Bea Reviews Pacific Burn by Barry Lancet

Series: Jim Brodie #3
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Challenges: NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
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Blurb from goodreads:

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.

Bea's Thoughts:

I've been looking forward to this book since I read the previous one, "Tokyo Kill". If you haven't read either of the earlier books, no problem; this works fine as as a stand-alone.

Jim Brodie lives part-time in the US and part-time in Japan; he works as a fine arts dealer but also owns a private investigation firm in Japan. Often, as in "Pacific Burn", his worlds coincide. Brodie can't help but get involved when an artist friend and his family are attacked. Up against an assassin who's meticulous, ruthless, and seemingly everywhere, Brodie is under pressure to keep his friend's family alive.

For most of the book, I was clueless as to who was responsible for hiring the killer and why. I had only one guess as to the identity but I was wrong. When Lancet revealed the identity, I was completely surprised. The story was a high octane mix of action and mystery with some  history and art added in. But Lancet didn't ignore the characters; Brodie and the others are shaded and complex. You won't find any cookie characters here. The locations, both in the US and Japan, aren't cookie cutter either but essential t the story.

Detailed, fast-paced, twisty, there were a few times when the story dragged and I missed the complexity of "Tokyo Kill". Nevertheless the story kept me reading, wanting to know more and to see how Brodie and his people would solve the mystery. Along the way, I learned more about Japan and art, always a bonus.

My review of book two, "Tokyo Kill".