Samurai Boogie

Kazuo Mori #3

by Peter Tasker

Kazuo Mori, PI, is struggling to make ends meet. When he falls in with a prostitute called Angel, he is soon struggling for survival in a vicious game that has the Yakuza and Japan’s two major computer game makers as players. And on top of everything else, there is the rival agency that’s just set up and is undercutting him on every job. The only thing to do is set up in partnership with the eager young student who is taking his business. And it’s an arrangement with some unexpected bonuses.

Genres: Crime, Japan, Fiction, Mystery

394 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

PETER TASKER is a founding partner of Arcus Investments, an investment management firm that specializes in Japanese securities. He has written several books on Japanese economics and society, including Japan 2020 (1997) and The End of the Japanese Golden Era (1992). He is the author of several novels and works of non-fiction in both English and Japanese, and has written for Newsweek, Financial Times, The Economist and other publications.

Reviews

[Ender Campoverde · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging detective story with interesting settings, events, and characters.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good adventure / crime story.

[Nava Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written detective novel showing us Japan culture. Loved the leading character the Japanese Phillips Marlow and the adaptation of the film noir to Japan

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING: 3.75

Tokyo is deep in the throes of a recession, and business is really bad for private investigator Kazuo Mori. So he’s pretty much game for anything that will pay the rent. His current job is to rescue a sassy stripper named Angel and 5 of her friends from a lowlife by the name of George the Wolf Nishio. Smash, bang, boom—mission accomplished.

George the Wolf is not one to take things lightly, and throughout the book, he is trying to exact his revenge on Mori. He has lost face within his own organization and needs to prove himself. In the meantime, Mori has other noodles on his plate. First of all, he needs to check out the competition, some guy who is advertising cheap services. In a game of one-upmanship Mori gets Uno to work with him. Uno is a young college student who’s just learning the ropes and serves as a counterpoint to the worldly weariness of Mori. It’s a terrific partnership. Their scenes together are the highlight of the book.

Business picks up when he’s hired by a woman whose patron, Masao Miura, has died. She suspects that his wife had him murdered for the insurance money and wants Mori to find out what really happened. Sounds simple enough until he gets enmeshed in all sorts of corporate shenanigans and the mob known as the Yakuza. Miura’s murder was covered up. He was being stalked by someone calling himself “Black Blade”. Interestingly enough, “Black Blade” is the name of a video game released after Miura’s death. And this is no ordinary video game, but a mind altering experience developed by a genius. In the course of the investigation, Mori goes from the rarified air of corporate boardrooms to the stink and sleaze of the back alleys of Tokyo. He may not be the most stylish or smartest detective around, but he gets the job done.

A wonderful noir work, my only quibble is the fact the book is written in present tense. That may lend some immediacy to the action, but it also leads to some very awkward prose. The setting is perfectly etched and the characters that people the book are unabashedly real. The character of Mori is a great creation. He obtains information by deceiving others, building on the psychology of fear of authority. The people he interrogates never look beneath the surface of who he says he is.

I don’t ordinarily comment on cover art, but this book’s art is unique. The cover is done in the style of a manga comic book. It’s way cool! The Daily Mirror labeled Tasker the “manga Elmore Leonard”. The comparison is appropriate. This is an excellent hardboiled detective novel. Engrossing, violent, humorous--Samurai Boogie has it all in one package. An outstanding read.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Private detective Kazuo Mori rescues working girl Angel from yakuza thug George the Wolf. Thus begins a convoluted tale that follows the three characters across Japan: Mori and his investigation into the death of a businessman, Angel's attempts to secure freedom for herself and her friends, and George's attempts to track down the two for humiliating him. An interesting premise and set-up, but the dissolution of the plot amidst the increasingly disparate characters does take away from the enjoyment.

[Luke Meehan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really pendulum-ed between really disliking this and not knowing I was reading it. I think the problem is that Tasker writes well, with immersive descriptions and tactile characters. But the plot is pulpy, the realm incredible and in consequence the suspenders of disbelief snap really loudly too often.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a light fun read about a Japanese P.I. in Tokyo. Its got a bit o' kung fu, babes with a whole lot of sass, the seamier side of mega urban life, etc. What's not to love about it?

[Milly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent fiction. I was almost like "Oh no, a novel primarily about Japanese people written by a white guy", but it's so well-done.

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun.

[John Fahey]

Great book . Great Author.

[Khaim Rinsky]

the jazz is worth the whole thing...