Goddess of Yantai: An Ava Lee Novel: Book 11 Paperback – 4 December 2018

Ava Lee has a chance to hang out with Pang Fai, her movie star gf, in Beijing. Lee is coincidentally there for Fai's new movie Premier but is officially in Beijing to be a second opinion as Suki buys another business for their growing enterprise. Even less officially, Lee is scouting out whether an unstable Triad situation in HongKong is potentially troublesome for Lop.Beijing is rainy, sooty and traffic takes forever. Fai lives in a hutong, one of the old neighborhoods that Beijing government keeps tearing down. Apartment is left over from Fai's divorce and much homier than the glamorous highrise lifestyle her agent would prefer for her image (and the sort of housing Ava is usually booked into for her work trips). Fai can't swing that kind of apartment on the money she makes. Agent might want to look into that. How is it that agents drive Bentleys and the talent takes taxis? I digress (but no one can be trusted).Read that now that they are scarce people are paying a lot to live in hutongs.As a reader I am glad Fai didn't obligate herself to a lifestyle she can't afford, especially since people who are supposed to be on her side keep pressuring her into situations she does not want to be in. She had mentioned these pressures when she first met Ava but now Ava gets to see firsthand what they are really all about.They hike the Great Wall for hours. Glad someone else found it as tiring as I did.The hutong small restaurants have good food morning and evening. The hutong neighborhood is normally safer than it is once Ava shows up. Are Triad factions sending new recruits to practice attacking her or is the film industry this criminal? Fortunately nosey neighbors intervene.I dont really like reading sex scenes or seeing them in movies. To me Ian Hamilton does not step over the line, wherever the tmi line is.

In the 12th novel of his superb Ava Lee series, Ian Hamilton takes readers on an insider's tour of current-day Beijing and its environs as Ava Lee and her secret lover, the actress Pang Fai, battle the all-powerful China Movie Syndicate and a blackmailer out to ruin Pang's film career. For me, one of the highlights of this book was the description of the sumptuous meals that Ave had with Pang at the finest Beijing restaurants as well as at local street dives.

She needs a new wardrobe, Brooks Brothers are out of the picture. Interesting the reader is led to always side with Ava, Xu, Uncle and their Triad and gangster connections. Corruption permeates every country and enterprise and Ava and associates are the good guys. Fun to read!

Very interesting topics. One of his better novels in the series.

I read Ian Hamilton’s first book the moment that I heard about it and have been awaiting each book with the same anticipation I felt since then . I particularly appreciate the character development and that the main plot is interwoven with upcoming intrigue on the horizon . I can fully appreciate when Mr . Hamilton states how he worries about disappointing his fans with each new book but fear not ... they are only getting better .