Japantown

Starred review from July 29, 2013
Lancet successfully places a PI in an international thriller plot in his highly entertaining debut. Five members of the Nakamura family have been gunned down at a pedestrian mall in San Francisco’s Japantown. SFPD Lt. Frank Renna asks Jim Brodie, an antiques dealer who inherited his father’s Tokyo-based private investigation firm, to decipher the one clue found at the crime scene: a single kanji, or Japanese letter, written on a piece of paper. Jim saw that same letter before—at the house fire in which his wife, Mieko, perished. Tokyo communications mogul Katsuyuki Hara hires Jim to find out who murdered his eldest daughter and the four other family members, including two children. The PI gets on the trail of the ruthless Soga, a private army for hire that’s responsible for unsolved high-profile deaths worldwide. The case becomes personal when the Soga kidnap Jim’s six-year-old daughter, Jenny. Readers will want to see more of the talented Jim, with his expertise in Japanese culture, history, and martial arts. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.

August 1, 2013
Following the shooting of a visiting Japanese family on the streets of San Francisco's Japantown, Tokyo-raised antiques dealer Jim Brodie dons his other identity--inheritor of his father's PI firm--to investigate the killing. He discovers it may be related to the murder of his wife, Mieko. The rare kanji, or logographic Japanese character, left at the scene of the family's execution convinces Brodie that powerful forces were behind the deaths. Hired by a shady Tokyo communications tycoon whose married daughter was among the victims, and also working with San Francisco police, Brodie brings to the case his deep knowledge of Japanese culture--and Japanese self-defense techniques. Tracing the killings back to Japan, he joins former associates of his father who now run the Tokyo office of Brodie Security to penetrate the ultra secret, super powerful Soga, a clan of assassins dating back centuries. They don't fool around, coating gun handles and knife blades with a lethal poison and using sophisticated surveillance devices to follow their opponents' every move. After they abduct Brodie's 6-year-old daughter from an FBI safe house, the odds of him getting her back alive are slim. Ultimately, no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. Lancet, who has lived in Japan for more than 25 years, many of them as editor at a Japanese publishing house, draws upon his familiarity with the terrain, local history and Japanese culture to create an East-West adventure that informs as it thrills. A key plot point involving powerful new technology that is up for grabs is under-developed, and the novel isn't without its "Now I'm going to kill you" moments. But the intricate plot is skillfully developed, the action never flags and the climax is gripping. A fresh voice in crime fiction, Lancet successfully imports yakuza fiction to San Francisco while probing its origins in Japanese lore.

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July 1, 2013

Is there such a thing as calligraphy with psychological baggage? Lancet's engrossing debut thriller tackles that original question. Jim Brodie, antiques dealer and part-time PI, spent his formative years in Japan and is well versed in its language and culture. When a prominent Japanese family is slain in his hometown of San Francisco, Brodie is asked to assist the police. While surveying the murder scene, he is horrified to spot a unique kanji (a set of characters in the Japanese writing system) on a scrap of paper. It is the exact kanji that was found at the scene of his wife's murder many years ago. Spurred by a sense of revenge and closure, Brodie embarks on a whirlwind hunt for the writer of said kanji and an end to his aching sorrow. VERDICT Lancet has a gift for pacing and keeps the reader engaged and guessing till the very end. The relationship between Brodie and his young daughter does not always ring true, but it is a minor distraction in this solid thriller. This novel will prove popular with fans of mysteries involving foreign culture and history.--Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI

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