cover image Avenue of the Stars

Avenue of the Stars

Jina Bacarr. Dutton Books, $18.95 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-525-24917-7

In a tasteless spin on ethnic-stereotype war movies, this Pacific Rim business/suspense novel, the collaborative debut of travel- and scriptwriter Bacar and TV producer and former movie press-agent Cohen, chronicles the ruthless takeover of Hollywood's Constellation Studios. Billionaire Hiroshi Takashima, alias the Asian Octopus, seeks revenge for the obliteration of his family in Nagasaki's bombing. His battleground is the film industry; his first target, Jake Baron's family-owned studo. Enlisting Baron's debt-ridden stepson, Takashima achieves the takeover by arson and loan foreclosure. Baron's former lover and now studio president, Kelly Kristopher, resigns in the face of scandal-sheet headlines, but emerges to head up the Takashima-run enterprise. In a double vengeance plot, Takashima's adopted son, American-educated accountant Michio Noda, saves the studio, Kelly and greater Hollywood in reprisal for an event in Takashima's past. The Tokyo-based details of Takashima's corrupt dealings, Yakuza henchmen and sadistic erotic life are horrific but riveting. Less engaging is the Hollywood setting, consisting largely of celebrity party lists. There is arguably an echo of current events, but what rings stridently here is Japan-bashing, a theme which may, regrettably, find its audience. (Nov.)