Japantown

In this tense thriller set primarily in San Francisco and Tokyo. In the Japantown district of San Francisco, five members of a visiting Japanese family are wiped out in a brutal and violent manner. Ex-LAPD cop, widower Jim Brodie is now a antiques dealer who part owns a Tokyo private investigation company. He was born and bought up in Japan, so it is no surprise the SFPD turn to him for help. There are no clues to the murders other than a blood drenched kanji note found at the scene. Jim is baffled by the kanji but it reminds him of one found at his wife's death at a family house fire. He is determined to delve into the kanji and the murders. Despite having considerable skills, Jim's investigation brings considerable danger to his friends, daughter and himself. He encounters corruption, deceit, intrigue, greed and the Soga clan. There is a complicated plot, although over-egged and over dramatic for my tastes. I liked the story well enough, although I am sure many others will enjoy it more than me. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for an ARC.

Добър криминален трилър, който ни позволява да надникнем в иначе добре прикритата от външни очи структура на японското общество.<br /><br />Лансет се е постарал и като добър познавач на Япония ни дава информация за консервативната и безмилостна японска бюрокрация, за безмилостния бизнес етикет на големите корпорации, както и за военните престъпления на Имперска Япония преди и по времето на ВСВ, които някак са останали неглижирани и непризнати основно поради факта, че на САЩ им е трябвала тази страна като съюзник за да умиротворят трайно региона.<br /><br />Интересна, макар и на моменти малко фантасмагорична история - хареса ми!<br /><br />P.S. Естествено, издателство "Бард" не са си направили труда да издадат следващите книги от поредицата...

Small spoilers. Really wanted to like this book, but I think that comes from having lived in Japan and being familiar with the language, the society, and the history of the country. The last 10% of the book was ridiculous, and not in a good way. Bad guy after bad guy steps out to face the good guy in the middle of the woods and he wins every single time. James Bond movie speechifying by the bad guys in the finale undermines the fearsome ruthlessness the author spent the first 90% creating and building for this army of merciless mercenaries. The conclusion is just one glaring bit of horrible writing. There are just too many coincidences and contrivances, the main character's skill set is too unbelievable, his daughter acts and talks like no six year old, so many issues. This a not a good book.

The exciting ending, meaning the slew of events that lead to the final showdown, the last hundred pages or so, forced me decisively to bump the rating to four stars. I also bumped it up because I don’t want to do a disservice. I suspect a majority of mystery/thriller fans will find a lot, a lot, to love in Barry Lancet’s first novel, Japantown, so take my slight objections with a spot of soy sauce.<br /><br />So what’s to love? Well, the lead, Jim Brodie, ain’t too bad, and since the author bio on the flap promises a series and the author’s formidable skills suggest even better novels to come, I think it’s possible Jim Brodie may grow to be a favorite and beloved character of the genre. Right now, the only thing that may tire you about him is <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="61991921-f58f-47fc-82cb-1c7d96a86162" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="61991921-f58f-47fc-82cb-1c7d96a86162"> his damned moral quibbling when dispatching villains who threaten children</label>. Other highlights include the fact that the setting and situation is complex, Brodie has a past and a young child, but the pacing is nevertheless fast. Some digressions did not interest me because I’m familiar with Japan and most of the included Japan related tidbits, but those digressions were slight and did not detract, even to me. Mr. Lancet must have held back (or been edited back), because I suspect he’s a lot more knowledgeable about Japan than I am. Weapon details and the intricacies and intimacies of close combat fooled me and may even have been accurate. All I can say is the action scenes were crisp and clean, the actions understandable and believable, though of course occasionally overly coincidental. (But only Bill Clinton and a few others can read a mystery/thriller and not find the lead’s good fortune just a tad too much.)<br /><br />Brodie is an art dealer and, due to his father’s profession, a semi-reluctant, part-time PI. He manages himself believably well for the most part, I thought, despite ample twists and turns. I am not the kind of reader who is dead set on trying to predict things, but I worked at it and lost some points. I’ll wager you’ll lose some too, maybe not all. Brodie’s daughter is eventually drawn into it, and the author went out of his way to make her trauma/input realistic, especially during the climatic events.<br /><br />So what’s not to love? Maybe I’m peculiar, but a few of my pet peeves appeared, though admirably they did not claw at me as much as I’d expect. Still. At times I had to clench my teeth and look over my shoulder. Such as 1), the villain. The murder in San Francisco of a visiting Japanese family, including their young children, is the work of a killer, killers, who are extremely adept, extraordinarily well-trained and all that jazz. Hope that makes my pet peeve clear, though I have to say Mr. Lancet managed it without inducing serial eye-rolling. I never threw the book aside in disgust, I merely sat up straighter and grew cautious, vigilant. And 2), the villain. Brodie, the hero, was raised, in part, in Japan, and the villains, he learns somewhat quickly so I don’t think this is a spoiler but if you’re worried skip, the villains <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="08c44a83-4586-4ef8-a66f-c19609e3e77c" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="08c44a83-4586-4ef8-a66f-c19609e3e77c"> are an example of that Asian master/ninja/assassin/aristocrat that mostly bothers me but was, again, more tolerable here because Mr. Lancet doesn’t overdo it too much. Still, it bordered on the beginning of come on now, let’s not exoticize the East like that. </label>.<br /><br />Buy now and get in on the bottom floor of an exciting new series!

<i>Won Through a Goodreads Giveaway</i><br /><br />I should have opened this book upon receiving it in the mail but in the interest of me being a slacker I decided to put it on the back-burner. Big Mistake! Huge!(In my <i>Pretty Woman</i> voice to those snobby Rodeo Drive women.) <u>Japantown</u> by Barry Lancet is what I look for in all thrillers. A great plot that has all the bells and whistles such as dead bodies, major butt-kicking, and impossibly awesome villains is nonnegotiable. Thank you Barry Lancet for fulfilling this criteria.<br /><br />An antique dealer, Jim Brodie, is asked to consult with the San Francisco PD on a recent murder of a Japanese family. Because of his expertise in all things Japan, he's the go to guy. He's also part-owner of his deceased father's PI firm in Japan. Immediately Brodie notices there is something very calculated and expert about this killing. Similar to his wife's death, there is a kanji note found at the murder. Ultimately, his investigation places him in a dangerous position that threatens the life of his friends and his only living relative.<br /><br />Barry Lancet uses his knowledge of Japanese culture and the language to write <u>Japantown</u>. This debut novel is descriptive, absorbing, and thrilling. Suffice it to say it does not read like a debut novel. Lancet scraps unnecessary dialogue for a more intelligent thriller. Instead of littering the pages with failed one-liners, Lancet goes for a more believable approach with a strong pivotal character.<br /><br /><u>Japantown</u> shifts focus between Jim Brodie's narratives and a third party view of the bad guys movements. It is not clear how the two are related but we are privy to the understanding that Jim has definitely pissed the wrong guy off. As more layers of mystery are unraveled, the tension is palpable. The world of high-stakes business is a lot more deadly than one would have thought.<br /><br />Barry Lancet is a great new voice in the thriller genre. I hope his next novel is just as good as <u>Japantown</u>. It's an in-depth look at Japanese culture, business, and values. Sign me up for his next book. PLEASE!?!

When five members of a rich and powerful Japanese family are gunned down assassination-style at a pedestrian mall in San Francisco's Japantown, Jim Brodie is consulted by SFPD. He is a part time antique dealer and part time PI, owning 50% of a successful firm in Tokyo started by his father. A single, highly complex Kanji character left on a scrap of paper at the scene is identical to one left at his wife Meiko's murder. This leads him back to Tokyo, where his best operative and he join forces, and find themselves battling a powerful, secretive clan: the Soga, who have been assassins for hire for many centuries. Lots of action, but rather predictable, and a strong need for suspending believability.<br />

What I liked about this extraordinary mystery/thriller was the originality of the uber-evil group responsible for a massacre in San Francisco's Japan-town. An American detective/antique dealer with a Japanese background and connection is asked by the SFPD to help find the motive and those responsible for the massacre resulting in a fast paced, complex thriller. This is debut novel in a series that firmly establishes Barry Lancet as a major factor in the genre. I recommend it highly.

I'm not sure where this book lost me. It might have been when the suggestion that a mole might be in Brodie's little group came up and then nobody bothered to investigate it. Then, at the end, Brodie is shocked that there was indeed an infiltrator (and it is so obvious who it is, but that's another issue).<br /><br />Either way, I chugged through, and by the end, I was wishing I hadn't bothered. Cliches abound (the entire bad guy group is one enormous cliche). The dialogue is somewhat clunky (does any grown man actually say to another adult's suggestion, "Let's not and say we did?"). Brodie's daughter may be a six-year old girl, but she certainly doesn't talk like one. Brodie's narration attempts self-deprecation but only succeeds in making it look like he thinks a awful lot of himself and his abilities. The Japanese-to-English translations in conversations seem like they're used just for the author to show off. And the way Brodie peps himself up to face the bad guys is to say that "everyone has their own Japantown to face," which I'm pretty sure is an idea that is not just hokey but is also cribbed from the motivational speech at the end of "The Three Amigos."<br /><br />I can't count the amount of times my husband (who lived in Japan for ten years - not as many as Lancet, obviously, but still more than my paltry three years) rolled his eyes when I talked to him about this book. I know I rolled mine at least three times. There's nothing really new here, but that's not what makes it bad. It's not a very thrilling novel, and I find it impossible to muster up any interest in the "highly insular and still-active secret ninja clan" trope. Especially when it's written as awkwardly as this.<br /><br />My husband summed it up thusly: "Sounds like a comic book." And yes, that's exactly how it feels. It does not feel like serious fiction. There's not much mystery, there's not much "thriller," and the story never really gripped me. I think I'll be skipping Lancet's next installment.

This book had all the elements to make a fantastic thriller and somewhere near the last 1/3, it lost it. Outstanding setup: five members of a family shot professionally in Japantown with no connection to anything at all; no witnesses, no evidence. Brodie, a widower with a young daughter, is called in to discuss kanji found at the scene. He is a Japanese art aficionado and half owner of a PI firm in Tokyo, a company he inherited from his father. We're introduced to the major characters (including the dark side invisible players) in a beautifully paced, artful outline. So much promise! Then the author loses it. Formula reveals, predictable events, usual suspect roundups of too-familiar characterizations, and a rolling number of monologues from previously taciturn types which smacks loudly of writing inexperience. A few of these I cannot believe the editors didn't insist be handled a different way. Expeditionary forces become expositionary forces. Once this began, the suspension of belief in the set-up is gone. I got tied up in prose. "I fanned left." Not sure if one person can fan, but there we are. And one chapter begins with "Just then a..." which my 5th grade teacher would have redlined out. Lancet has talent, he has the credentials to do a cross-world thriller, and I expect his writing skills will improve now that the debut novel is on the shelf. I read on the flap this is the first in a Jim Brodie series. I hope the editors get engaged before book two is out.

Before getting into the actual review, let me say that I was privileged to win an advance proof copy of <i>Japantown</i> from goodreads. Thank you, goodreads!<br /><br />Barry Lancet’s <i>Japantown</i> is outstandingly entertaining reading! As a person with a lifelong fascination with Japan and a love for high-action stories, I had been looking forward with great anticipation to reading <i>Japantown</i>. I knew of the author’s many years’ residence and work experience in Japan, and the book had been billed as a gripping thriller. So my expectations were set pretty high. I was not disappointed! When I put the book down each night, I could hardly wait to pick it up again the next.<br /><br />We readers constantly search for something fresh in the genres we love—a new angle, a surprising twist, some fresh seasoning. Lancet capably delivers. Japanese culture is at the same time subtle and complex, dramatic and refined, intense and self-controlled. What a pleasure to read an author who so skillfully weaves into his story the excitement, color, and sophistication of such an exotic culture! Yet he doesn’t overdo it. Just the right amount of <i>wasabi</i>. <br /><br />The reader who has little familiarity with Japanese culture will certainly still feel right at home with the novel. The story starts and ends in the U.S. The protagonist and many of the key characters are Americans. And the book's style--while richly and thoroughly infused with captivating Japanese elements--is comfortably American. (And I mean that in a good sense.)<br /><br />Jim Brodie is a very likable protagonist. He draws on a wealth of experience to work his way through the plot’s complications. He’s an endearing dad with a lovable daughter. Meanwhile, he has to contend with haunting and potentially crippling factors from his past—the loss of loved ones, memories of a father whose standards he’s never quite sure he can measure up to.<br /><br />I loved the supporting cast—Noda comes to mind, especially. The antagonists? Well, figuring out who's a bad guy and who isn't--that's part of the great fun of the book. And part of what makes the novel so unsettling at times is knowing that, in the story as in real life, some of the criminal elements are well ensconced in places where we just don't want them to be. <br /><br /><i>Japantown</i> proves that a great story can be written with power and emotion, yet without pointless profanity or gratuitous gore. Yes, the crimes are painted with sufficient, genuine realism and detail. The fight scenes pack plenty of adrenaline-inducing punch. Characters become angry, furious, enraged, broken, vulnerable, and tender—and the reader feels the full impact of it all. Yet Lancet delivers the full intensity of the story with a refreshing mastery of <i>miyabi</i> (the Japanese cultural virtue that rejects that which is needlessly vulgar).<br /> <br />My only criticism of the book has to do with the resolution of the crisis. Without giving away anything about the outcome, I simply felt that the conflict was stretched out just a few pages longer than it optimally should have been. But that’s an opinion that each reader will need to come to on their own.<br /><br />All-in-all, what an enjoyable read! Thanks and congratulations to Barry Lancet!<br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/16130483.Japantown_A_Thriller" title="Japantown A Thriller by Barry Lancet" rel="noopener">Japantown: A Thriller</a><a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/3363536.Barry_Lancet" title="Barry Lancet" rel="noopener">Barry Lancet</a>