Guest Review: Tokyo Kill

Summary: In the second thriller of this new series from “a fresh voice in crime fiction” (Kirkus Reviews), antiques dealer-turned-P.I. Jim Brodie matches wits with an elusive group of killers chasing a long-lost treasure that has a dangerous history.

When an elderly World War II veteran shows up unannounced at Brodie Security begging for protection, the staff thinks he’s just a paranoid old man. He offers up a story connected to the war and to Chinese Triads operating in present-day Tokyo, insisting that he and his few surviving army buddies are in danger.

Fresh off his involvement in solving San Francisco’s Japantown murders, antiques dealer Jim Brodie had returned to Tokyo for some R&R, and to hunt down a rare ink painting by the legendary Japanese Zen master Sengai for one of his clients—not to take on another case with his late father’s P.I. firm. But out of respect for the old soldier, Brodie agrees to provide a security detail, thinking it’ll be an easy job and end when the man comes to his senses.

Instead, an unexpected, brutal murder rocks Brodie and his crew, sending them deep into the realm of the Triads, Chinese spies, kendo warriors, and an elusive group of killers whose treachery spans centuries—and who will stop at nothing to complete their mission. -- Simon and Schuster

Now that I've read my dad's review of TOKYO KILL by Barry Lancet, I feel a little guilty for giving him the second book in the series. I'm thinking that he might have enjoyed starting this series from the beginning with JAPANTOWN. It doesn't seem like he missed a beat though. Here are his thoughts:

Jim Brodie is an antiques dealer who inherited his father’s Tokyo based investigation and personal protection agency. Brodie must juggle these two careers and still find time to raise a six-year-old daughter. While in Tokyo searching for a famous ink painting by Japanese monk/artist Sengai, Brodie and his investigation firm take on the case to protect a Japanese WWII veteran who is bothered by the recent brutal deaths of several surviving veterans who served with him as part of the Japanese occupation of China. Initially believed to be revenge killings from the brutal treatment of the Chinese, Brodie focuses on Chinese Triad gangs. However, when a badly beaten body is discovered in an alley and identified as the old soldier’s son, the case becomes more personal to Brodie and he takes the investigation in a different direction. With the help of a young attractive female Tokyo police officer, Brodie discovers a much more sinister plot than includes a Japanese crime ring and the Sengai painting he had been searching for.

Author Barry Lancet serves up plenty of action in this thriller. During the investigation Brodie butts heads with his agency staff; suffers a severe beating at a kendo (way of the sword) club; is attacked on a river cruise with his daughter; endures a poisoning in Japan’s Chinatown; faces down gunmen in a Chinese cemetery; withstands a sniper laser target and escapes from a trap set for him in Miami.

In addition to being an exciting novel with plenty of twists and turns and a surprise conclusion, TOYKO KILL gives the reader a good insight into Japanese cultural and social issues. If I have any problem with the book it would be the confusion I had with grasping the Japanese names and terminology. I had to often leaf back to reread prior pages.

TOKYO KILL would be a great read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller.

Thanks to Booking Pap Pap for his review and thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this novel.