The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Mellissa Fung

When alarms go off all across the world, Alice Li, a food blogger, and her mother, Vivien Li— a Tiananmen Square dissident — are pulled into a worldwide conspiracy. All signals point at China and a high-risk chess game for world power is on the line. It is up to Alice and her mother to find who is really behind this attack and what the endgame might be.

Penny leaves the comfort of Three Pines and her beloved Chief Inspector Gamache for a stand-alone thriller novel. This is the second such pivot, and the results are nothing short of magnificent. With the help of journalist Melissa Fung, they created a realistic story of what AI might be used for in the search for world domination. The story is as suspenseful as it is fast-paced, leading us towards an ending that might explode any minute.

Highly recommended!