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
