In the small Chinese town of Yanji, seven people have been
found dead at four eateries. Major Bing, of the Yanji
Special Office, is at a loss. But then again, his
department is tasked mostly with watching the activity
between the town and North Korea, with which they share a
border, file the comings and goings, and basically do
nothing. However, this situation is different and Bing is
told to drop everything, which is arguably not much
anyway, and concentrate on this case. Nobody knows how or
why these people died. Bing gets some information from an
unusual source: his uncle, former Inspector O, who does
sleuthing on the side. The only thing the victims had in
common was that they were eating noodles or dumplings, but
there is also a rumour that a new Japanese dumpling
restaurant is expected to open. An ex-triad chief is back
on the streets, and the husband of one of the victims -- a
foreigner -- is the owner of a dumpling manufacturing
plant. Who is doing what? The North Koreans? Are the
Japanese behind the deaths? The Russain mafia? Someone
else? And what is all this talk about a dumpling machine?
Nothing is happening for Bing, however Inspector O gets
dragged in by an old friend, under the guise of a trip to
Portugal.
I could not resist a spy story written by a former
intelligence officer, and I'm positive this is how real
spying looks like, especially in a small Chinese town. I
thought the book started rather abruptly, I was wondering
if I was missing something, but things soon felt right on
track and I became totally involved in Bind and O's world,
which is completely baffling! Bing waddles in the
bureaucratic mess of Chinese bureaucracy, where no one
knows nothing and doesn't care or protects their own
interests. And I'm not quite sure if I was supposed to
laugh so much, but in Part I which is told from Bing's
point of view, I was chuckling and snorting because of Mr.
Church's wildly colourful descriptions of events and
people. There are a few passages I will never forget; the
author's wit is most remarkable indeed! Parts II and III
are told from Inspector O's point of view, and this is
where the unwilling spying begins. O is elderly, rational,
and imperturbable, and stuck in a surreal situation where
he is asked to do things about which he has no notion;
nobody gives him any information, but everyone expects him
to know. Know what? It's nearly everybody's guess! Korean
by birth, O doesn't want to be there, and he certainly
doesn't need to be insulted of having -- whoever wants him
to do whatever -- and pretending to be Japanese while doing
it!
I found it a bit odd that the blurb for the book revealed
that the "dumpling machine" is a contraption to make
nuclear weapons, while the reader learns this information
halfway through THE GENTLEMAN FROM JAPAN. On the other
hand, I love that Mr. Church's obvious considerable
knowledge of the politics of the area, and of the
countries involved, blends smoothly with the narrative;
it's all very matter-of-fact, and at the same time
educational and entertaining. I really enjoyed Mr.
Church's writing, which is efficient, elegant, and
eloquent with a healthy dose of sarcasm, and a wicked
sense of humour. I have no idea what James Church has in
store for us, Inspector O, or Bing, next, but I will be
reading it!
James Church, a former Western intelligence officer, returns
to the secret world of North Korean intelligence with
another “crackling good” (The Washington Post) story
in his critically acclaimed Inspector O series.
Under the guise of machinery for making dumplings, a Spanish
factory near Barcelona is secretly producing a key component
in the production of nuclear weapons. When information finds
its way to the inboxes of Western intelligence agencies that
this “dumpling maker” is meant for North Korea, orders go
out that the shipment must be stopped. Either the machine
must be disabled while still in the factory, or the
transportation route must be discovered so the equipment can
be intercepted before it reaches its destination. An old
friend recruits Inspector O to assist in the complex
operation designed to disrupt the plans for shipping the
machine.
Carefully planted bits of information and bizarre events
have led both the Spanish factory and those trying to
intercept the machine to conclude that Japanese criminal
organizations are involved in buying and transporting the
“dumpling” machine in order to hide the involvement of North
Korea. A flurry of murders puts the focus on the northeast
Chinese city of Yanji, near the border with North Korea,
where O’s nephew Major Bing is the Chief of State Security.
Bing has his own problems dealing with a corrupt local mayor
who is out for his head, coping with a new deputy who cannot
be trusted, and figuring out why a Chinese gangster he’s
worked for years to chase away has suddenly returned.
Church— hailed as “the equal of le Carré” by Publishers
Weekly — takes O deep into a maze of cracked mirrors
that hide the exits from an elaborate, deadly double blind
in his most elaborate mystery yet, The Gentleman from
Japan.
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