《红色赌盘》在9月7日，先以英文版面世，出版前夕，沈栋接到前妻段伟红（Whitney Duan）的电话，希望沈栋可以停止该书出版，并且说这本书会害死人，而且要沈栋注意孩子的安全。沈栋在出书前，曾经接受几家外国媒体访问，包括纽时和华尔街日报，沈栋说：“他写书目地是想知道前妻下落，果然前妻段伟红出现了”。
下面是我翻译的读者BarRouge的书评：
了解当代中国的必读书——一位勇敢的作家的真实故事
我碰巧在《金融时报》周末版上了解到这本书，并在它首次发行时订购了它。这是任何人想了解当代中国（即2005年后WTO）如何运作的人的必读书，尤其是了解中国国家资本主义如何创造了财富。大多数关于中国的书都有点“理论性”或更具历史视角（即20世纪60年代的文化大革命或2000年初的《中国先生》）。这是一个非常个人化和真实的故事，讲述了一个人在上海和香港长大，在美国接受教育，并经历了后WTO的中国繁荣期，在2008年北京奥运会前后，他是一名企业家，利用红色贵族的影响力建设机场物流。为了充分披露，我是华裔美国人，同时也在中国的私募资金公司工作。我赞同作者写这样一个个人故事，展现了作者是如何冒险、适应、顽强地在中国复杂的商业动态中航行。这本书是关于中国过去/现在的活生生的历史。这本书讲述了一段与中国崛起并行的个人历程，也说明了价值观冲突是当今世界紧张局势的根源。这本书应该是东亚/中国研究领域任何人的必读读物，从另一个角度来看，这本书也同样有趣，让华裔美国人了解他们如何能够或为什么不能在中国成功。
这是 BarRouge Review 的英文链接：Must read to understand China since 2010 - an authentic story by a courageous author
为了方便华二代了解这本书摘录几个Editorial Reviews
"A memoir that shows how the Chinese government keeps business in line -- and what happens when businesspeople overstep...Red Roulette shows how government officials keep the rules fuzzy and the threat of a crackdown ever present."
--The New York Times
“Full of fabulous titbits….It’s [the] level of detail on Beijing’s inner workings—published in English for the world to read—that has clearly spooked the communist high command….A singular, highly readable insider account of the most secretive of global powers.”
—The Spectator
“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, The Economist
“Red Roulette was already shaping up as a must-read account of corruption at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party. But the sudden reemergence last week of Whitney Duan, Shum’s former wife, four years after disappearing into apparent arbitrary detention in Beijing, has made the book a news story.”
—POLITICO, China Watcher
“A deliberative, slow-building, suspenseful narrative that reveals numerous insights about the mechanics of power and greed… Observers of contemporary Chinese affairs, consistently intriguing and murky territory, will find much to interest them here. A riveting look inside ‘the roulette-like political environment of the New China.’”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Students of Chinese politics and business will appreciate Shum’s personal narrative of China’s turbulent economic rise; this book deserves a wide audience.”
—Library Journal
“Powerful and disturbing…The Chinese government will not be happy with this book. Desmond Shum lifts the curtain behind the supposed Chinese economic miracle, portraying government leaders driven by corruption, conflict of interest, and greed. Rarely has anyone in modern China been brave enough to violate its oppressive code of silence and give an honest firsthand account of what really goes on in the corridors of power. Shum breaks all the rules so we can see it for ourselves and it’s not pretty.”
—Bill Browder, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Red Notice
“Red Roulette is everything those who follow China have been waiting for: a deeply personal epic that reveals the idealism, ecstasy, and avarice of post-Deng Xiaoping China…There simply isn't another inside history of today's Chinese leadership like this one. If it spawns a new genre of Chinese personal histories—as I hope it will—Red Roulette will remain the classic of its category. Desmond Shum’s book is riveting, moving, and dangerous.”
—Matt Pottinger, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor
