ADAM CHIN

Adam Chin is an agent with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence.

That hardly does him justice. When we first meet him, he is the Director of Asia Operations for the Department and he has been around enough and seen enough that his opinion "carried some weight around the Building, even with the Secretary". With that title and prestige it would be easy to assume that he sat a big desk and directed underlings but Chin prefers to see things himself and that means getting out into the field and putting his neck on the line.

Being in the line of fire is something that Chin seems not only good at but quite experienced with. Despite working for a Cabinet Department geared towards diplomacy rather than conflict, Chin's desire for first hand information invariably puts him in places where countries are doing things they would rather no one knew about it and if someone like Chin should die of a car accident or a mugging or just vanish, a lot of shoulders would be shrugged and no one the wiser.

Luckily for Chin, he is very good at survival and has done so for some years. His instincts are sharp and usually right. His ability to judge a situation first rate. His skills at taking care of himself are quite honed. One particularly interesting talent that Chin has is an expertise with a throwing knife and he makes it a point to never go into the field without it, which is good because it saves his life more than once.

For both adventures that exist so far, Chin will be partnered with Colonel Supriya Lal, an experienced operative in India's Defense Intelligence Agency. Described as "tall, slender, with long raven-colored hair", Lal is a beauty that stuns Chin when he first meets her. He has the decency to admit to her his having a "dropped chin" upon meeting, to which she gave a laugh that endeared her to him even more. As Chin will discover to his liking, Lal did not get to where she is through looks alone - she is a very smart and resourceful and practically fearless individual in the field and has Chin's back all the way, expecting him to have hers as well.

I liked Chin. A lot. I liked how well he worked with Colonel Lal, whom I liked even more. I especially liked the trouble they get into and out of.

Even more I liked the knowledge of the large region of the Indian subcontinent, with borders to Pakistan and China and proximity toe Afghanistan and Iran, that the author brings. When the population of these countries are added to the political makeups of the governments, their importance is tremendous and yet there are far too few spy novels written about it. Iran, yes. Afghanistan, oh yeah. Pakistan, not as much but still a fair amount. India, not so much. And yet India is the second largest nation in population with diverse subcultures and long standing attitudes towards all its neighbors.

There has not been a new Adam Chin book in a while and may not be. I would like one, though.