A compelling economic theory wrapped in a shopworn plot.
In Kingston’s debut thriller, an American investigates a secret society that controls Japan’s economy.
Economist Scott Maxwell is attempting to devise a quantitatively precise metric that captures trade imbalances between the United States and Japan. In the process, he meets Tori Tahashi, a Canadian-Japanese filmmaker whose cousin Sachi Yoshida was murdered by an unknown party. Sachi had been secretly recording the goings-on at the Bonsai Club, an exclusive members-only redoubt in Tokyo that serves as the headquarters of the shakai, a secret society that’s existed since the 12th century and manipulates much of the Japanese economy. The shakai figure out that Tori is in possession of Sachi’s footage, and they send operatives to break into his home and steal it. Scott and Tori join forces to investigate the shakai, and they fly to Japan after Scott’s contact in the CIA provides Tori with false documentation to conceal his identity. Kingston thrillingly chronicles the shakai’s dogged pursuit of the main characters, revealing the group to be essentially a criminal organization with nationalistic objectives—one that’s fully prepared to murder their enemies, if necessary. The narrative also provides a peek into the group’s inner workings as it follows the rise of Akio Morita, a new initiate, through its ranks. However, the novel is mainly a vehicle for presenting a trade-imbalance theory, which the author articulates with impressive clarity; it holds that Japan sneakily subsidizes its exports, manipulating the market and its own currency and thus destroying any possibility of fair trade with the United States. The theory is compelling enough that readers may wish that Kingston had developed it in greater detail, as the rest of the cloak-and-dagger plot is formulaic and unconvincing. Also, the prose style, especially in dialogue, can be breathlessly melodramatic; for example, the Kani, members of the shakai, often speak like comic-book villains: “You have begun to understand the power of the Kani, the responsibility that transcends the individual. You'll soon learn how to call upon this power, as you may one day be called to fight the enemies of the Empire.”
A compelling economic theory wrapped in a shopworn plot.Pub Date: April 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9959542-1-2
Page Count: 278
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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