The Archipelago Game

Asia is Terra Incognita for Pascual, but the CIA says his bill has come due for the protection they've been providing him. Now he's off to Singapore to be the front man for an agency op to funnel cash through shell companies to fund unspecified activities. His local contact is Dexter Fang, an Indonesian-Chinese billionaire in bed with the spooks. Dexter's right-hand woman is a Eurasian knockout whose looks are rivaled only by her cold efficiency; his Chinese chauffeur seems to know a lot about Dexter's affairs. When the op is sabotaged by operatives who can only be from China, Dexter and company are off to the vast Indonesian archipelago to throw off pursuit. If makes it back to alive, Pascual will know more about geopolitical intrigue than he ever wanted to—and he'll never be the same.

Asia is Terra Incognita for Pascual, but the CIA says his bill has come due for the protection they've been providing him. Now he's off to Singapore to be the front man for an agency op to funnel cash through shell companies to fund unspecified activities. His local contact is Dexter Fang, an Indonesian-Chinese billionaire in bed with the spooks. Dexter's right-hand woman is a Eurasian knockout whose looks are rivaled only by her cold efficiency; his Chinese chauffeur seems to know a lot about Dexter's affairs. When the op is sabotaged by operatives who can only be from China, Dexter and company are off to the vast Indonesian archipelago to throw off pursuit. If makes it back to alive, Pascual will know more about geopolitical intrigue than he ever wanted to—and he'll never be the same.

DOMINIC MARTELL, who has worked as a teacher and translator, was born in the United States and has lived and traveled extensively in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. His first three novels featuring repentant ex-terrorist Pascual Rose appeared in the 1990s, chronicling Pascual's quest for atonement during the post–Cold War years. A quarter of a century later, in the chaos of the post-9/11 world, Martell decided to bring Rose out of retirement. Simya is the third of Pascual Rose's 21st-century misadventures, which began in 2020 with the publication of Kill Chain.