Header Image

Review: Take the Bai Road by Erika Mitchell

Title: Take the Bai Road
Author: Erika Mitchell
Year Published: 2017


Genre: Adult fiction
Pages: 272
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location (my 2017 Google Reading map)Mexico and USA (WA, Washington, DC)

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author for an unbiased review


Summary (from the author): After the events of Bai Tide, CIA case officer Bai Hsu is safely tucked away at Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Bored and frustrated, he’s starting to doubt he’ll ever return to the field until he’s given a difficult new assignment: Track and investigate the mysterious Ghost Cartel, who may or may not already have hooks in our government.

With secrecy of the utmost importance, Bai accepts the mission even though he knows he’ll be out in the cold. With no official cover, no backup, and no resources, Bai has no choice but to infiltrate a shadowy organization few know anything about,

Tangled in a conspiracy that will pit him against warring cartels in Mexico, this is Bai’s most impossible mission to date. It will test him, make him question himself and the organization he works for, and ultimately rip away everything that’s ever mattered to him.



Purchase Links: Amazon

Author Links: WebsiteFacebookTwitter, and her blog parsingnonsense.com

Review: I read Erika Mitchell's first Bai Hsu novel, Bai Tide, and quite liked it. However, this book is better. I feel like Mitchell found her voice, is more confident in her character and her writing, and it all came together for a fun spy novel.

Bai Hsu is a CIA operative working on his own this time. He is so competent and talented: he is trained in martial arts, lock picking, fire arms, knows five languages, and is pretty darn savvy. I also think he has a good personality; he is smart, personable, and seems able to get along with almost everyone he encounters, even those whom he is fighting. I like that about him. He seems like someone I'd like if I met him.

I also thought having a story based around the Mexican drug cartels was interesting, even though the main story isn't about drug smuggling. Connecting North Korea from the previous book to the Mexican cartels and the US government was an interesting angle that I didn't expect. I also like that the book isn't one where I feel like events are implausible. Yes, it's spy stuff, but not out of control spy stuff. So that's fun.

Challenges for which this counts:

No comments