cover image DRAGON DANCE

DRAGON DANCE

Peter Tasker, . . Kodansha Int'l., $22.95 (266pp) ISBN 978-4-7700-2948-5

Though this new thriller from Tasker (Samurai Boogie) is a mixed bag, it does boast a winning premise. Backed by a powerful Chinese general and capitalizing on Japan's economic malaise and discontent, terrorist Reiko Matsubara plots a political revolution that will make Japan a nuclear power and undermine the country's cozy relationship with the U.S. The plan is to carefully orchestrate the political career of a popular entertainer, a sort of Japanese Ronald Reagan, until he becomes a figurehead prime minister controlled by Matsubara's sinister terrorist group. Martine Meyer, an American reporter for a U.S. newspaper, is a longtime resident of Japan who has influential contacts at every level of Japanese society. When she begins investigating the entertainer, Tsuyoshi Nozawa, and the peculiar people who surround him, a mysterious source feeds her information by e-mail, giving her a warning of tragedies to come: a black American soldier is framed for the murder of a Japanese child; a U.S. military plane crashes in a heavily populated area; there are poisonings at a popular food outlet. The scads of subplots include Meyer's love affair with a Japanese microbrewery owner and the story of a young Japanese woman married to a wealthy Caucasian businessman. The setup takes virtually the entire book, with the real action limited to the final 20 pages. There are some preposterous plot twists, but overall Tasker delivers a readable thriller with plenty of local color and a sharp sense of the cultural mood of early 21st-century Japan. (Apr.)