The Spy Across The Table

In this exciting international thriller featuring Japanese antiques art dealer and PI Jim Brodie, a double-murder at the Kennedy Center forces Brodie into a dangerous game of espionage—putting him in the crosshairs of the Chinese, North Korean, and American governments.

Jim Brodie is an antiques dealer, Japan expert, and second-generation private investigator. When two theater friends are murdered backstage at a Kennedy Center performance in Washington, DC, he’s devastated—and determined to hunt down the killer. He’s not the only one.

After the attack, Brodie is summoned to the White House. The First Lady was the college roommate of one of the victims, and she enlists Brodie—off the books—to use his Japanese connections to track down the assassin. Homeland Security head Tom Swelley is furious that the White House is meddling and wants Brodie off the case. Why? For the same reason a master Chinese spy known only as Zhou, one of the most dangerous men alive, appears on the scene: Those murders were no random act of violence.

Brodie flies to Tokyo to attend the second of two funerals, when his friend’s daughter Anna is kidnapped during the ceremony. It is then Brodie realizes that the murders were simply bait to draw her out of hiding. Anna, it seems, is the key architect of a top-secret NSA program that gathers the personal secrets of America’s most influential leaders. Secrets so damaging that North Korea and China will stop at nothing to get them.

The Spy Across The Table (International Thriller)

By Barry Lancet

Simon & Shuster

ISBN #978-1476794914

Price $17.10 (Hardback)

448 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“A Thrill Ride A Minute.”

Jim Brodie is in Washington DC visiting the Kennedy Center to watch his Japanese friend’s Kabuki performance when the Japanese designer and another friend are murdered. Afterwards, he is approached by the Secret Service and taken before the First Lady. The stage designer was also a college friend of hers, and she wants Brodie to investigate the murders (you would think the FBI would be called in) . No sooner does he take the case, than Homeland Security agents let by Tom Swelley begin harassing him and beats him up. The case gets more tangled in Japan when he brings the Brodie Detective Agency into the Japanese end of the case.  Korean gangsters kidnap the daughter of the Japanese designer at the funeral, and Brodie discovers she is being transferred to North Korea. He must intercept the transfer, and heads to South Korea with a Marine combat squad to stop them from entering a tunnel on the DMZ. However, the team was spotted and the girl is moved to the border with China. Now Brodie must enter China, but tangles with the Chinese spy, Zhou, and is captured and turned over to Chinese torturers. This is all great stuff in movies and fiction.

This was a nonstop thrill a minute ride, with political stumbling blocks along the way. It is a well-written yarn that kept me turning the pages. There were some things I didn’t like about it, mostly the portrayal of agents in our intelligence departments. Men like Tom Swelley would have been dismissed long before he got out of hand. Everyone has a boss, and heads roll when agents go amok. Another thing is our Ambassadors; they do not go against the President of the United States. They represent the president.  The actions of the American Ambassador to Japan was beyond imbecilic. And finally, let’s look at torture. Yes, torture does exist, and it is horrible. But I can guarantee the Chinese would have obtained what they wanted from Brodie within hours without torture, they didn’t need to use physical torture to get the information they wanted.  But Brodie goes through many days of torture. Now, what happens to a person after they have been tortured for days on end? They don’t get up and fight, or cross China in an automobile. They need physical and mental therapy for months before they can perform anything close to normal. I won’t even discuss the subject of a Chinese spy rescuing Brodie, except to say it wouldn’t happen. Still, with all these things I didn’t like with the story, this is a work of fiction, and as such, it is very entertaining, and I highly recommend it to readers.

Tom Johnson

Author of ASSIGNMENNT: NINA FONTAYNE

Buddha's Money

Sueno & Bascom #3: “Buddha’s Money” by Martin Limon. While working the Itaewon red light district in Seoul looking for black market activity, CID agents Sergeants Sueno & Bascom are contacted by business girl (prostitute) Sooki, who tells them a nun has been attacked. She leads them to an alley where they hear a fight in progress and stop a black American soldier from beating a Korean nun. The American escapes, and the boys take the nun to the KNP police station, but locals think they are the ones that beat the nun up. There is a big problem now with locals angry at all American soldiers. While at the police station, a retired sergeant grabs them, and reports his adopted Korean daughter has been kidnapped. This leads them to discover there is more going on than meets the eye. The attack on the nun and the kidnapping has something to do with Lady Ahn and an antique skull that once belonged to the Dragon Throne of China, and her ancestors. The skull was used by Kublai Khan as a drinking vessel, and has a map to the burial place where much of his treasure was hidden. Buddhist monks are also after the skull. The writing is smooth, the plot is good, and the characterization is topnotch. The author knows Korea. It is fun reading about places that I once knew, and hearing Korean words I once knew. My main problem with the series is the main characters. They are supposed to be Army CID agents, but are nothing like the many CID agents I knew in my twenty-year career in the military police. Sueno & Bascom act more like private detectives than military investigators, doing what they want when they want. They merely report to a 1^st Sergeant, basically when they want. In reality, the CID office consists of agents under the command of a warrant officer. Jobs are assigned, and they work hand in hand with their superiors and local police, when necessary, fellow agents, and the MPs. Something that really turned me off in this story is the office Staff Sergeant. Evidently he has the combination to the safe, but gets so drunk someone gets the combination from him and breaks into the office and steals something from the safe. The next day it was like, well, gee, these things happen. No, they don’t! If that SSGT had a drinking problem he would not have been the one in charge of the safe. As it was he would have lost a stripe over such lack of responsibility, but nothing is even said to him about his dereliction of duty. This is the Army, and the CID is better trained and organized than any of these characters are in this series. I love the setting, and the idea of CID agents as the main leads. I can even accept Sueno & Bascom as Army goof-offs who get involved in mischief – but not as CID agents. Another problem is the man in charge of the armory giving them unregistered weapons and ammunition when they want them. That doesn’t happen in the MP or CID weapons armory. All weapons and ammunitions are strictly accounted for. All of this makes for a good story, and the setting is honest. If Sueno and Bascom were anything but CID agents, it would have worked for me.

The Sergeant And The Queen

Sergeant Corbin #2: “The Sergeant And The Queen” by Robert Crane (Con Leslie Sellers). This takes place in 1963, ten years after the first story “Sergeant Corbin’s War” that was set in the final months of the Korean War. In this story, military leaders in the South & North plan to put a queen on the throne of Korea, bringing the divided Koreas together once more. A descendant of a former queen has been found in America, Helen Min (Min Kilja), her ancestor had ruled Korea before her, and Korea would follow a new queen of the same bloodline. It was Corbin’s job to infiltrate North Korea with her, where their counterparts would plan her rise. Corbin is no longer an American soldier, but works for ROK General Pak Son Ap and Sheldon Shapiro of G-2 (Army Intelligence). He is known as The Butcher; he kills North Korean infiltrators and hangs their heads on poles as a warning to the North. The son of ministers who were killed by the Japanese, Corbin quotes the Bible, but knows no god. He was born in Korea, and has a Korean wife, so is a man of two countries. But his sympathies lie with Korea. The story has a good plot, but was slow. When there was action, it was fast, violent, and well-written, just not enough action to move the story along, so there was a lot of drag. Corbin loves his wife and wants to be faithful, but he finds Helen Min attractive sexually, and we have to read about this attraction page after page, along with the hatred of his parents and their religion. As a soldier who served on the Korean DMZ in 1959-’60, I enjoyed the familiar towns and areas described in the book. The author was probably more interesting than his fiction character. He served in two wars, was also a newspaper correspondent in Korea. He was a boxer, holding a title, and trained boxers. Again, a good story, it just needed more action, and less meaningless feelings he has of his parents, wife, and lust for Min Kilja.

Slicky Boys

Sueno & Bascom #2: “Slicky Boys” by Martin Limon. Army CID agents, Sgt. George Sueno and Sgt. Ernie Bascom work out of 8^th Army Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. In this second case, Sueno is now a corporal. Maybe he lost a stripe after the last case, but Bascom is still a sergeant. Still, it’s Sueno who leads the investigation. Bascom is merely a sounding board, and sometimes not even that. He really adds nothing to the cases. Plus, they are back together and back in Seoul, after separated and shipped to the DMZ when the last case was over. This time they are rooked into carrying a message to Cicil Whitcomb of the British Honor Guard for Miss Ku. When Whitcomb turns up murdered it throws suspicion on the CID boys, and they are hell-bent to solve the case. Even to the point of disobeying military orders and disobeying the Korean National Police. It is a good mystery, with lots of twists, but I just can’t accept these men as actual CID agents. I’ve known many from Korea to Europe, and the US in my twenty-year career as an Army military police NCO, but none acted like this pair. It’s almost like these men are civilian private detectives, doing what they want, when they want, and no one can stop them. The CID is better organized than this, and their agents work together, not against each other. Plus, they would have a superior Warrant Officer in charge of them, not the 1^st Sergeant. Okay, with that said, if you like a good mystery, you will like this. Just don’t mistake these slouches as real CID. The “slicky boys” organization does play a small part in this yarn, but they’re not the real focus of the mystery. The killer is a rogue American naval officer (AWOL), a well-trained SEAL, acting on his own for the North Koreans. And the plot - to pass on top secret information on placement of atomic bombs in mountains between the south and north by the American Forces, to use in case North Korea again crosses the 38^th into South Korea. I should say, unguarded nukes, at that. The locations are only known by the general command – unless the killer can get the info north. Can you imagine unguarded nukes between the north and south, and just how long that would remain secret? Please. America’s power is in its delivery system, not left unguarded where someone might – and could – stumble upon them! The author knows Korea; I’ll give him that. It is said that you must suspend your imagination to enjoy fiction. Perhaps, but I prefer some semblance of reality to any world I enter. Good mystery, good characterization (just not accurate), and will keep the reader turning the pages.

Jade Lady Burning

Sueno & Bascom #1: “Jade Lady Burning” by Martin Limon. Army CID agents, Sgt. George Sueno and Sgt. Ernie Bascom work out of 8^th Army Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. When a young prostitute is found murdered, her body sexually brutalized, and the room set fire, the Korean National Police want an American GI blamed, though they seem to know who the killer really is. The American system wants to point to a young soldier, also. But CID agent Sgt. Sueno doesn’t like the smell, and thinks an American soldier is being set up to take the fall. Before the case is over, the investigation goes to the top command, and girls are killed, and Sueno and Bascom find themselves at the wrong end of the stick.

         In the end, Sueno and Bascom are split up, with Sueno shipped to the DMZ, and we’re told they never work together again. This should have been a stand-alone novel. Yet the book must have caught on, and the publisher asked for more, for they’re back in the next book, and the next, and next and next. I did thoroughly enjoy the story, though it was slow and could have used more action.

         Sgt. Sueno narrates the story and Bascom appears to merely be a sounding board. Or maybe he’s there just as a drinking partner. The best part about this book is its setting, South Korea. It’s a different world than anywhere else. It’s where crime starts from the top and works its way down, and when it’s too high, there is no way to police it. I was with the MPs in Korea, and knew many CID agents in Korea and elsewhere. Sueno and Bascom didn’t sound like any I had ever ran into. The CID I knew were always a tad above the rest of us GIs, and would not act in the manner these characters did. But this is fiction, and the characters are part fact and part false. They start sounding more like hard drinking private detectives after a while, not straight shooters trained by military intelligence. But I definitely plan on reading more stories featuring Sueno & Bascom.