I love a good mystery, and I may go back and buy #1 to see if it is this good. Jamie is the "girl Friday", who starts off surrounded in personal tragedy that quickly turns into a twisting mystery stepped in authentic Japanese culture. Added spice is the precarious US-Japan diplomatic relations, military bases and the specter of things nuclear once again. This one is good.

thriller, law-enforcement, international-crime-and-mystery, PTSD, Japan, cultural-exploration, theft, murder

A fascinating look at the differences and similarities of cops and the countries/populations they serve. Homicide Det. Hiroshi in Tokyo has hidden himself away in his office as he remains unable to deal with the problems begun a year ago when he very nearly died on a case that caused many problems for the men in his department. Now he's forced into a very messy case involving diplomats, people murdered horribly with ritual blades, the Americans, and multiple thefts of sensitive materials. All this and the diplomat's beautiful Japanese American daughter from New York. A very compelling mystery thriller!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Raked Gravel Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

I love mysteries, and Japan, so this was perfect for me.

The characters are both interesting and sympathetic and the mystery held me the whole way through.

I will have a longer review out on my blog by the end of November

https://ianjoshyateswriting.blogspot.com

and will share that on relevant FB and my Twitter: @fulltimerinjp

In Tokyo a thief breaks into an American’s home during his funeral, stealing some computer files and adding some netsukes and money to his pocket. A tall foreigner follows him and takes him down with, of all things, a sword. That leads to a giant conspiracy of greed in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.
Found it difficult keeping the characters straight, as I am not used to Japanese surnames. That was a problem at the beginning, where everyone’s introduced, but also at the end, when Jamie’s looking for help and everyone’s tracking the bad guy. The conspiracy was also a bit of a problem, because at times it was, oddly enough, too big to follow. Near the end it got a bit overwhelming because of the multiple storylines, but thankfully the book takes the time to wrap things up and solidify relationships without it feeling like a sequel hook.
Wish there had been more on the netsukes, as I find them much more interesting than swords. But then, they’re harder to kill with. . .
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

Excellent 2nd book from Michael Pronko. He creates believable characters, believable situations and a believable Tokyo for readers to experience. I've read The Last Train as well and it is just as good.

Skilled writer, fully realized work with extra detail.

Why was I interested in this book?
This is the second book in the Detective Hiroshi series. I read the first book The Last Train in May of 2017 and enjoyed it. The Moving Blade picks up in the aftermath of the first, but a new reader wouldn’t be lost picking up this book.

What Worked
While Pronko’s Tokyo is still very vivid, I enjoyed the characters more than the setting this time around. I really like that Hiroshi’s forte is sorting through data. It’s office-bound work that doesn’t get a lot of play in detective novels for maybe obvious reasons. Here, though, it works narratively. Hiroshi is always trying to balance his preferred work with the necessity of leaving the office. My two favorite supporting characters from the first book—ex-sumo Sakaguchi and assistant Akiko—are both given expanded roles because one man can’t do everything. The slightly beyond-the-law Takamatsu, who annoyed me a little in The Last Train, has been suspended from the police force, and given a lesser role which probably works better for the character.

Something that is possibly endearing to only me: the characters eat often. Characters meet and talk at bars and restaurants, which people do. To recuse myself, I probably have an affinity for this because it’s something characters do in my writings.

The plot held together really well. While The Moving Blade goes bigger in terms of socio-politics, it’s still at heart a murder mystery. The story never loses sight of that. I enjoyed the bigger scope without this becoming an out-and-out thriller.

What Didn’t Work
I had a couple minor quibbles (like a porter on a train not smelling and being suspicious of a man who had been pepper sprayed), but one major one. At a couple times during the story, characters turn off cellphones or do not return messages…for reasons. These instances aren’t entirely used to drive plot (thank goodness), but they are obstacles that could easily be avoided and therefore kind of chafe. The reasons given later for the behaviors are okay, but we’re in the middle of a murder investigation—return your calls!

Overall
Despite the above, I really enjoyed The Moving Blade. Pronko again brought Tokyo (at least a version of it) to life for me and peopled it with good characters doing interesting things. That’s pretty much a trifecta for me.

OK story and plot, but dependent on stupid or incompetent characters. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while, but again and again again when lives are threatened?

I was intrigued by this book, first I wanted to know who this man was, that pulled out a sword and sliced his victims into two. The desire to figure this out was so intense that I almost missed out on the wit and quirkiness of the detective Hiroshi. Thank you Netgalley for the eARC. I'd recommend this read to anyone who loves a good detective mystery.