Red Spy in Harbin

di Mark Oulton (Autore)

Mark Oulton, 2025

?? 5 out of 5 stars "The story was informative and entertaining. I got a good sense of what the Chinese Revolution was like from 1921 to 1937—desperate, brutal, and chaotic. I learned how a person became a top spy—and the level of intelligence, inventiveness, and desire they needed to possess. The suspense felt real." — OnlineBookClub.org In a city torn between revolution and empire, a Chinese spy walks the line between duty and survival. 1935, Harbin. Under Japanese occupation, the city festers with spies, racketeers, and would-be revolutionaries. Chinese agent Chen Minghe is ordered to infiltrate the Russian Fascist Party—led by Konstantin Rodzaevsky, a real-life White émigré whose vanity and erratic leadership belie his dangerous ambitions. RSIH is more than a spy thriller—it charts the transformation of Chen, a gifted Hakka youth from Fujian, into one of the earliest deep-cover operatives of the Chinese Communist intelligence service. Haunted by the executions from the Nationalist purges of 1927, Chen is drawn into the underground world of Communist resistance. He comes under the influence of Zhou Enlai—already the Party's brilliant spymaster, whose strategic guidance shapes Chen's path as an agent. Assigned to a Red Army communications unit, Chen's first mission involves racing pigeons and coded fireworks. These improvisational methods give way to formal training. He is transferred to SIGINT, intercepting and decoding military transmissions, before being selected for elite spycraft. He learns infiltration, psychological manipulation, and surveillance. Crucially, Chen is a secret Russian speaker—a rare asset for operations in Manchuria. His first major field assignment sends him to Harbin, a volatile frontier of occupation and intrigue. His target is Konstantin Rodzaevsky, the real-life leader of the All-Russian Fascist Party—an émigré movement based in Harbin with global aspirations. Chen engineers a false-flag assassination attempt. The ruse succeeds, and Rodzaevsky appoints him as his personal driver. Embedded deep within the fascist movement, Chen begins feeding intelligence back to the Party—and to Moscow. Chen uncovers critical intelligence: illegal Japanese chemical and biological warfare experiments and—most significantly—plans to invade China, not the USSR. This revelation is forwarded to Moscow and helps relieve Stalin's fear of a Japanese assault on Soviet territory, reshaping his strategy on the eve of war. Chen also intercepts signs of the 1936 kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek that forces a fragile realignment between Communists and Nationalists. Rodzaevsky's rise is supported by Nakamura, a real historical figure involved in kidnapping, narcotics, and brothels. Acting as intermediary, he introduces him to the TK—Japan's military intelligence—and supplies covert funding and protection. 1937 dawns and full-scale war with Japan begins, Chen's mission starts to unravel. Rodzaevsky's affair with a planted mistress comes to light. The resulting scandal begins to unravel the operation. Even the most disciplined agent is not immune to human cost. As ideology fractures and alliances shift, Chen's mission becomes a perilous balancing act: between political purpose and personal survival, between deception and belief. Told through Chen's eyes—and through the perspectives of diplomats and security officials in 1920s Shanghai—RSIH explores the birth of modern Chinese espionage and the psychological toll of ideological loyalty. Blending historical fact with taut literary fiction, it reveals the covert wars that shaped East Asia in the lead-up to World War II. Suitable for readers of Harris, Furst, and Le Carré Set against the upheavals of early twentieth-century East Asia, RSIH is an emotionally charged novel of loyalty, betrayal, and survival in the shadows of empire. 95,000 Words

• Autore: Mark Oulton
• Anno edizione: 2025
• Editore: Mark Oulton
• Formato: EPUB2 con DRMFREE
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9798231950294

Testo in en