This is a post-war pulp thriller set in Macao in the midst of the Cold War. Fleischman had tried to earn a living as a magician prior to his writing career and, here, he has a magician as his main character.

He fills this tale with nightclub vixens with plunging necklines, strippers, spies, smugglers, crime bosses, and an assortment of strange characters who are all focused on Macao, one of the last vestiges of Colonial Europe abutting Communist China. It's a fun read combining a spy tale, an exotic Asian city, a man-on-the-Run story, sudden passionate romance, and a guy who can't figure out if he's being played for a sucker.

On the flip side though, this is not the clearest plot imaginable and, just as the main character is confused about what he's gotten himself involved in, as a reader, you feel a little bit confused about who is on who's side and what it's all about. ( )