(Hardcover) (Paperback)
Daniel Nieh
Beijing Payback
(Ecco, Hardcover July 2019, Paperback April 2020)
PBS News Hour / New York Times Book Review Now Read This August Book Club pick
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
One of BBC‘s “10 Smartest Beach Reads of 2019”
One of CrimeReads‘ “Most Anticipated Crime Books of Summer”
Featured on Bookish‘s “Chilling Mysteries & Thrillers for Summer 2019”
Featured on CrimeReads‘ “13 New Books You Should Read This July”
One of Book Riot‘s “50 Must-Read Crime Titles From July and August 2019”
One of LitHub‘s “Most Anticipated Books of 2019”
Featured on USA Today‘s “5 Books Not to Miss”
Featured on The Oregonian‘s list of “4 Crime Books to Heat Up Your Summer Reading List”
One of New York Times‘s “11 New Books We Recommend This Week”
Recommended by The Seattle Times‘s “Did you hear about that international crime spree? Follow 7 audiobook mysteries across the globe”
Victor Li and his sister Jules are devastated by their father’s murder in a botched burglary. Their dad was a well-loved owner of several popular Chinese restaurants outside Los Angeles. But when Victor finds a confessional letter from his father, Vincent Li, he learns that he was no simple restaurateur. He lived a double life as a founding member of an international crime syndicate led by him and his “brothers;” fellow orphans who survived China’s leanest communist years and who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
Victor travels to Beijing to avenge his father’s murder but he’s an outsider in a complicated place where people have nothing to lose, answers are not simple, and he has to learn to respect what he cannot see. Daniel Nieh captures the authentic details and texture of the Chinese capital as his characters move from seedy nightclubs to palatial hutongs filled with hi-tech secrets.
Beijing Payback is a fresh new thriller bursting with personality and pathos, swift-moving action and plenty of surprises.
Praise for Beijing Payback
“A propulsive first novel that aims to entertain.”
–The New York Times
“Nieh’s Victor is witty, passionate, competitive, honourable and courageous enough to face some of the deadliest players in the Beijing underworld as he confronts his father’s past in this superb, sophisticated thriller.”
–BBC
“[A] remarkable debut… Nieh, a Chinese-English translator, has a real gift for language… This impressive blend of crime and coming-of-age marks Nieh as a talent to watch.”
–Publishers Weekly starred review
“Daniel Nieh deftly recasts the immigrant novel as a sharp revenge thriller centered on a sunny SoCal kid who goes from playing college hoops to uncovering his father’s murderer. The clash between past and present, between the homeland his father escaped and the new home he dreamt up for his family, is richly layered and deeply affecting.”
—Jade Chang, bestselling author of The Wangs vs. the World
“The best China thriller I’ve ever seen – a propulsive nail-biter that roars with seamless confidence into a China most Western authors can barely penetrate.”
–Nicole Mones, author of The Last Chinese Chef
“Like his driven, basketball playing, Chinese-American hero, Daniel Nieh has got skills. Full of revenge, treachery, intrigue, and violence, Beijing Payback also tells a compellingly human tale about the ghosts and secrets that haunt the children of immigrants. A strong and entertaining debut.”
–Sebastian Rotella, author of Rip Crew
“Beijing Payback kicks major ass. A fast-moving, electric thriller that will remind you why you love the genre. I don’t know where Daniel Nieh has been hiding all of these years, but he arrives here fully formed, a writer already at the top of his game.”
–Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Secrets and Gangsterland
“Daniel Nieh is a true Renaissance Man: when he’s not writing fiction, he works as a translator and model, and brings all his skills to the table in this ultra-stylish debut thriller that’s equal parts Hong Kong action movie and fish-out-of-water cross-cultural noir.”
–CrimeReads
“First-time novelist Nieh is a Chinese-English translator and widely traveled, and his Beijing scenes are gritty and scary…. the narrative moves briskly and the characters are well developed. VERDICT: This late-coming-of-age thriller, in which Victor learns just what he is capable of doing, grabs readers early and doesn’t readily let go.”
–Library Journal
“[A] staccato-paced, character-driven thriller. . . . Readers will welcome the opportunity to follow good-guy Victor’s path of retribution and self-discovery.”
–Booklist
Read The New York Times‘s review of BEIJING PAYBACK
Read Publishers Weekly‘s starred review of BEIJING PAYBACK
Read Daniel Nieh’s interview with Publishers Weekly
Daniel Nieh gives his advice on travel, music, and books inspired by his book BEIJING PAYBACK for Vanity Fair
One of Publishers Weekly PW Picks: Books of the Week
BEIJING PAYBACK featured in the Boston Globe
Listen to Daniel Nieh on NPR’s All Things Considered
Featured in BookRiot‘s “New Release Tuesday: July 23, 2019” video
Read Daniel Nieh’s book recommendations for “Far-Flung Thrillers for World Travelers” for CrimeReads
Daniel Nieh shares his “Favorite Things in Beijing & Beyond” for Penta
Mentioned in New York Times Cooking‘s newsletter
LA Review of Books reviews BEIJING PAYBACK
Read Asian American Literature Fans‘s review of BEIJING PAYBACK
Read Post Magazine‘s review of BEIJING PAYBACK
Read Daniel Nieh’s interview with PBS News Hour
Discussion Questions for the PBS News Hour / NYT Now Read This book club
Watch Daniel Nieh’s interview on PBS News Hour
Read and see Daniel Nieh’s photo essay “How Living in China showed me what the U.S. looks like to other people” on PBS News Hour
Daniel Nieh annotates an excerpt of BEIJING PAYBACK for the PBS News Hour / NYT Now Read This book club
Watch Daniel Nieh on PBS News Hour talking about the Leonard Cohen song that’s keeping feelings of helplessness at bay.
Daniel Nieh is a Chinese-English translator who has been working in China since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He acts as an interpreter for companies, diplomats and governments in settings that vary from the disaster area of the Sichuan earthquake to the US State Department to museums, auction houses, magazines and other cultural institutions. Daniel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors degree in East Asian languages and received a Thouron Award to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he earned a Masters degree in Chinese Studies with distinction. He has worked as a model in China and the United States.