The Beijing Betrayal is the sixth book in the Marcus Ryker series by Joel C. Rosenberg. I haven’t read the previous books yet and found this easy to read as a standalone mystery.
I thought the insight into the political aspects of this book was fascinating. I’ve never really considered how involved the President would be in CIA missions.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were interesting and the story was fascinating. I’ll have to check out the other books in the series because I’d like to see what lead up to these events. This was a quick read and I really enjoyed it!

I enjoyed the narration by George Guidall. I thought he did a great job bringing the book to life.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Beijing Betrayal (Marcus Ryker #6) by Joel C. Rosenberg
Narrated by George Guidall
Publisher: Brilliance Publishing, Brilliance Audio
Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery & Thrillers
Published: March 11, 2025

Joel C. Rosenberg delivers a fantastic finale in The Beijing Betrayal, blending action, politics, and moral depth. Marcus Ryker’s mission to stop a deadly terrorist threat is tense, with Rosenberg’s sharp writing and fast pacing keeping me hooked. Real-world stakes and great characters make this a standout political thriller—both thrilling and thought-provoking; a powerful conclusion to an excellent series.

Enjoyed listening to this fast-paced suspenseful thriller! I think this may be the first I have read in the Marcus Ryder series although they have long been on my TBR list and I've enjoyed another Rosenberg standalone. The narrator did an awesome job and his voice was pleasant, reminding me of the late great Tim Russert. The plot was terrifying, based somewhat on modern news headlines and heavily researched. It makes me wonder how often things like this actually happen but get hidden from the general public. I'll definitely be checking out the backlist from this series and looking forward to future novels by Rosenberg. My thanks to Brilliance Audio for providing access to the audio book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Rosenberg has provided us with a wonderfully crafted story that is right on point with current affairs in the world. Fast paced with well developed characters, it is a rollercoaster ride which I could not put down. I had to read it in a single sitting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This geopolitical thriller keeps you on the edge of your seat. This fast paced story packs a lot into the book - lies, deceit, politics, terrorist attacks, deadly lab manufactured virus & invading countries.

The Beijing Betrayal is the 6th book in the Marcus Ryker series. I read it as a standalone book and really enjoyed it.

There are several references to religious themes specifically Marcus’ faith, spirituality and prayer. I had a hard time reconciling religion with a covert CIA agent who has racked up a lot of kills.

This is my first book by Joel C. Rosenberg and I plan to go back and read the others in the series. George Guidall did an excellent job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley & Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for letting me read this ARC.

A sneak attack against America is being planned and could kill millions of Americans. Can Marcus Ryder and his elite team find Abu Nakba, the man behind the plot? Who else is involved, individuals or other countries? This man must be found and stopped but how many will face danger/death to stop this attack?

Very well written novel (I listened to the audiobook). Excellent characters in this well paced, action packed novel. The team will work themselves to exhaustion to save the future of America.

A fast moving plot, non-stop action, plenty of tension, and lots of thrills makes this international suspense novel a worthwhile read. Book 6 of 6 and the last in the Marcus Ryker series, this seemingly realistic vision of a Communist China take takeover of Taiwan is harrowing. The Beijing Betrayal is a prophecy warning tale that only Ryker, a CIA agent, can prevent. Insights in to the mechanisms of the Russian government are clearly presented. China threatens the United States with terrorism in an attempt to thwart its power in the Pacific. They threaten Taipei with a covert missile attack and Taiwan’s military with nuclear weapons. Also, there is a deadly virus the terrorists plan to release on the US to prevent a response to the planned attack on Taiwan. The aerosol is being produced in India. Can Ryker, his team and the Seal team stop nuclear war?
Annie, Deputy Director of the CIA, and Ryder are preparing to marry but are determined to first stop Abu Nakba, Commander of a terror group named Kairos. The story continues after The Libyan Diversion with the team looking for Nakba and the Kairos terrorists who are working with China. The pressure is on after years of Ryker and his team hunting Nakba.
The prospective reader should know that this is Christian fiction and religion, prayer and faith are an integral part of the story.
The wedding that takes place at the end of the story is very detailed and feels like quite a juxtaposition.
This is a review of both the book and the audiobook. I started with the audiobook but despite a valiant attempt, just could not enjoy it. There are a lot of characters in the story. Although I am a seasoned audiobook listener, I simply could not keep track of all of them, especially the Kairos, Chinese, Russian, Iranian and Taiwanese characters. The greatest obstacle for me in completing the audiobook, however, was the narrator. I have listened to Georgie Guidall narrate the Gabriel Allon series of books by Daniel Silva and found his narration of those to be excellent. I was quite excited to see that he was narrator of The Beijing Betrayal but was ultimately disappointed. His voice was very monotone, nasal, breathy, and difficult to understand. His vocal tone during the introduction and description of characters made it even more difficult to sort out them out and the challenge was also in the fact that there is a great deal of narration in this book rather than character’s voices. I believe that this story did not lend itself to be easy to follow along audibly. Although I moved on to reading the book, I am rating it both in terms of the content and the quality of the audiobook.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Tyndale Fiction for an advanced audiobook version of The Beijing Betrayal. This is my honest review of the audiobook and the book version.

I have enjoyed the books in the Marcus Ryker series and this was no exception. The spycraft makes for thrilling listening as the agents speed across the globe to thwart evil plans to start a large scale war and bring great bloodshed. There may be some unrealistic elements, but overall the story is one of courage, sacrifice, and faith. One star was taken away due to the staccato cadence of the narrator which made for difficult listening.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve been enjoying Christian fiction for over four decades. This book had the best, light faith content of all of them. Mr. Rosenberg’s books are always well researched and detailed. The fire fight scenes are so intense it felt as if I was right there. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the entire series, but this one was my favorite. Highly recommend the series or any of this author’s books. The romance was sweet, clean and profound. This book had it ALL for me. George Guidall is one of my two favorite narrators. Outstanding performance as always. This is a series I will enjoy again.

I was blessed with an audio ARC of this book, and my opinions are truly my own and unbiased.

In this final book of the Marcus Ryker series, Ryker and his team need to stop the planned attacks on the US and her allies. Hunting down Abu Nabka, the most wanted terrorist in the world, is Ryker’s mission when he discovers a ply that would be even more devastating if not stopped.

This was a fast paced, high stakes geopolitical thriller with themes of faith and Christianity woven throughout. In my normal fashion, I picked up a book not realizing it was part of, and in fact the last in a series.🙄 I feel like this might have contributed to the somewhat rushed nature of the story with little development or depth to the characters, that I feel were probably flushed out in all the books prior. I moved between the digital and audio copies and found the cadence of the narrator slightly distracting. The action was well written and the underlying relationship story interesting. Overall a good thriller, but I’d start at the beginning.

My fault for not realizing when I requested this book that it is a final book in a series unlike some books in a series this one did not contain any information from the previous books. Because of that I felt from the start I missed a lot.
However listening to this book I really felt world war 3 and with all that’s going on in the world right now this was hard to get into. I questioned when is this actually going to happen?
I will be going back and reading the first books to understand what I missed from them.