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Last Mandarin Louise Penny Mellissa Fung

MY REVIEW

The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung is my first book by both authors. I grabbed a copy from NetGalley when I saw it, because my mother in law loves Louise Penny. I was not disappointed and I always appreciate a stand alone novel.

The Last Mandarin is look at two unlikely heroines, Alice Li, a first generation Chinese American and food blogger, and her mother, Vivien Li, a Chinese dissident, who escaped China after the famous Tiananmen Square standoff.

It begins when security and fire alarms go off all across the globe and the signal is traced back to China. Alice Li and her mother, Vivien Li are called to the White House, hoping they can decode the transmissions. Things don’t go where I thought they would and I love when an author can grab my attention and never let it go.

The suspense builds slowly. Power and greed drive the characters. Things are not as they seem, but the truth needs to be quashed or China could erupt into political disaster. I really like this twist. The mother and daughter relationship will be put to the ultimate test.

Could this be our future? Will wars still be fought by feet on the ground, or will everything cyber be the rule? How big a role with social media play? Aren’t we already living in a world where the fifth estate, social media, has the one of the loudest voices? This is one example of how something good can be twisted into something bad.

GOODREADS BLURB

A standalone thriller co-written by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gamache series and an award-winning journalist.

In a fast-paced, all-too-real thriller co-written by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny and award-winning journalist Mellissa Fung, global politics become personal for two unlikely heroines. Alice Li, a first-generation Chinese-American, is an erstwhile food blogger who has lived in the shadow of her mother, Vivien Li. A Chinese dissident who escaped China after Tiananmen Square, Vivien is now a globally recognized human rights activist and passionate advocate for a free and democratic China.

When security and fire alarms go off simultaneously all around the world, setting off a panic, the signal is traced back to China. As world leaders scramble to respond, Vivien and Alice are called to the White House in hopes Madame Li can decode the Chinese intentions.

While it makes some sense that the President would turn to Vivien, since she regularly advises world leaders on the actions of today’s Chinese government, what isn’t clear is why they’d want to talk to Alice.

After looking at the evidence, Vivien says that the only thing worse than the Chinese government being behind it, is if they are not. It would mean, she explains, that some clandestine element within China is calling the shots. That the President of China has lost control. And an unstable China cannot be good for anyone.

Or perhaps that’s exactly what the shrewd old politician wants everyone to think.

Caught up in the chaos, Vivien and Alice are uniquely placed to stop the next, cataclysmic attack. But there are forces deep within both the American and Chinese governments intent on stopping mother and daughter. The estranged pair, who excels at misunderstanding each other, must figure out how to work together.

The increasingly frantic search for answers takes the women from the Oval Office to an office building in Akron, Ohio, from the noodle shops of Hong Kong to the necropolis of the first emperor. Along the way they must decode an old legend, and an old language invented by women, for women.

The Last Mandarin is an electrifying study of absolute power and voracious greed, political terror and personal conviction. But it is also, as to be expected from the minds of Louise Penny, beloved author of the Gamache novels, and Mellissa Fung, an acclaimed international journalist, an intimate examination of choice, of sacrifice, of memory and myths, both cultural and personal. It is the story of a mother and daughter, as well as a compelling international thriller about the precarious balance of power across the world, and within a family. And what happens when both break down.

Genre: China, Espionage, Fiction, Mystery, Politics, Suspense, Thriller
400 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 12, 2026

ABOUT LOUIS PENNY

LOUISE PENNY is the author of the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling series of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. She has won numerous awards, including a CWA Dagger and the Agatha Award (seven times), and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. In 2017, she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. Louise lives in a small village south of Montréal.

Website

ABOUT MELISSA FUNG

Mellissa Fung is a veteran journalist, best-selling author, and award-winning filmmaker. Her latest book, written with Louise Penny, The Last Mandarin, will be published in May 2026. Fung has traveled the world producing original award-winning documentaries for Al-Jazeera International, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and TV Ontario, among others. She covered the war in Afghanistan as a field correspondent for the CBC, leading to her best-selling first book, Under an Afghan Sky, which chronicled her experience as a hostage after she was kidnapped while on assignment in Kabul in 2008. Since then, she has focused on human rights reporting, especially on women and girls in post-war conditions. She is also a frequent contributor to The Globe and Mail and Monocle Radio, and her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Toronto Star, TRT, CNN, and PBS. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York. She was appointed as an officer to the Order of Canada in 2024. She lives in Toronto with her husband Paul and her scruffy rescue dog, Sammy.