“Pacific Burn is a page-turning, globe-spanning tale of murder, suspense, and intrigue that grabs and holds your attention from beginning to end. Barry Lancet is truly a gifted author, and his character of Jim Brodie is unlike any private investigator you’ve ever encountered in literature.” —Nelson DeMille, New York Times bestselling author of Radiant Angel
In the third book in “what will likely be a long and successful series” (San Francisco Magazine), Japanese antiques dealer and PI Jim Brodie goes up against the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security—and a killer operating on both sides of the Pacific.
In recognition for his role in solving the Japantown murders in San Francisco, antiques dealer and sometime-PI Jim Brodie has just been brought on as the liaison for the mayor’s new Pacific Rim Friendship Program. Brodie in turn recruits his friend, the renowned Japanese artist Ken Nobuki, and after a promising meeting with city officials and a picture-perfect photo op, Brodie and Nobuki leave City Hall for a waiting limo.
But as soon as they exit the building, a sniper attacks them from the roof of the Asian Art Museum. Quick thinking allows Brodie to escape, but Nobuki ends up hospitalized and in a coma. Brodie soon realizes that, with the suspicious and untimely death of Nobuki’s oldest son a week earlier in Napa Valley, someone may be targeting his friend’s family—and killing them off one by one.
Suspects are nearly too numerous to name—and could be in the United States or anywhere along the Pacific Rim. The quest for answers takes Brodie from his beloved San Francisco to Washington, DC, in a confrontation with the DHS, the CIA, and the FBI; then on to Tokyo, Kyoto, and beyond, in search of what his Japanese sources tell him is a legendary killer in both senses of the word—said to be more rumor than real, but deadlier than anything else they’ve ever encountered if the whispers are true.
Pacific Burn is the third Jim Brodie thriller by Barry Lancet. Released in 2016 by Simon & Schuster, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a very well written series by a competent and intelligent author who has decades of immersion in the settings, culture, and realities of living in Japan. Protagonist Jim Brodie is an expert in Japanese antiques, art, and culture as well as a second generation private investigator. The intersection of money and power often attracts the worst elements of humanity and Jim's a righter-of-wrongs and a slightly tarnished white hat with an infallable sense of justice.
This book starts with a (literal) bang as a sniper attack sees Jim escape with his life, but leaves his friend in a coma. The plotting is taut and spare and the action non-stop. The story is peppered throughout with transliterated Japanese words and phrases. The words are italicized in the text and translate easily in context (the author is quite adept). It adds verisimilitude without adding difficulty.
Although it's the third book in the series, the mystery and denouement are self contained here, and readers who jump in with this book won't have difficulties following the story. There are now four books extant in the series and they're all well constructed and exciting, so the series as a whole would be a good candidate for a weekend binge read.
Four stars. An exciting and transportive read. Some light swearing and a fair bit of gunplay and violence.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
