Foul Lady Fortune

It’s hard to pin down or describe Foul Lady Fortune, but the attempt gives me a rather violent delight. I am a writer after all. So in a word, Foul Lady Fortune is thrilling. At every turn, Chloe Gong keeps us on our toes, blending equal parts action and mystery in an epic tale of loyalty, honor, and betrayal. Make sure you have a comfortable chair before you start reading.

Foul Lady Fortune is a spinoff of the These Violent Delights duology set in 1930’s Shanghai, a time when "foreign devils" were exploiting China, while civil war brewed. Rosalind Lang is an assassin with a need to atone for her past failings. After being injected with an experimental serum that gives her the ability to heal from any wound, albeit painfully, she becomes the nationalist party’s top choice to investigate a series of murders that have terrorized the population. In order to reduce suspicion, she and another spy, the handsome and infuriatingly cavalier playboy Orion Hong, are embedded as newlyweds. Each of them hold secrets which threaten to undermine their mission.

As the book progresses, allegiances are questioned at every turn, setting sister against sister, and husband against wife. The experience will have you up late flipping pages furiously. I dare you not to be enthralled.

It’s 1931 in Shanghai, and the stage is set for a new decade of intrigue.

Four years ago, Rosalind Lang was brought back from the brink of death, but the strange experiment that saved her also stopped her from sleeping and aging—and allows her to heal from any wound. In short, Rosalind cannot die. Now, desperate for redemption from her traitorous past, she uses her abilities as an assassin for her country.

Code name: Fortune.

But when the Japanese Imperial Army begins its invasion march, Rosalind’s mission pivots. A series of murders is causing unrest in Shanghai, and the Japanese are under suspicion. Rosalind’s new orders are to infiltrate foreign society and identify the culprits behind the terror plot before more of her people are killed.

To reduce suspicion, however, she must pose as the wife of another Nationalist spy, Orion Hong, and though Rosalind finds Orion’s cavalier attitude and playboy demeanor infuriating, she is willing to work with him for the greater good. But Orion has an agenda of his own, and Rosalind has secrets that she wants to keep buried. As they both attempt to unravel the conspiracy, the two spies soon find that there are deeper and more horrifying layers to this mystery than they ever imagined.