Barry Lancet

Barry Lancet's international thriller Japantown won the prestigious Barry Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and was selected by both Suspense Magazine and renowned mystery critic Oline Cogdill as one of the Best Debuts of the Year. His second book, Tokyo Kill, was a finalist for a Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel of the Year and was selected as a must-read for Asian leaders by Forbes magazine.

Lancet's latest novel is Pacific Burn, the third entry in the Jim Brodie series.

From the author's Q & A with Lisa Brackmann at the Los Angeles Review of Books:

In Pacific Burn, a major plot strand is Japan’s "nuclear mafia" and its role in the Fukushima disaster. Can you talk a bit about this? I am guessing that unless you are well-versed in contemporary Japanese politics or followed that story very closely, you would tend to assume that what happened in Fukushima was the unavoidable result of a natural disaster, combined, perhaps, with some bad luck.

I was in Tokyo when the disaster struck, then watched in growing alarm as the earthquake-tsunami led to the meltdown of the Fukushima power plant, which was a manmade disaster. Bungling and mismanagement caused the meltdown. After the disaster, Japan’s “nuclear mafia” stepped in and muddied the waters by choking off information to the Japanese public and the world press. The nuclear mafia is the utility, collusive government agencies, politicians, and other influential voices in key positions. Palms are greased by the utility with gifts, favors, or cash. Pacific Burn is set against the backdrop of this tragedy. Sometimes real life provides more conspiracies, cover-ups, and crimes than even...[read on]

Learn about Barry Lancet's top ten mysteries set in Asia.

Visit Barry Lancet's website.

The Page 69 Test: Pacific Burn.

--Marshal Zeringue