The China Card

Just two decades ago, U.S.-China relations seemed hostile and closed. As this novel opens, a skilled diplomat, reclaimed from a pig farm by Chou En-lai, recruits young American Matt Thompson secretly to promote the idea of normalized relations in the course of his work in Nixon's 1968 campaign (and later on Kissinger's staff). On the eve of success, Chou and Kissinger turn against their envoys, determined that history show only their own roles in rapprochement. A secret journal, a con artist, and a love affair with Chou's interpreter are elements in a tricky deal that keeps the historical silence. Ehrlichman certainly convinces us that Nixon's overtures to China could have been engineered in just this way, and his sly and acute portraits of Kissinger, Nixon, and Haig are an unexpected bonus. Altogether, an engrossing adventure story of a go-between who treads the fine line between being a spy and being a dupe.