Customer Reviews

The Guys Who Spied For China

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one original novel. Definitely not your father's spy book. I liked the fact that it was a personal story and pretty funny at times. It just felt authentic in its telling. No typical genre stuff here. It is a fictional account based on the true experiences of two guys uncovering Chinese Spy Networks in the United States, during the eighties and nineties. Some of it gets pretty intense, scary even. Having read this book, I have a better understanding how China was able to walk away with some of our best military and technological secrets. The book names names, and also uses fake names to protect the guilty. When I finished this book, I really get the feeling what it is like to live in the world of spies. It is interesting that most that the story is set mostly in California, and not Europe or some usual spy place. It was a great read and tough to put down. The Guys Who Spied For China

I read this book because I had read the author's two other books. This work was very compelling and seemed to ring true as someone who actually lived the adventure. The jacket says "a lot of this story is true" and I tend to believe it.

It seems a very timely subject matter, given our increasingly close but still guarded and cautious relationship with China.

The book told a good story and was paced very well. It never dragged and always held my interest. The story length also was not overly long and drawn out. I especially appreciated the inside references to the nuts-and-bolts of "on the ground" intelligence gathering. It seems to me the only way someone wold know this type of detail would be to have actually lived it and/or spent huge amounts of time researching his subject matter.

A growing power, China has placed eyes all over the world. "The Guys Who Spied for China" tells the story of two gentlemen who uncover the deeper uncover some of these eyes for China in the United States, in their home state of California. Inspired by true events, and colored by author Gordon Basichis' dark humor, "The Guys Who Spied for China" is an intriguing and entertaining read. "The Guys Who Spied for China" is a worthwhile investment for spy fiction fans.

The Guys who Spied for China gives you current events in a format of a subtle spy thriller. Here is a plot that is realistically exciting -- as much of it was actual -- but without the token schlocky chase scenes, melodrama and hot sex (not that there's anything wrong with it). The story was as much character driven as action driven and the characters were real - not your typical heros or antiheros. The author is straightforward and doesn't pad up the narrative with verbose description - and yet I was able to visualize everything vividly . The subject matter is very relevant today. Coincidentally, about a week after I finished reading it, there was a program on 20/20 about this very topic! So this is important stuff of which we should all be aware. The author is extremely well informed and well studied about practically all that matters. In fact, if you want more really good reading, go to his blog ([...])and read the terrific "The Constant Travellers". Read on.

Hold onto your seats readers, you are in for a wild ride. An unlikely duo of an urbane, witty writer of the baby boom generation and an aging physically challenged cold warrier team up to uncover a nest of dangerous traitors.

In this Southern California world spying isn't about cloaks and daggers. It is about strip malls, the dentist's office, industrialized neighborhoods decked with razor wire. Hidden away from the perennial sunshine are some truly frightening characters.

People are constantly appearing in different guises. Scientists are actually spies, professors become terrorists, and beautiful women may have steely hearts and ulterior motives. No one can be trusted and our narrator spices the pages with sardonic, irreverant humor.

The theme is timely. This is entertainment on an intelligent, complex level. Don't miss it.

Don't waste your money or your time on this book. I think all the positive reviews must have been written by the author himself. I could only make it through chapter 4 before tossing the book in the garbage.