"Tokyo
Intrigue" by William Bender, Jr. Major Mark Talbot, an Air Force pilot in the
Korean War is grounded after a flight of North Korean planes shoot down his wing
man. Talbot chases them across the border, destroying the flight before they
reach their airfield, then strafes the airfield. After the war he's transferred
to Germany, where he now works for the public information office (PIO). Here
they must play the Cold War game with Russia, until strange orders send him
back to the Far East. Now assigned to Japan as ISO where he's to investigate
the death of a colonel under mysterious circumstances, as well as the strange
disappearances of Air Force aircraft. Talbot's main job is to uncover the
killer, and beat the Russians at their own game of propaganda. I had to laugh
at what the author says, though: "As it happens, our Air Force doesn't
work that way. We are officially dedicated to truth and accuracy."
Meaning, we don't use propaganda in any form. Gee, we played the propaganda
game with Hitler during WWII, so we were old hands at the game.
I
wasn't able to find anything on the Internet about the author, but if we are to
believe the Introduction by him, he was a captain in the Air Force in Tokyo, assigned
to the information office when he wrote this book. I have no reason to doubt
the claim. There is a lot of military jargon that rings true, and he writes of
Tokyo from first hand experience, not from an encyclopedia. Yes, there are a
few stretches of the truth, but basically everything is correct. I found
several things very interesting in this 1956 novel. First, there are a lot of
similarities between Talbot and the future "American Avenger" series.
Whether or not the similarities are a coincidence, or the author of American Avenger
read Tokyo Intrigue is a matter of conjecture. Second, the similarities to Earl
Norman's (Norman Thompson) Burns Bannion series two years later I don't think
can be questioned. Norman worked for DOD in Japan at that time, bringing entertainment
to all the bases in the Far East. He would have known William Bender through
this connection, and probably read his book. Bannion is a lot like Talbot,
though there isn't as much karate in Tokyo Intrigue as Norman brings in his
later stories. There is the police inspector who shadows both of our heroes,
and the reporters who may have mysterious ways. Without a doubt this novel
would have influenced the future "Kill Me In …" series by Earl
Norman. This is a good read, and I'm curious why the author didn't write more
books. Perhaps a career in the Air Force took precedence to a writing future.
