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Tokyo Doll
Her glittering beauty symbolized this city of delicate cruelty. One of the rare "Tokyo Pulp" titles, first published 1953.
164 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 5, 2024
Mate Buchanan is an odd choice for espionage in post-war occupied Tokyo. He got thrown out of the Korean theater, barely escaping a court martial after defying direct orders to take hundreds of green recruits up a hill where they would be slaughtered. Thing is Buchanan is considered favorably by Akiko Tsumi when he didn’t shame her by making a pass at her when all the other GIs did and Tsumi’s father, a top Japanese scientist, had invented an early form of biological warfare, the RK virus, but both the jars containing the virus and Dr. Tsumi have disappeared. The American agencies desperately want to get ahold of it before the Soviets do. Buchanan’s slight connection to Akiko is a slim hope on which the fate of millions rested. His orders are to do whatever it took to gain her confidence- even marrying her and bringing her back to the States.
Buchanan is to operate on his own with no backup and no credentials, a mission so secret that not even his own army occupying Tokyo could know. As luck would have it, Buchanan immediately falls into the category of a suspicious person as he happens upon a car under attack, a car carrying Sandra, the Tokyo Doll.
“Her name was Sandra Tann, and the men who listened to her voice called her, in love, in friendship, and in desire, the Witch. And sometimes they called her the Doll. They heard her voice, singing to them, from the transmitters in Korea. They clustered around their radios, their ears close to the speakers. They knew her voice, knew the whisper of velvet, knew the quick twist like the lilt of a violin that would make a word sung by Sandra different from the words of any other woman.”
Buchanan “wanted to see her again the way a miser wants gold or a drunkard wants whisky, but there were some other things involved, too. …. But this was Sandra Tann and there was more horse power in those engines than I had ever tried to handle before.”
Buchanan is now set for a tug of war between these two women, made even more difficult when he sees Sandra while out with Akiko. He wonders though just what interests Sandra really serves and whether the Witch of Tokyo belonged to the Soviets first and foremost.
Mcpartland offers us readers a nonstop action-packed story with bombs going off, criminal gangs threatening him, and betrayals seemingly accosting Buchsnan left and right.
Buchanan is to operate on his own with no backup and no credentials, a mission so secret that not even his own army occupying Tokyo could know. As luck would have it, Buchanan immediately falls into the category of a suspicious person as he happens upon a car under attack, a car carrying Sandra, the Tokyo Doll.
“Her name was Sandra Tann, and the men who listened to her voice called her, in love, in friendship, and in desire, the Witch. And sometimes they called her the Doll. They heard her voice, singing to them, from the transmitters in Korea. They clustered around their radios, their ears close to the speakers. They knew her voice, knew the whisper of velvet, knew the quick twist like the lilt of a violin that would make a word sung by Sandra different from the words of any other woman.”
Buchanan “wanted to see her again the way a miser wants gold or a drunkard wants whisky, but there were some other things involved, too. …. But this was Sandra Tann and there was more horse power in those engines than I had ever tried to handle before.”
Buchanan is now set for a tug of war between these two women, made even more difficult when he sees Sandra while out with Akiko. He wonders though just what interests Sandra really serves and whether the Witch of Tokyo belonged to the Soviets first and foremost.
Mcpartland offers us readers a nonstop action-packed story with bombs going off, criminal gangs threatening him, and betrayals seemingly accosting Buchsnan left and right.
August 10, 2023
Tokyo Doll was first published in ‘53. The story of Mate (it’s a name, not a rank) Buchanan, as he tromps through post-WWII Allied-occupied Tokyo in search of the illusive RK virus. A virus invaluable to America, it is believed to cure radiation burns. In the meantime, Mate steps in arms smuggling and a potential Russian agent, the Tokyo Doll, who is also searching for the RK virus. This story has more curves than the blonde on the cover.
“Why can't living be like climbing a clean, rocky hill so that you can be tired and body-sore, yet look back and down, seeing only the straight, hard road that you have climbed? Why does it have to be a swamp?”
—John McPartland
“Why can't living be like climbing a clean, rocky hill so that you can be tired and body-sore, yet look back and down, seeing only the straight, hard road that you have climbed? Why does it have to be a swamp?”
—John McPartland
August 21, 2010
John McPartland has crafted an excellent story of mystery and deceit in Occupied Japan circa 1952. As an expat living in Japan for the past decade, I found this work of a rough and tumble Tokyo teetering on the edge of a nightmare situation, a real thrill.
Mate Buchanan, an ex-Army captain in the Korean War, is thrown into a world of espionage when he is recruited by mysterious men, claiming to work for the US government, to retrieve what they claim is a miracle cure for atomic radiation poisoning. It is obvious not is all as it seems when the TOKYO DOLL, a beautiful blonde singer for the armed forces radio steps into the picture. Suddenly Mate is being chased by elements of the military, gangs, and "Red" spies as they all race for what each one believes to be either a cure, or just possibly a world-ending virus!
A pulp novel at its best, this book is pure fun! An though I don't think it was necessarily intended, the idea of the virus-cum-miracle cure, gives the story a slight science fiction atmosphere that will tickle SF fans without turning off non-fans. (Or perhaps it was just the SF-fan in me taking liberties.)
The only demerit is the fact that this is a reprint by a now defunct(?) company called blackmask (their URL emblazoned on the back), and there are at least thirty different punctuation and spelling mistakes (such as the word "not" becoming "riot" -- look carefully and the r and i look like an n). It seems to me that this book was scanned possibly with a reader and the computer couldn't make out all the print properly. So if you can overlook these mostly insignificant mistakes, you will have no problems enjoying the work, as there is no detraction from the story.
Mate Buchanan, an ex-Army captain in the Korean War, is thrown into a world of espionage when he is recruited by mysterious men, claiming to work for the US government, to retrieve what they claim is a miracle cure for atomic radiation poisoning. It is obvious not is all as it seems when the TOKYO DOLL, a beautiful blonde singer for the armed forces radio steps into the picture. Suddenly Mate is being chased by elements of the military, gangs, and "Red" spies as they all race for what each one believes to be either a cure, or just possibly a world-ending virus!
A pulp novel at its best, this book is pure fun! An though I don't think it was necessarily intended, the idea of the virus-cum-miracle cure, gives the story a slight science fiction atmosphere that will tickle SF fans without turning off non-fans. (Or perhaps it was just the SF-fan in me taking liberties.)
The only demerit is the fact that this is a reprint by a now defunct(?) company called blackmask (their URL emblazoned on the back), and there are at least thirty different punctuation and spelling mistakes (such as the word "not" becoming "riot" -- look carefully and the r and i look like an n). It seems to me that this book was scanned possibly with a reader and the computer couldn't make out all the print properly. So if you can overlook these mostly insignificant mistakes, you will have no problems enjoying the work, as there is no detraction from the story.
February 5, 2023
John McPartland has crafted an excellent story of mystery and deceit in Occupied Japan circa 1952. As an expat living in Japan for the past decade, I found this work of a rough and tumble Tokyo teetering on the edge of a nightmare situation, a real thrill.
Mate Buchanan, an ex-Army captain in the Korean War, is thrown into a world of espionage when he is recruited by mysterious men, claiming to work for the US government, to retrieve what they claim is a miracle cure for atomic radiation poisoning. It is obvious not is all as it seems when the TOKYO DOLL, a beautiful blonde singer for the armed forces radio steps into the picture. Suddenly Mate is being chased by elements of the military, gangs, and "Red" spies as they all race for what each one believes to be either a cure, or just possibly a world-ending virus!
A pulp novel at its best, this book is pure fun! An though I don't think it was necessarily intended, the idea of the virus-cum-miracle cure, gives the story a slight science fiction atmosphere that will tickle SF fans without turning off non-fans. (Or perhaps it was just the SF-fan in me taking liberties.)
The only demerit is the fact that this is a reprint by a now defunct(?) company called blackmask (their URL emblazoned on the back), and there are at least thirty different punctuation and spelling mistakes (such as the word "not" becoming "riot" -- look carefully and the r and i look like an n). It seems to me that this book was scanned possibly with a reader and the computer couldn't make out all the print properly. So if you can overlook these mostly insignificant mistakes, you will have no problems enjoying the work, as there is no detraction from the story.
Mate Buchanan, an ex-Army captain in the Korean War, is thrown into a world of espionage when he is recruited by mysterious men, claiming to work for the US government, to retrieve what they claim is a miracle cure for atomic radiation poisoning. It is obvious not is all as it seems when the TOKYO DOLL, a beautiful blonde singer for the armed forces radio steps into the picture. Suddenly Mate is being chased by elements of the military, gangs, and "Red" spies as they all race for what each one believes to be either a cure, or just possibly a world-ending virus!
A pulp novel at its best, this book is pure fun! An though I don't think it was necessarily intended, the idea of the virus-cum-miracle cure, gives the story a slight science fiction atmosphere that will tickle SF fans without turning off non-fans. (Or perhaps it was just the SF-fan in me taking liberties.)
The only demerit is the fact that this is a reprint by a now defunct(?) company called blackmask (their URL emblazoned on the back), and there are at least thirty different punctuation and spelling mistakes (such as the word "not" becoming "riot" -- look carefully and the r and i look like an n). It seems to me that this book was scanned possibly with a reader and the computer couldn't make out all the print properly. So if you can overlook these mostly insignificant mistakes, you will have no problems enjoying the work, as there is no detraction from the story.
July 31, 2023
3.5 Stars
October 18, 2024
I'm not an expert on the genre, but seemed to be a quintessential spy thriller of the time. Enjoyable but fairly shallow.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews