Ninja Betrayed

(Lily Wong #3)

Audiobook

4 stars (1 review)

Lily’s mother has been summoned by her grandfather, Gung-Gung, to attend an emergency board meeting, and Lily is happy to take her father’s place for exotic travel, family reunions, and romantic dates with her new boyfriend, Daniel Kwok, who’s there for business. Lily and her mother stay at her grandparents’ hillside home on Hong Kong Island, but tension between Gung-Gung and Ma makes it hard to enjoy the beautiful surroundings, especially with the city in turmoil. Gung-Gung won’t say anything about the meeting and Ma is worried that her career is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the teenage daughter of Gung-Gung’s driver is pulled into the dangerous riots.

As Lily and Ma discover shaky finances, questionable loans, and plans for the future involving them both, Lily’s escalating romance with Daniel puts her heart at risk. Will her ninja skills allow her to protect her mother, the family business, and the renegade teen …

1 edition

A fun variation on the crime thriller

4 stars

I suspect this book won't change anyone's life, but it may distract you for a few hours. The plucky heroine is a "modern Ninja", which seems to be a hypothetical martial-arts discipline with strong aspects of mindfulness and meditation. Her family is a rich Hong Kong business family while she is born and raised in the USA. The writing about Hong Kong culture and politics feels fairly authentic to me, but I'm an outsider. There is some romance, and the heroine deals with some issues of intimacy and trust. I liked the fact that Lily is a skilled fighter, but also realistic about her chances when outnumbered by larger attackers. Probably the most intellectually interesting part for me was when Lilly talks about the ethics of extracting information from someone who is clearly romantically interested in her.