Red Roulette Audiobook By Desmond Shum cover art

Red Roulette

An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today's China

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Red Roulette

By: Desmond Shum
Narrated by: Tim Chiou
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About this listen

 'THE BOOK CHINA DOESN'T WANT YOU TO READ' CNN
'READS LIKE A THRILLER' FINANCIAL TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2021

In the headline-making and bestselling tradition of Bill Browder’s Red Notice comes a unique and incendiary memoir from an entrepreneur who rose to the zenith of power and money in 21st century China and whose wife was disappeared - and then mysteriously reappeared four years later on the eve of Red Roulette’s publication and global media coverage about it.

As Desmond Shum was growing up impoverished in China, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity, he earned an American college degree and returned to his native country to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China’s male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of China’s Communist Party, the so-called Red Aristocracy, he vaulted into China’s billionaire class.

Soon they were developing the massive air cargo facility at Beijing International Airport, and they followed that feat with the creation of one of Beijing’s premier hotels. They were dazzlingly successful, travelling in private jets, funding multi-million-dollar buildings and endowments, and purchasing expensive homes, vehicles and art. But in 2017, their fates diverged irrevocably when Desmond, while living overseas with his son, learned that his now ex-wife Whitney had vanished along with three co-workers.

In Red Roulette Desmond Shum pulls back the curtain on China’s ruling elite and reveals the real truth of what is happening inside China’s wealth-making machine. This is both Desmond’s story and Whitney’s, because she has not been able to tell it herself.
©2021 Desmond Shum (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, UK Business Politics & Government Professionals & Academics
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Critic reviews

'Powerful and disturbing…The Chinese government will not be happy with this book....Rarely has anyone in modern China been brave enough to violate its oppressive code of silence and give an honest first-hand account of what really goes on in the corridors of power.' (Bill Browder, author of Red Notice)
'The book is full of fabulous titbits... It was a period of so much scheming that the Beijing Hotel employed two full-time coordinators to stagger guests so as to prevent inconvenient encounters. It’s this level of detail on Beijing’s inner workings that has clearly spooked the communist high command. Shum’s recollections are still deeply embarrassing for the Chinese Communist Party, making this memoir a singular, highly readable insider account of the most secretive of global powers.' (Cindy Yu)
'The machine was right to be worried. Large scandals of the recent past are revisited in Red Roulette… [The book] details an elite China built on secrets and fear, in which family ties are one of the only reliable bonds of trust.' (David Rennie)
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Great story, good narration overall. But Tim can definitely improve on his Mandarin Chinese pronunciation.

Could improve on those Chinese pronunciations.

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The narration is excellent. This is a story of the not so noble inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party as well as a touching human story exposing the frailties of human relationships.

Enormously enjoyable

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if you're serious about looking at what is going on in China this is a damming account about real people and real events! Time for us all to wake up!

Loved it!

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What’s the author wants you to believe is they moved hundreds of millions of dollars and they only handed out a few watches and small gifts. They want you to believe that at no time was there huge amounts of cash being passed around.

If you understand how the Chinese business system works, this is ridiculous. The author has completely minimised how illegal their actions were. The whole book is sanitised and is quite simply dull.

It’s Nonsense

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