Audiobook Review: The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung

 

The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung

Publication Date: May 12th 2026 by Macmillan Audio

Pages: 400

Audio Book Length: 13hrs 16min

Narrators: Eunice Wong

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Alice Li, a food-blogger, is excited to be back in Washington DC to meet up with her friend and fellow food-blogger, Liam. She’s not so thrilled to meet up with her mother, Vivien Li, a Chinese dissident famous for escaping after Tiananmen Square, since they don’t have the best relationship. However, they’re forced to work together when the world is turned into chaos when during brunch security and fire alarms go off and they find out it’s a worldwide event.

 

Alice is even more shocked to be summoned to the White House along with her mother and questioned over her friendship with Liam. Apparently, intelligence has discovered China is responsible for this global attack and to Alice’s surprise, Vivien is a regular advisor to the President on Chinese affairs.

 

When it becomes obvious the attack won’t be the last. Alice and Vivien must band together and stop a terrorist group before they can execute whatever they have planned next.

 

One wouldn’t think a food-blogger and her mother would be key to stopping this nefarious force, but I enjoyed Alice and Viviene’s journey. As they try to get to the truth secrets from Vivien’s past are slowly revealed.  Alice’s view of her mother and their relationship shifts. Vivien gets to see another, more capable, side to her daughter, as well.

 

The Last Mandarin was an engaging thriller with two unlikely heroines. And while I had to suspend my disbelief at some parts of the plot, I was entertained from the start and eager to find out how it would all turn out!

 

I’ve listened to and enjoyed Eunice Wong’s narration in the past and thought she did a wonderful job here performing all characters, bringing them to life as they experienced a whole range of emotions. Her accents and pronunciation of Mandarin made the story feel authentic. Listening to the audio version definitely enhanced my enjoyment!

3.5 Stars

Book Description:

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.