Spy story 'Night Heron' is Kerri's book pick

Kerri's book pick this week is "Night Heron," a spy thriller based in Beijing and London, by BBC reporter Adam Brookes.

In a review for NPR, Alan Cheuse said the novel had "all of the freshness of first-hand sense of place and a pulsing narrative drive." He continued:

"Night Heron" opens in a faraway place even for China — a labor camp distant from China's famous cities, as a one-time spy for the British, a big lumbering man nicknamed Peanut, escapes from his captivity and heads back to urban life in Beijing. ... Peanut settles into a job as a bouncer at a working man's brothel, but not before trying to make contact with his old British handlers and his former sources in the Chinese defense industry.

Cheuse called the book a "great fix" for spy-story addicts.