I hear that there is a new book in this series coming. I can't wait! I have always loved Michael Pronko's essays. I put off reading this because I was afraid he would fall off his pedestal when he started writing fiction. I needn't have worried. I was immediately hooked. This book is quite the page turner. I was fascinated by the idea of a sympathetic villain. I was surprised at one point when two Japanese girls climbed into the bath and soaped up. My experience has been that soaping and rinsing happens before one gets in the bath in Japan. Other than that I was completely captivated. I highly recommend this wonderful mystery. Thank you to Mr Pronko, his publisher and NetGalley for sharing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a unique story we are treated to in The Last Train. Great title incidentally and beautifully told with passion and pathos.
We quickly learn who is the murderer but we don’t get the why they kill other than an implied motive of financial gain.
The homicide department desperately needs the services of an English speaker as the case involves foreigners and Hiroshi fits the bill. He has not been out much in recent weeks mopping about in his special office all by himself, pleaded not to mix after his relationship breakdown. So the move into a more active role may help him plus he has good accounting skills and this case seems to involve large investments.
He is a very considered operator and the rest of the team quickly warm to him. His boss Takamatsu is a less open policeman with a whiff of corruption and irregularities in a previous case and their differences make for a good partnership. They socialise a great deal too, even before Hiroshi joined the murder squad and being Japan this involves wild nights on the town, too much alcohol and fuzzy recollections.
So the murderer. We follow their story in parallel with the investigation which is a good old fashioned police procedural but set in Tokyo.
This approach of the police being many steps behind the allusive assailant, coupled with the rich culture and Japanese life becoming so real, rising from each page ensures the novel is interesting and full of action and mystery.
We wonder how the killer acts with such little respect for life until their backstory is slowly shared.
We move from one of judgement to understanding and empathy as revenge seems to be the motive and a metering out of a different but deserved justice.
After Scandinavian Noir we seem to be able to access more stories which could be seen as a new trend and rediscovered writings forming Oriental Noir. I have read a number of novels now set in Japan. In The Last Train I gain a new author and fresh excitement into this alien world to me.
I love the culture here set around the world of clubs and nightspots where hostesses are the professional escorts and a rich tapestry of sex and intrigue abounds. A night out for the two detectives appears little different to the case they must pursue visiting clubs where no one is keen to assist the police.
The action and thrilling set pieces are brilliant transcribed into words that have energy and pace so the book rattled along like the many train journeys around the city.
I was left every time I picked up the story with fresh nuances and a desire to read on and solve the mystery of the case - not who did it but why.
A riveting read opening up a fresh vista of a foreign world. I loved the space for reflection, Chinese proverbs and personal growth through meditation and martial arts. I feel I have walked those streets, ate the simple meals and cowered as an express thundered through the station.

A beautiful very Japanese thriller, even if written by an American, who has been living and working in Japan for years, and who knows life, death and miracles of that country. In a Blade Runner's Tokyo, as Tokyo actually is, wealthy people linked to the financial environment commit suicide by throwing themselves under the train. Anything strange, in a country that doesntt have the foreclosures against suicide that we Westerners have, if it wern't that many of these suicides are just Westerners. A confused detective on loan, used only for his excellent knowledge of English language, is called to join a very Japanese, even in the fishy and twisted soul, Homicide inspector.
Between twists and turns, lies, unspoken things, impersonationss, the thriller travels, just like a train, on the tracks of an elaborate revenge, towards an end that is perhaps a suicide and maybe not, in a country where nothing is where it seems and where a woman can never be herself.
I thank Raked Gravel Press and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is fluent in English and is a white collar crime specialist in part of the murder squad but Hiroshi has never investigated a crime per se. He is more familiar with spreadsheets and graphs. But he is very smart and determined and the other police officers like him. When his friend Lieutenant Takamatsu asks for his assistance on a puzzling case involving and English-speaker, Hiroshi reluctantly goes along.

American Steve Devaux is found dead in Tokyo. He was hit by a train, but video surveillance shows he was not alone when it happened. There was a woman with him. A woman committing a murder is almost unheard of in Japan.

After Lieutenant Takamatsu goes missing, Hiroshi takes on the assistance of another officer. Sakaguchi is an ex-sumo wrestler who teams up with Hiroshi after Takamatsu goes missing. Together Hiroshi and Sakaguchi investigate both Takamatsu’s disappearance and Devaux’ murder.

The crowding, the fast pace, the bright lights of Japan; all these are brilliantly illustrated in this book. The differences in culture between the Japanese and the Western mind are described in great detail. This novel is both well written and plotted. It reminded me a great deal of the novels of Barry Lancet in its descriptiveness and pace. The characters were likeable and even humorous in places. The action was well-paced and built the suspense nicely.

I want to thank Netgalley and Raked Gravel Press for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Smith Publicity for an advance copy of The Last Train, a police procedural set in Tokyo.

When Steve Devaux is found under the wheels of an express train no one is sure if it is murder or suicide but they do know it will mean pressure. Lieutenant Takamatsu ropes in Hiroshi Shimizu, a white collar crime detective and fluent in English, to help with the investigation. The police are quickly aware that they are hunting a woman while the reader knows she is called Michiko Suzuki. The plot revolves around the hunt for Michiko and uncovering her motive.

This is a very interesting novel and I feel I learned more about Japanese culture from it than the several novels by Japanese authors I have read. It gives a great insight into the Japanese psyche and the many differences between it and western ways. Fascinating.

I am less sure about the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt for Michiko through Tokyo's underbelly and her clever, evasive tactics. You get a real sense of Hiroshi being out of his depth but determined to persevere. I must admit, however, that the financial aspects of the motive completely lost me and I still can't understand exactly what Michiko did and why she picked the victims she did but this is a minor quibble in a good read.

Hiroshi is a good protagonist. Although his white collar crime role is part of the homicide division he has never done field work and is an accountant at heart and by profession. He comes across as inexperienced and naïve in comparison with the cynicism of the other detectives. He is decent, hardworking, smart and persistent and his colleagues value him.

The Last Train is a good, interesting read.