Brian Harvey (4) (1948–)

Finally got around to reading Tokyo Girl by Brian Harvey and it is indeed a fast read. It tells the story of a Canadian Jazz musician Frank Ryan, who gets caught up with the Yakuza through a young woman who he is teaching piano to. While there is hinting at a mystery, it is more about a westerner lost in traditions and manners of Japan and how that impacts him. The good is that Brian Harvey did an excellent job at researching the setting. Often while I was reading the book, I was reminded of Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein and how being indebted to the Yakuza is always a bad idea. I also got a strong sense of Noir in this book, so a plus there as well. The bad is Frank comes across as a leaf on the wind that mainly allows the manipulations of others to carry him through the events of the story. While there are examples of him being proactive, most of the time it is just reactive. In summary if you want a quick Noir story set in Japan, you will probably enjoy Tokyo Girl.… (meer)

This Rapid Reads book is a really rapid read but it was just what I needed to while away an hour or two of train travel. This is the second in a series starring jazz pianist Frank Ryan. When last we saw him he was on Vancouver Island but due to events in that first book he thought it was a good idea to vacate his home for a while. He decided to go to Japan where he knew his talents as a pianist would be appreciated. He got some jobs teaching Japanese housewives to play a few classical pieces. Through one of them he met a bar owner who hired him to play piano at night in his bar. Frank soon found out was that his boss was a member of the yakuza, the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia. He decided not to worry about that as long as the tips kept rolling in but then he met Momo, a gorgeous woman who had some issues with his boss and wanted Frank to help. You just know that isn’t going to end well.… (meer)

Tokyo Girl is the second in a series about Frank Ryan, the so-called "unlikely sleuth." Incidents and characters from the first book, Beethoven's Tenth, are referenced, so it seems that we are missing the beginning of the story, because Ryan is in Japan directly because of events that happened in that first book.

The back cover of the book says that this book is "Adult Fiction * Ages 16+", so it seems, because of that, and because of the length of the book--only 138 pages, that the book is for young adults. However, there are at least two chapters about love hotels and sex, which make this more for older readers.

The back cover also states that this book is part of the "Rapid Reads" series, and, indeed, it is a rapid read and can easily be read at one sitting. The book does pull you along to find out what will happen next.

Being set in Japan, too, the book is quite informative about Japanese culture. I even learned something about the Fukushima nuclear reactor that I hadn't known before: namely, that homeless people were sent into the area to clean up for a pittance.

So, the story was intriguing, and informative, but because of the short length, many details were unexplained and left me wondering, how did Ryan figure that out with such scant information? Furthermore, the ending was similar to the beginning--just as it felt that I had missed the beginning of the story, I felt that something was missing at the ending, too. Too many loose, unexplained ends. If I had read the first book, I probably would have felt this book was more complete than it is to me now. I also don't know if there will be a sequel, which might help with the completion aspect. As it is, the book seems too thin on story detail (although quite good on Japanese culture detail).

[For the publisher: on page 27, "you" is mistakenly repeated in a sentence

and on page 38, tepco is spelt lowercase, when it should be TEPCO.]… (meer)