Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing Payback | 2019 | Buy |
| Take No Names | 2022 | Buy |
Daniel Nieh writes thrillers that explore Chinese-American identity. Beijing Payback (2019), his debut, follows a young Chinese-American man who travels to Beijing to investigate his father’s murder and discovers a criminal empire. Take No Names (2022) continues the story across new settings and dangers.
Beijing Payback is told in a conversational first-person voice that sets it apart from most thrillers. The protagonist, Victor Li, is a college basketball player with no experience in espionage, and his fumbling through a criminal underworld gives the book a sense of humor alongside real stakes. The novel was named a best book of the year by several outlets.
In Take No Names, Victor has left his old life behind but gets pulled back into trouble when he crosses paths with a con artist in Mexico City. Nieh grew up in the Midwest and studied Chinese in college, and his own cross-cultural experiences inform the way he writes about identity and belonging.