"Laowai for Sale" is essentially a romance/adventure genre novel, but it also blends mystery, suspense, drama, and comedy seamlessly into its theme. It follows the adventures of four Americans in China with cold-war era notions of what the country will be like. Each of them finds China to be a much different country than they had envisioned. As their experiences unfold in China, they are set against the backdrop of contemporary America during the Obama administration. There is a good amount of levity within the story as characters in Washington DC are portrayed in a satirical manner. The principal message in the story seems to be that China's ascendance on the world stage is due to America's apathy coupled with narcissistic leaders who are facilitating our corresponding decline.