Beijing Payback

A Novel

By: Daniel Nieh

Narrated by: Ewan Chung

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A fresh, smart, and fast-paced revenge thriller bursting with personality and pathos.

Victor Li is devastated by his father’s murder and shocked by a confessional letter he finds among his father’s things. In it, his father admits he was never just a restaurateur - in fact, he was part of a vast international crime syndicate that formed during China’s leanest communist years.

Victor travels to Beijing, where he navigates his father’s secret criminal life, confronting decades-old grudges, violent spats, and a shocking new enterprise that the organization wants to undertake. Standing up against it is likely what got his father killed, but Victor remains undeterred. He enlists his growing network of allies and friends to finish what his father started, no matter the costs.

©2019 Daniel Nieh (P)2019 HarperAudio

A fun light romp

Something to read if you like lightweight action thrillers. A good first novel with some fun plot twists.

Narration is awesome

The story is not very deep or intriguing but the glimpse into Chinese culture was fascinating for me. I really enjoyed the narration more than the story itself - the Chinese narration followed by the translation as well as the various intonations and inflections were done very well. The book was a good listen but not compelling.

Enjoyable easy interesting reading

Nice novel, away from normal- yet hits on subject matter in a relevant way, if lightly, to keep it intriguing but not make your head hurt keeping up with the details

Recommended

Fast paced story interesting bicultural characters. Well written and performed. Recommended to test reader stereotypes

The reader is outstanding

The novel is a fun ride; most characters are lovable and clever. But the reader gave the story a warmth that I really enjoyed.
Made me want to hear Chinese all day (I do not know a single word).

Interesting and promising!

Enjoyable debut by Daniel Nieh with interesting cultural details and decent character development (story can be improved though) that kept me going, and I agree with other reviewers about the awesome narration by Ewan Chung!
Not only hearing the authentic Chinese language without feeling lost, but also other accents were delivered effortlessly, making them fun to listen. This one thing I find rare even in some of the best narrators out there.
Will look forward to more from this talented pair of story tellers!

Zero to gangster, entertaining if implausible

“You’re out of your depth, a tuna swimming with sharks.”
If this indeed a first book, it’s pretty good, even if you have to suspend disbelief for certain plot points. Would a half Asian-half white college student really fly to Beijing to take on the criminal underworld to avenge the secret life of his father? Would so many in the underworld so easily give him the time of day? Within days of arriving, Victor is watching beatings, getting beaten, and even administering a beating with a hammer … and, other than taking a moment to internally reflect on the craziness of it, he just keeps on with his new gangster friends and his new gangster life.

“Andre and I came to love Eli for who he is: a borderline genius with the heart of a saint, the imagination of a twelve year old, and the libido of a Banobo.”
If I didn’t think too deeply about Victor’s blithe immersion into crime, the surrounding characters were colorful. My favorite bits involved his two fellow college buddies, black Andre and Jewish Eli, who were sadly absent for most of the Beijing portion. The mystery of who killed Victor’s father was pretty obvious to me, but it was still fun to watch things unfold.

“He was the face; I was the fist.”
There are some clunky bits with rather huge info dumps, including a recap at the end where the author tells us what messages his story was trying to convey instead of letting the story just show. There’s a little humor, a lot of Asian flavor, some action and not too graphic, comic-level violence. Occasional F bombs, sex jokes, and one described hand job. If you’re looking for Tarantino bite or John Wick style, this doesn’t quite make the A-grade. But, it does give a decent B-movie listen. I’m satisfied with my sale purchase.

fast paced

Fadt-paced, butnot your usual thriller, as it conveys a certain amount of info about Chinese thought.

Phenomenal Debut!

Really well written and story. Great Idea and the characters were all interesting and seemed authentic to me. Looking forward to more from this author in the future!

Very good

This was a pleasant surprise. It started a bit slow, but then once it got rollling I couldn’t put it down.