Spy Dragon
Brodick is back.
Having survived Afghanistan, Richard Brodick is now a fully qualified member of the Firm – an officer in the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service.
But what should be a proud moment, quickly turns sour. Dangerously so.
Despatched to Beirut at the height of the civil war, Brodick becomes embroiled with a mysterious Chinese operative known only as Fang. He finds himself in a new and dangerous game of double and triple agents, and double and triple crosses. Can he trust anyone, even himself?
Spy Dragon is the second in the Brodick Cold War spy thriller series, the follow-up to the bestselling Spy Game described by Luke Jennings, author of the Killing Eve series, as ‘A first-rate tale, with all the authority of first-hand experience’.
Reviews
‘I was lucky to get an advance copy of one of the best spy stories I have read in years. It breaks new ground on the inner workings and personal histories of Chinese intelligence, with a great, gritty setting in Beirut’s civil war. Fullerton knows the ground, knows the game, and his novel has the authentic reek of personal experience.’
– Martin Walker, author of the Bruno of Chief Police series, France.
‘As an avid reader of the genre, I am struck by how special the first two volumes of John Fullerton’ Brodick Cold War have been. As with any great thriller, Fullerton has composed two gripping stories each set in quite different venues, both with an authentic sense of place and culture.
It’s a joy to read a series of novels that can inform as well as entertain and the first two books in this stunning series certainly do both, giving readers an inside view not only of tradecraft but of geopolitics and recent history.
I was excited to see that there’s a volume three, Spy Hunt, and can’t wait to read it.’
– Michael Garin, United States
‘It’s only three months since we first met Richard Brodick in Spy Hunt, John Fullerton’s espionage thriller. In that short time the author has come on leaps and bounds, moving the character from Afghanistan to Beirut with an assured touch.
Just as in the debut, the author presents his setting- this time a shell-shocked and bullet-riddled city where one is lucky to cross the street in one piece – with a convincing authenticity.
This time Brodick is still coping with untrustworthy and dubious bosses when he meets the enigmatic Fang, code-named Dragon, a Chinese Communist spy.
Dragon was recruiting him. He was recruiting her. It was all a matter of perception. It would be an elaborate courtship. It would thrive on the universal currency of deceit. It wasn’t love that made the world go round, but lies.
A gripping story of which one can honestly say Le Carré would be proud. Roll on Book Three.
– Karen Wood, United Kingdom
‘What a page turner this follow up to Spy Game is! We delve into Brodick’s next mission in war torn Beirut interspersed with flashback chapters regarding his training to date since his first foray into espionage, which I for one, thoroughly enjoyed. Brodick meets Fang; is all as it appears? A human chess game, who will outsmart who?’
– S. Tilson, United Kingdom
‘Lies, not love, make the world go round, says Spy Dragon’s Richard Brodick as he willingly climbs aboard the carousel of subterfuge, double cross and triple cross that is the stuff of espionage. This is not the same Richard Brodick we first met in Spy Game. Gone is the idealism of creating a better world. Now he is in it for the money and to advance his career in Britain’s intelligence service – at any cost.
The setting this time is 1984 Beirut, Lebanon, once known as the jewel of the Levant but now ravaged by the disease of civil war, exacerbated by the meddling of other countries and their spooks. But the goings-on in Beirut mostly play a secondary role here. The main stage is reserved for a dangerous dance between two adversaries: Brodick and an intriguing Chinese female spy, each one trying to entice the other to their side.
This second instalment in the Richard Brodick series does not disappoint. Fullerton weaves the story with just the right amount of intensity and suspense that keep you hooked and wanting to read just one more chapter, even if it is past your bedtime. It is also refreshing to read about China’s role in the world of espionage, a country that gets scant attention in cold war spy novels.
The thing about carousels is that you don’t know who is leading and who is following, who is the pursuer and who is the pursued. You don’t know when things will spin out of control. And you don’t know if you will get thrown off. So it is fitting that Spy Dragon ends with somewhat of a cliff-hanger, leaving us eagerly looking forward to book number three.’
– Margo Trogadis, Canada
