear on his debut novel. The result is a wonky thriller about Chinese-American relations topical and intelligent but without narrative urgency. The club of the title refers to a group of seven friends, once China studies scholars at Stanford University in the late 1970s, now middle-aged public and private sphere power brokers in Washington, D.C., and Beijing. Hinging on the story of Rachel Paulson, a top Washington lobbyist, the novel unfolds from the viewpoints of other Mandarins, including Branko Rosza (CIA), Alexander Bonner (investigative journalist), Mickey Dooley (international wheeler-dealer), Martin Booth (Senate staffer), Lee Tai Ling (Chinese Foreign Ministry) and Barry Lavin (Rachel s enigmatic husband and an investor). Their stories intersect when Rachel s firm is bombed and she barely survives the attack, the motivation for which is a mystery. The bombing comes at a time of increasing U.S.-China tensions that arise from America s continuing support of Taiwanese independence. For those who read for plot and suspense, Warburg s spoonful of fiction won t help the international relations go down. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
