Stopover: Tokyo

Mr. Moto #6

by John P. Marquand

A suspense story of today's cloak and dagger boys, as Jack Rhyce is sent out to Tokyo to explore the sources of the unrest reported by the local agent as sparked by a mystery man, ""Big Ben"". Jack finds himself paired with a girl, Ruth Bogard, with whom he reluctantly falls in love. This complicates their mission and a number of missteps result, as they stop off in Hawaii, think they have identified ""Big Ben"" as an airline employee who whistles tunes from The Red Mill and knows far too much about their doings. Once in Tokyo they find their goal blocked by the Japanese secret service, with our old friend Mr. Moto in control.

Genres: Mystery, Espionage, Fiction

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1938 for The Late George Apley

John Phillips Marquand (November 10, 1893 – July 16, 1960) was an American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938. One of his abiding themes was the confining nature of life in America's upper class and among those who aspired to join it. Marquand treated those whose lives were bound by these unwritten codes with a characteristic mix of respect and satire.

By the mid-1930s he was a prolific and successful writer of fiction for slick magazines like the Saturday Evening Post. Some of these short stories were of an historical nature as had been Marquand's first two novels (The Unspeakable Gentleman and The Black Cargo). These would later be characterized by Marquand as “costume fiction”, of which he stated that an author “can only approximate (his characters) provided he has been steeped in the (relevant) tradition”. Marquand had abandoned “costume fiction” by the mid-1930s.

In the late-1930s, Marquand began producing a series of novels on the dilemmas of class, most centered on New England. The first of these, The Late George Apley (1937), a satire of Boston's upper class, won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1938. Other Marquand novels exploring New England and class themes include Wickford Point (1939), H.M. Pulham, Esquire (1941), and Point of No Return (1949). The last is especially notable for its satirical portrayal of Harvard anthropologist W. Lloyd Warner, whose Yankee City study attempted (and in Marquand's view, dismally failed) to describe and analyze the manners and mores of Marquand's Newburyport

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stopover: Tokyo is the 6th and final book in John P. Marquand's Mr. Moto spy series. I have enjoyed all of the previous books, some more than others of course. This might have been my least favorite of the bunch. Basically because it seemed to take so long to actually get going. It was still an interesting story, maybe a bit more thoughtful than the others.

The story focuses on 2 American spies, Jack Rhyce and Ruth Bogart, heading to Japan to help an agent in Tokyo discover a Russian agent working there with the assistance of possible American traitors. Jack's boss has information that the Russians might attempt an assassination in Tokyo to make the Americans look bad. There search is to find Big Ben, the link to the Russian agent.

On their journey the two meet a Japanese student who gives them the card for Mr. Moto. They also meet an American in Wake who they suspect might be Big Ben. A lot of time is the development of their relationship, whether they will quit the Agency when this operation is finished.

Things begin to move quicker when they arrive in Tokyo. They are met by Mr. Moto, who they think might be a spy. They take a trip to the mountains to meet their contact, Bob Gibson and things begin to move even quicker. The last half of the book has more action; with the two beginning to work with Mr. Moto. I definitely found the 2nd half of the story much more interesting.

I'm glad that I read this series. It's interesting to see the spy world and to see both sides of the picture. This story is set just after WWII when Japan is an ally of the US. The spy work was also interesting enough and the descriptions of Japanese culture just after the war was well described. All in all it was a satisfying story and I'm glad that I explored Marquand's Moto books. (3.5 stars)

[Gary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, the sixth, was the last in the "Mr. Moto" series. I enjoyed them and am sorry to see them end. This was the best of the six. Perhaps they belong in a time where stereotyping was easier and not so controversial. The author passed away in 1960, before awareness of racial sensitivities was seriously considered. Very much like the many Chinese "Fu Manchu" stories and volumes. I may be one of the only people to have the complete Fu Manchu series, five very thick volumes in their personal library. Today they would be considered racist, but they were very good stories, promoters of the fearful "yellow peril" which took hold in the days of Victoria.

[Herb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was the saddest piece of genre fiction I've ever read.

[Two Envelopes And A Phone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosh. They didn’t just de-claw and de-fang this Mr. Moto novel, when they made a movie from it, around when it was first published, starring Robert Wagner and Joan Collins; they changed everything. If pains had been taken to conceal the connection between the book and the film - and I experienced both, either years apart or even in a tight space of time - I would never suss out that there was any link. The amusing irony is: the change most discussed - removal of Mr. Moto from his own story, when it comes to the film - there is no Mr. Moto in the film! - is actually the least significant change to occur, simply because we do have a Mr. Moto-like character flitting in and out of the film’s plot (just as he does, in this book - and I have no idea if that is normal, in the earlier books).

Thank goodness there is no cute kid in the book, whereas about halfway the film “version”, a cute kid shows up and, to my mind, stops the movie dead. Very sweet child - but with arrival, spy movie effectively dies and falls off some cliff. If I may continue to speak in metaphor, I do wish it was the kid who had dropped off a cliff, and left the movie alive to carry on. Savage, I know…but if an orphan child had to be worked into things (and we did just fine without her, in the novel, though of course that’s a specious complaint given the fact that the novel is a totally different plot), the child, after ten minutes or so, should have been packed off to, say, Stopover: Disney World, or Stopover: Siberia.

No child in the book. No co-starring female spy named Ruth in the movie; Joan Collins plays an all-new character. Basically, no scenes that are in the book are in the movie - but then, how could they be, if you change everything that is happening, except for a whiff of assassination and some of Tokyo (and nearby). All characters bulldozed away to make room for completely different characters - with, perhaps, the marvellous but also a somewhat de-fanged Edmond O’Brien playing a fairly light version of the best and most dangerous villain in the book. And I love Edmond O’Brien…but maybe not so much when he’s channeling Rodney Dangerfield and only getting to be almost dastardly too late in the proceedings.

Anyway, enough about the movie (which I DO enjoy watching!), except to say that, newsflash, the book is better. While they were throwing away the plot, they also deleted all that made Tokyo a very specific vibe in the mid-1950s. We know we are in a major Japanese city, about 12 years after the end of WWII. The psyche of the Japanese people, the expanding influence of Western culture and money, the dual nature of existence as old Japan still abides just obscured by the new Japan, and the various landmarks and beauty spots that bring in references to ancient Japan…all this wonderful flavour in the book doesn’t even come close to making it into the movie. The book also manages to stay a spy yarn ALL THE WAY THROUGH - and in fact saves its best scenes and tension for the back half - instead of getting all “what do we do with this kid?”.

Best of all, the book has a harder, colder edge than the movie ever comes close to achieving (well, it’s not trying). The themes in the book are completely different than…well I was gonna say “completely different than the themes in the movie”, but I don’t think there any themes in the movie. It’s a theme-free movie, unless we say that the very last seconds of the movie represent the feel-good, painless version of “Theme: A spy’s life doesn’t allow for love, stability, or even human connection; there’s just the next mission”. The book is definitely dealing in that, but the stakes ramp up, and life and death decisions, cold decisions possibly leading to horrible sacrifice if other options cannot be found, make up a sobering finale. The movie is never a cold thing; they could have at least bought the kid some ice cream.

3.5 stars…and I’m resisting the temptation to round this book up to 4 stars, because I think it’s a little slow, particularly in the first half. Some repetitive scenes between Jack and Ruth; yes, I know that the repetitive scenes do have some conversational shifts that expand the relationship between Jack and Ruth, thus setting up the tough choices coming later - but the book is a little quiet. It has claws, but they needed to be out, more. Anyway, I have another Mr. Moto book on the shelves, and I know that all the ones I have not read were published much earlier than this one was. It’s a belated entry, effectively showcasing a complex post-War Tokyo (and nearby…plus some San Francisco, also not in the movie!), that is different than what is apparently on offer in all other Mr. Moto adventures. I did enjoy, and was fascinated by, time and place, even as those details were fit in among the Great Game.

And remember: Mr, Moto actually does appear, if you read the book. And NO KID!

[Bob Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dastardly dudes' dark deeds doom dame

I read this thriller over fifty years ago as a teenager. I think it was better then. Not only because I was younger, but because it fit into the world as it was. Now, it's definitely dated. The American agent in the "Orient" (sigh) dealing with all these "inscrutable" Japanese, a lovely agent by his side. They chase the inevitable "Commies" and "fellow travellers" who use every dirty trick in the book though they are American too. Our hero has superman-grade qualifications---speaks languages, former football player, knows weapons, was a paratrooper and tough fighter during the recent war in the Pacific, handsome, well-spoken, no ties to anyone--and is constantly obsessing about his "cover". Oh, and of course, he can hold his liquor. Everyone is always drinking.

The bad guys are planning something, maybe an assassination in Tokyo which can be pinned on the Americans. Jack Rhyce has to find the agents, learn the plans, and foil them. Beautiful Ruth assists him. But, they fall in love and dream about leaving the lonely life of secret agents for "outside". They meet up with a Mr. Moto. Hey, don't you remember this character from the series before the war ? Then, he was a tricky fellow on the other side, now he's with us. Marquand has finally twigged that "Moto" is not a Japanese name and lets you know. A bit late but. Mr. Moto's English is still the same. Japanese culture is not J.P. Marquand's strong suit. Well, what do you bet that Jack Rhyce manages to do the impossible ? Will Jack and Ruth live happily ever after ? Readers interested in a half-century old view of Tokyo from American eyes might find the background interesting. Unlike modern thrillers, there is zero sex. It's a competently written thriller which might keep your mind off any troubles for a few hours. J.P.Marquand is one of America's most unremembered great writers, but these Mr. Moto books he wrote for either fun, cash, or both.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

The very last book in the Mr. Moto series. Written some fifteen years after the fifth book in the series and set in completely different world, Cold War Japan. The tone, too, is different. Marquand is a master of reflecting the attitudes and feelings of the eras in which he writes. For the 1950s, he has utterly captured the sense of paranoia and danger so often associated with the times--and the threat of Communist Russia and China. Even his prose is denser, reflecting the layer upon layer of insecurity his characters express and experience.

This is all so different from the Mr. Moto books of the 1930s. In those volumes the Far East was an extension of the American Frontier. It was a place where a man could redeem himself, start all over, and make his life count. And such was the case in all the prior heroes of the series, recognizing that Mr. Moto was not the hero but the man on the outside, manipulating the world in which the heroes needed to navigate. Not so in Stopover: Tokyo, where the hero, Jack Rhyce, is faced with existential dilemmas that turn him from his cut and dried life of expectations as an American spy. In this final work, all the prior devices and formulas at work for Mr. Moto are abandoned. It is truly a new era. And not a hopeful or positive one.

More so than the last "final" Mr. Moto written just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, this book is a fitting closure to the series. It feels like that much more innocent and energetic world of the 1930s is gone for good. I shall miss Mr. Moto.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This classic spy vs. spy novel immerses the reader in the 1950’s threat of spreading Communist influence in Asia.

I have read all of the “ Mr. Moto books,” and contrary to some other readers comments, I found this one of the more interesting. The constant evaluation of “ who’s on first,” and second-guessing one’s instincts and character appraisals held my interest completely. And, the necessity of the young protagonist to perfect a “ role,” or false persona was an interesting aspect of the novel for me.

But, perhaps the most appealing feature for me was the travel to post-war Japan and all the rumination on the people and culture. It may have felt preachy, or “ too much” for some readers, but I enjoyed reading this period
perspective and its reminder of how the U.S. perceived Japan after Ww2.

And, then there is Mr. moto himself: the title character who is not the central character, but a key element to the story and a fascinating study in himself.

Readers used to action-filled, fast-paced contemporary espionage may find these books hopelessly dated, but I find them completely engaging as novels, and valuable as history lessons.

[Mh430 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had reduced expectations for this novel considering that Marquand was in his sixties by this point and had not visited the character in something like fifteen years. I was pleasantly surprised then to find this as good as any of the previous entries in the series. The author's gift for plotting and narrative drive remains superb and this was a satisfying read throughout. As always Moto himself is off screen for much of the novel and our POV character here is another American adventurer caught up with international intrigue (and romance). Even with that focus however, there are probably more hints about Moto's past here than in all the prior novels combined. Just hints mind you, because Marquand knew better than to completely uncloak the character. Highly recommended.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

First published in 1957, this is reportedly the last in the series of Mr. Moto novels and I have to say it hasn't aged well. Clearly Mr. Moto did not see what Ian Fleming, John LeCarre, and others were about to do to the world of the spy novel though I did find the ending here a bit harder than I expected. I also found some of the attitudes expressed by the characters a bit jarring as a representation of America in the 1950s but perhaps that's in part because I was still growing up then and Mr. Moto for me was Peter Lorre in a black and white movie set in the 1930s.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solidly set in 50's spy thriller steeped in the cultural attitudes of the time. Japanese culture, those dastardly commies and a feminine love interest used as bait for said commies because you know "it's just how the business works". Marquand sacrifices a few characters along the way but the suspense or tension is middling and he telegraphs what's going to occur as well, further depriving us of an edge of the seat, fiction experience. Plus it takes over a 100 pages for anything really to occur, in other words it's a very slow burn.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Return Visit to the past

Step back a generation to visit a Post War Tokyo, with sexist attitudes, The Red Menace, and forgotten Madison Avenue references like “Not a cough in a carload” and “That’s the 64-dollar question”. Marquand who wrote many well regarded novels of East Coast blue bloods, also dabbled in pulp fiction-like hooey for the Saturday Evening Post magazine with his mysterious Mr. Moto. This talky, sometimes embarrassing dialogue, was a slog, but proves again that our memories of the past are often flawed.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the finale for Mr Moto, and Marquand pulled out all the stops relative to the downside of the spy business. There's a lot of psychology in the series, unlike many shallow all-action spy stories. It is a lonely life devoid of conventional relationships, and one which doesn't tend to have a bright future.
This number six in the series gives a hard look at spying while delivering an exciting story.

[Freder · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read just enough of this to know that it wasn't worth taking any more time out of my life to read the rest. Strictly by-the-numbers stuff, and not even close to being best of its breed.

[Nancy Thormann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not the best Mr. Moto book I've read. Jack Rhyce analyses himself and the spy world too much. He doesn't do any actual spying in this book.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrigue in postwar Japan.

[Larry Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad to report that after a rather weak effort with Mr. Moto #5, Marquand ended the Mr. Moto series strongly. I really liked this book. It's probably the best of the whole series, or at least the one I liked the best. The set up is a bit different from previous versions, we're now after WWII, whereas all previous books took place before WWII (Mr. Moto was interred during the war). So Japan is no longer trying to extend it's influence in the world. It's more that they hope, Mr. Moto hopes at least, to keep the Russians from extending their influence into Japan. American influence is at least tolerable, and much preferable to Russian influence.

It's a nice change that in this book, the action takes part in Japan itself, so we get some nice background feeling for that country. All the other Mr. Moto books take place in foreign venues, China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Hawaii (ok, technically, Hawaii isn't foreign), the Caribbean, but not, primarily, Japan (a little glimpse in the first one). This one does, and I liked that. I've visited Japan several times because my younger son lived there for a few years, and am rather fond of that country and its culture.

Another deviation from the other plot lines is that the main protagonists are not a callow young man and a competent, independent young woman who just happen to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time the young man, Jack Rhyse, and the young woman, Ruth Bogart are both highly competent, professional spies. They have been sent to Japan to foil a rumored Soviet plot to sew anti-Americanism in Japan by creating a situation whereby the Americans become the fall guys for the assassination of a prominent Japanese politician that they, i.e. the Reds, are planning. Jack and Ruth's cover is to be that they are investigating the Asia Friendship League and are also in the process of becoming starry-eyed lovers. In the book, they fall in love in fact as well as in the fantasy play acting in which one engages for cover as a professional spy. Quaint, perhaps, but also somewhat charming. Needless to say, Mr. Moto is flitting around the edges, helping things out in the background.

I found several things extremely interesting in this book, things that would have little meaning to anyone else, but since this is my review, I'll bore y'all with recounting those things anyway. Besides, other than poor Michael (sometimes, perhaps) no one else ever reads my crap. It's just a memory helper for me. So, I can write whatever I wish. Sorry 'bout that.

It turns out that Jack Rhyse is a graduate of Oberlin College and played tackle on their football team. One of his targets, i.e. an enemy agent, is also a former football player, but one who played for a "jerk-water Southern Baptist college", not "big time" like the Oberlin. Huh? Oberlin football was sort of big time 120 or so ago when they had John Heisman as their coach—yeah THE Heisman of trophy fame. If I recall correctly, Rhyse was class of '41. I'm pretty certain that Oberlin—the last college in the state of Ohio to have beaten Ohio State in football (true fact)—ceased to show even a vague semblance of being in "big time" athletics some 15 or 20 years before Jack Rhyse. So, I found that weird. But I liked the Oberlin reference, it is, after all, my own alma mater, and I was also, in fact, an Oberlin Athlete, albeit in wrestling. I sucked, of course, but that was the joy of college sports in olden days, it was to give the students an outlet for blowing off a bit of steam, not a marketing activity featuring hired, de facto professionals who had little to no aspiration toward academic pursuits.

A second interesting feature is that Ruth was alleged to have been a graduate of Goucher College. What's that you say? Yeah, who ever heard of Goucher? Well, I actually had a job at Goucher, the summer after I graduated from high school. My sister, believe it or not, is a Goucher graduate.

The third point of interest for me is that one of the characters had the same cover name as I do (in my fantasies that is). That is to say, once, probably in my teen years, I thought about the possible need one day to have a cover name or alias, so I picked one. Low and behold, a guy in this book has the same one. To protect my cover, I'll not divulge said name.

One last interesting-to-me feature is that both Jack Rhyse and the enemy-agent football player liked singing old songs from long-ago musicals. They're my kind of guys! Who doesn't like a rousing chorus of After the Ball is Over or some old Cole Porter and Irving Berlin creations? Actually, they didn't sing those. Rather it was one I didn't know, The Streets of New York from Victor Herbert's Red Mill .

So, anyway, what you have here is a good, well paced story that also has three or four weirdnesses that I found to be supremely endearing.

[Eden Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog

John P. Marquand is the creator of the Mr. Moto detective series, many short stories and 18 other novels. Stopover: Tokyo is the sixth and last of the Moto mysteries, though Moto is a side player in the story.
Stopover is also known as Right You Are Mr. Moto in a US reprint, and was the loose basis for the film Stopover Tokyo starring Robert Wagner and Joan Collins in 1957. Loosely based meaning Mr. Moto is entirely cut out of the story (!) and Robert meets a Welsh receptionist (Joan) at the Tokyo airport - while in the book, her character is an American spy travelling with him from the beginning. Among many other changes I am sure.
The novel was written in 1957. I found a nice clean hardcover copy at a charity shop with an intact dust jacket for $3.00. (Why do I always mention where I got it? Just to share in my happiness at such a find!)

Jack Rhyce is a young American intelligence agent sent to post-war Tokyo to foil a communist espionage and terrorist ring. He is partnered with Ruth Bogart, a spy posing as a bright young student and fiancé. Working under the cover of a goodwill organization, they travel from San Francisco to Japan - stopping first in Hawaii, then Wake Island in the night to refuel as it takes several legs and still 10 more hours to reach Tokyo. They have already been tracked by Mr. Moto's team, and he is waiting to meet them at the airport as a guide and chauffeur.
The story, while entertaining, never reached the tension I usually expect in spy novels. The majority is Jack and Ruth hanging out in the Imperial Hotel, talking about the spy life and whether either would like out. They move on to a remote mountain spa resort where they meet again a man who was on Wake Island - perhaps he is the notorious Big Ben, the inciter they are looking for who is working for the Russians.
Mr. Moto remains in the background, kept at a distance by Jack, who thinks he may be Sirkov, the Russian leader. Moto is also watching, thinking Jack is Big Ben. Once they realize they are on the same side, the action comes to a head and resolves in a surprising way.
Ruth's storyline reads like many of the time, such as Ian Fleming's Bond novels. Intelligent, beautiful, sad, brave, but ultimately a pawn in the men's game.

This is a novel of espionage and intelligence, so while there are tense situations, they are resolved with the head and not firepower. The results in the finale a matter of where the chips lay, nothing more. There is no room for sentiment or relationship in the life of an intelligence officer.

I would have liked more Moto. Of course, I am a fan of the movies based on the character with the terrific Peter Lorre in his many disguises. They brisk along at just over an hour in length so the dialogue is snappy and the action rolls. The film Stopover Tokyo was also good, but a rewrite of the plot, as is often the case. The novels of John P. Marquand are more serious, yet entertaining.

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Stopover: Tokyo" was the last of the Mr. Moto books written in 1957 by J.P.Marquand. I love mysteries and especially some of the "older" or classical mysteries, particularly Holmes and Poirot. However, I also confess a deep enjoyment some of the famous Oriental sleuths or mysteries of the early 1900's, especially the wonderful Charlie Chan and the equally sinister, Chinese evil genius, Fu Manchu, which lead me to the Mr. Moto series. This is only the second Moto I have read, and I will go out on a limb and say, it may be the worst. It is "OK;" but it is steeped in the time and place of the post WWII cold war. Japanese culture is not Marquand's strong suit, and some of the stereotyping is very hard to get past.

Mr. Moto's English is still the same (similar to Charlie Chan's) and with both characters, one has the sense of the great wisdom behind a somewhat stereotypical facade. Even our American agent hero is larger than life: a handsome, college educated, former football player, who is knowledgeable in many languages, who was in the paratroopers in the "East" during WWII, who knows his weapons, and, of course, who can hold his booze! His sidekick agent is an attractive, college educated, upper-class woman, Ruth Bogart, who knows her stuff. They, of course, chase the inevitable "Commies" who are getting ready to assassinate a leader and putting the blame on America. Our two young agents, as capable as they may be, naturally fall in love and dream about leaving the lonely life of secret agents for the freedom of the "outside" (awwwwwww!). Eventually (almost half way into the book), they meet up with Mr. Moto, who poses as a guide for them in Japan and who they believe is an enemy agent. Not the most cunning or clever plots or characterizations ever, hence my larger problem than just Japanese culture as to stereotyping.

Although the book has some severe problems, it is still worth the read; the ending is not stereotypical by any means.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it possible that this wonderful series of books has come to an end? Yes, this is the last one in the series and, in a way, it is a fitting close.

World War II has ended and Japan is rebuilding, both on a physical level and an emotional level. It is a time when so much hangs in the balance if peaceful growth is to be maintained ... and there are factions that would like to keep this from happening. It will take the trust of "players" who were recently enemies to work together or face disaster.

The writer's final novel in the series is an out-and-out spy tale with surprises, twists and uneasy alliances throughout. It sports some of the worst dialogue I've read when the American spies are trying to convince others of their cover, yet there is so much fascinating detail of what it was like to be in Japan during that rebuilding. Many times, I felt that I was there.

Perhaps the best part for me was learning more about Mr. Moto's background and his part in keeping peace. Yes, he still swings into action, although with not quite so much vigor as he did in the pre-War years. His first allegiance is still to his country, so his loyalty to partnerships depends on the impact they will have on Japan. We learn about his politics and ... in a bit of whimsy ... receive an education about his name.

Although the reader can enter the saga from any point in the series, there is an intriguing character development that will not be as engaging if taken out of order. Still, the writer is such an expert in capturing the Japanese psyche for Occidental audiences. The stories are intriguing and are a learning experience at the same time.

Of course, no matter the character's physical description, Mr. Moto will always look like Peter Lorre for me while I'm reading.

Recommended.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last of the six Mr. Moto novels by Marquand. It comes 14 years after the fifth (which I have not read), and 19 after "Mr. Moto Is So Sorry," which I read last week. It is surprisingly discontinuous from the three Motos I read back to back (numbers 2,3 and 4).

The formula is still there. An attractive American guy gets involved with a beautiful woman and they deal with mystery and danger together. But somehow this time the formula overwhelms the book. The dialogue is stilted, and Mr. Moto, still evanescent, has lost the charm he had in earlier books in the series. The previous books are closer to the mystery genre; this one is a somewhat clumsy spy novel.

I think what got in Marquand's way was the beginning of the Cold War. The book is somewhat nostalgic in its sharing the American paranoia of that era (some of it justified, some of it not), but it loses the objectivity of the earlier novels in which American foreign policy was not a part of the story.

The above gets worse as the story progresses. It starts pretty well, but I lost patience with it in the last third of the book. Still, it's an ok read, but more as a period piece than as a novel which has much value in its own right.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published as Stopover Tokyo. The last Moto book derivates sharply from the formula of the previous entries. The hero and heroine are experienced spies (referred to as “inside,” or “in the business”). Going under deep cover as clueless citizens falling in love on a trip for the Asian Friendship league, they’re actually trying to find a Communist American spy plotting an anti-American assassination in Japan.

This book was written in 1957, and does not gloss over the war; it shows a Japan emerging from the ruins without resentment, utterly galvanized to absorb Western culture and take over modern industry. Mr. Moto is a more minor character than previously. It’s a tougher world altogether. Marquand doesn’t pull punches --- his prose and dialogue is tough and lean, like in a noir film. Because it’s of a later era, this book addresses how a man and woman might fall in love despite their own best intentions in a more adult way that the others’ sort of too-sudden, notice-her-and-get-misty-eyed way. And I was completely sidelined by the lengths Marquand was willing to go to keep the drama serious. Brutally dark spy stuff.

[Rex Libris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chronologically last book in the Mr. Moto series. It is after WWII and Mr. Moto is still wit hthe intelligence service. He teams up with some American agents hunting down some communists who are planning a political assassination.

The "romance" between the two American agencies is so indicative of the detective fiction genre that Iwould swear that it was a parody.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1956, this thriller might strike today’s junk-lit junkies as a bit too piano, but Stopover: Tokyo is a pleasant read, with convincing characters and a plausible plot.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: agent Jack Rhyce goes to Tokyo to follow up on a mystery man. Mr. Moto gets involved in the game with the Japanese Secret Service.