Beijing Red

March 7, 2016
This earnest, workmanlike series debut, penned by two U.S. Navy veterans writing under the Ryan pseudonym, introduces Nick Foley, a former Navy SEAL now working with a nongovernmental organization. Foley is leading an irrigation project in western China when a worker collapses with symptoms that look like Ebola. At a local hospital, the victim and Foley are treated as if they were living biohazards, and the government rushes Chen Dazhong, a representative of the Chinese version of the CDC, to the scene from Beijing. The situation could be bioterrorism, but Chen’s investigation is covered up by Commander Zhang of the Snow Leopard unit of China’s counterterrorism team. Foley and Chen, predictably, can’t let go of the matter, which spirals outward to involve a Russian spy, an American spy, and an evil genius who wouldn’t be out of place in a James Bond movie. Ryan writes well of the nuts and bolts of tradecraft and biohazards, but the prose is middling at best, and the characters lack depth.

Starred review from March 1, 2016
A fast-moving, tense biothriller set in China. Nick Foley is a 28-year-old former Navy SEAL and combat medic who decides that life is "about stewardship, doing something good with the body and mind." This leads him to do volunteer work on an irrigation project in western China. While he helps dig ditches, a local Uyghur suddenly contracts a horrible disease and dies a grotesque death. Surprisingly to Foley, the illness is not contagious. Soon he's quarantined and interrogated by the Snow Leopards, a Chinese counterterrorism unit investigating the possibility of bioterrorism. They know about Foley's past and suspect him of working for the U.S. government. With them is Dr. Chen "Dash" Dazhong, who is, of course, beautiful, of China's Center for Disease Control. She quickly realizes she can work with Foley to help solve the mystery. Were the disease--if that's what it is--viral or bacterial, it would trigger an epidemic, but this appears to be targeted. They speculate they've witnessed an untraceable weapon being tested in remote China, where supposedly no one cares about the victims. Meanwhile, Maxim Polakov is a Russian spy running a Chinese asset code-named Prizrak. Polakov is very interested in an "entirely new class of weapon" that could kill millions and make him a hero of the new Russia. A number of people die, including a good friend of Dash's. Details aren't for the squeamish--eyes turn to "gelatinous goo"--but all the violence advances the story. Foley and Dash had better get to the bottom of this menace because it has a 100 percent mortality rate, and the ultimate bad guy says "I am going to turn Beijing red" with his opponents' blood. An exciting showdown takes place in Beijing's Underground City, a real Cold War creation of Mao Zedong. A terrific tale for fans of the genre.

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April 15, 2016
Alex Ryan is a pseudonym for two authors who work extremely well together, and hopefully this first novel to feature ex-Navy SEAL Nick Foley is only the beginning of a long series. Traveling in China to sort out what he wants from his life, Foley helps put together a charity group to assist in a small town that seems to have been hit by a disease similar to Ebola. He and the rest of the group are soon declared disease-free, but Foley wants answers. A Chinese microbiologist might have those answers, and this reluctant duo soon learns that the virus is actually a bioweapon, and the people responsible are very close to unleashing it. Foley's background works well when push comes to shove, and his struggle for the truth in an unfamiliar culture makes for a strong premise. Fine reading for fans of special-ops and contagion-driven thrillers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)