Michael Pronko's Blog, page 3
February 28, 2021
Reviewer’s Choice Feathered Quill Book Awards (2020)
Reviewer’s Choice Feathered Quill Book Awards (2020)
(Each reviewer gets to pick her favorite book from all those she’s reviewed for Feathered Quill in 2020.)
“Adroitly takes readers on another outstanding Detective Hiroshi thrill ride into the streets of Tokyo, this time presenting a murderous case involving human trafficking that you don’t want to miss,” Feathered Quill.
February 25, 2021
Japanese post test
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October 9, 2020
Tokyo Traffic (Special Offer)

Paperback
US$9.50 (Shipping include)
Delivery only in Japan

e-books
US$3.80 (all e-formats, sent by email)
September 26, 2020
Silver Medal Reader’s Favorite 2020 Awards Mystery Murder
September 18, 2020
Reader Views
Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Reader Views (09/2020)
“Tokyo Traffic,” by Michael Pronko, is an international crime drama centering on human trafficking, using a young Thai girl named Sukanya as the catalyst. This compelling story has Sukanya fleeing her captors and trying to survive on the streets of Tokyo. It isn’t as easy as she thought, but much easier than the abuse she ran from. When Detective Hiroshi enters the picture, a pit of vipers opens up, and he has his hands full as he investigates murder, trafficking, and a conspiracy that leads to shocking revelations.
Although the material is dark and we hear about trafficking on a daily basis, this novel personalizes it with empathetic characters and realistic situations. When you hear it on the news, the subject is boiled down to statistics, but when an author brings it to life like Pronko has, you know the victims are real people, and so are the ones trying to help them.
Though this is a violent tale, it mirrors the stark reality of trafficking. The characters are trapped and need a way out, as do victims in real life. This author takes the elements of plot, characters, and pace, and delivers high-caliber entertainment, wrapped in today’s social issues. Sukanya is a sympathetic character. You root for her survival, and her successful quest in finding a better life. But for some victims, there are no happy endings, as Detective Hiroshi knows all too well. You may think this is a depressing story, and it does have its downside, but overall has sparks of life and hope running through it.
There are elements of the classic noir detective story, but with a new twist tackling modern problems. This detective is sharp, and he has to be if he’s going to get to the bottom of it all. Pronko’s immediate style puts you into the guts of the action but will pull at your heartstrings at the same time. The city of Tokyo shines brightly, with grit and glamour, and the author isn’t afraid to tear the wrapper off of this dynamic city. “Tokyo Traffic,” by Michael Pronko, is a crime thriller you mustn’t pass up.
Reader’s Favorite
Five Stars
Tokyo Traffic by Michael Pronko is a fantastic meld of thriller and sleuth with exceptional characters and a strong plot. The story introduces readers to a compelling young female protagonist, Sukanya, a Thai girl running away from her captors. She has some stolen money and a computer that her captors desperately want to recover. To survive and stay ahead of her captors in the maze that is Tokyo, she has to stay alert and smart. Can Chiho, her new-found friend, help her reinvent herself and beat her pursuers? Meanwhile, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu investigates murders in a porn studio. He discovers a dark web involved in human trafficking and other internet scams but what is the connection with a young Thai girl?
There is so much to enjoy in this novel and I loved how the author brings the world of human trafficking in Tokyo and internet crime to life. The author uses the subplots to build the suspense, shifting the narrative from a grueling investigation to a girl in flight. Michael Pronko opens the novel strongly with the protagonist in a vulnerable situation, making calculated steps. From the start, I gathered she’d been in a terrible situation because of the mention of her racing heart resulting from whatever had been injected into her. Tension opens the story and increases in crescendo through each chapter. The worldbuilding is impeccable and I enjoyed the complex environment the protagonist navigates. Tokyo Traffic is
filled with mystery and realism and I found myself rooting for the protagonist. It is fast-paced and emotionally rich.
Reviewed by Jose Cornelio for Readers’ Favorite
September 6, 2020
California Bookwatch
California Bookwatch: August 2020
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Tokyo Traffic
Michael Pronko
Raked Gravel Press
B087QVRXZB, $9.99, PB
In Tokyo Traffic, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is tracking a dangerous killer through the nightclubs and byways of the city, moving through the city as he tracks his perp through a puzzling series of environments and motives. Michael Pronko excels at capturing the atmosphere of Tokyo.
Thai girl Sukanya, a victim of sex trafficking, is eluding her former captors in Tokyo. She’s also using the city’s opportunities to plot revenge. As evidence leads Hiroshi to join others in trying to track this clever girl, the bodies mount, as do the threats to studio contractor Kenta Nakamura and others who have a dangerous inclination to become involved with young girls and trouble. Although Tokyo Traffic is the third in the Tokyo-based Detective Hiroshi series, no prior familiarity is needed in order for newcomers to enjoy this latest adventure. Michael Pronko crafts a fast-paced atmosphere that covers Kenta’s involvement in a plot and a dangerous game, tracing the astute detective’s attempts to halt the murders that are changing even the underworld.
As Tokyo’s streets and a diverse set of characters come to life, readers will find the underlying social inspection and intrigue revolving around the adult film industry and Jack and Jill Studios to be involving, unpredictable, and a test of even the seasoned Hiroshi’s skills. Pronko’s familiarity with Japanese culture in general and Tokyo atmosphere in particular enhances a story that once again excels in exploring both while presenting a murder mystery and romance that holds reader attention to the end.
The result is a story that winds through Tokyo’s streets and Hiroshi’s heart alike, drawing readers through a dangerous game that culminates in an unexpected, satisfying conclusion that further expands Hiroshi’s world. Mystery readers who enjoy their detective pieces firmly rooted in reality will find Tokyo Traffic an excellent read, highly recommended for those who enjoy tense thrillers that take place in other cultures and affording opportunity for education and involvement in more than one outcome.
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/calbw/aug_20.htm#mysterysuspense
August 18, 2020
Crime Thriller Hound
Selected as Book of the Month for August 2020
Tokyo Traffic
by Michael Pronko
‘Tokyo Traffic’ is the third in Michael Pronko’s Detective Hiroshi Series, following the impressive novels ‘The Moving Blade’ and ‘The Last Train’.
The book opens with a triple murder on the set of a porn studio called Jack and Jill. Fourteen-year-old Sukanya is drugged up but that doesn’t stop her crouching behind the set, only coming out of hiding to find death strewn out before her. She scans the murder scene, panics, then goes on the scavenge, grabbing up a laptop and iPad from the vicinity of the fat director’s corpse. She puts them into a bag, takes a jacket and slips down the stairs.
Sukanya finds herself on the run from a man in a white suit, Kenta. With her Thai features and ill-fitting clothes, Sukanya stands out. What’s more, she’s under the influence of drugs and playing high-stakes hide-and-seek in a big unfamiliar city. And in the Japanese capital, being street-wise isn’t likely to be enough to keep you hidden when the bag, laptop and iPad may all allow the bad guys to track you.
A victim of child trafficking, Sukanya is desperate to shake off her past and get a passport to America. To that end she tries to find Ratana who’s also disappeared, with the group’s passports. Sukanya’s new friend Chiho, a local girl from an internet café, is a great aid and has a computer-whiz friend who might be able to reveal the laptop’s information – information that would show what happened at the film studio – only Sukanya doesn’t know it.
Knowing its importance, Kenta and the dangerous, unpredictable Kirino are determined to get their hands on that computer.
On the trail is Hiroshi, the ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi, and Takamatsu, and old-school rebel never far from trouble. Detective Hiroshi has moved in with his on/off girlfriend Ayana and still can’t give her the time she deserves. After he’s called to the murder scene, it’s clear that this is going to be another time-sapping case.
Hiroshi is an accountant who speaks English, two attributes that the police need in a world where, in crime, it’s often the case of follow the money. In this case, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology complicate matters and Hiroshi will need all his skills to find a connection to the powerful and a finance bureaucrat with a seedy hobby.
The girls, bad guys and sleuths move around Tokyo in this fast-paced story of sex trafficking and more.
Hiroshi realizes that there should have been three girls at the film studio, and that there more to this than sex trafficking. Who was the target, who was collateral damage, and who’s missing?
If there’s a better crime series set in Japan, I’ve not yet read it.
https://www.crimethrillerhound.co.uk/tokyo-traffic
August 10, 2020
INTERVIEW with Lynette Latzko at Feathered Quill
INTERVIEW with Lynette Latzko at Feathered Quill
Michael Pronko “Tokyo Traffic”
– I commend you for writing this book on the subject of human trafficking, and shedding light on the global issue. I read that in the United States, The National Human Trafficking Hotline has managed 51,919 hotline cases since 2007, but unfortunately most cases go unreported so the real impact is a lot higher. How bad is human trafficking in Japan?
The problem was not seriously addressed until recently. Japan only ratified some of the international protocols on trafficking a few years ago. I can understand how hard it is for police and task forces to root out this vicious crime, but politicians who ignore injustices like trafficking need to take action. Japan is ruled by government bureaucracy and they are slow to change. Meanwhile, the situation festers. The grey areas around trafficking make it especially difficult. The totality of trafficking includes “guest” workers on farms and fisheries, underage Japanese girls going on paid ‘dates,’ online ‘delivery health’ services and a porn industry with close ties to loansharking and debt collection. Japan has raised its compliance level with international norms and cracked down on some practices, but Japan remains a destination and transit point for international trafficking, while battling its own domestic trafficking.
– Detective Hiroshi has a new girlfriend and they both participate in Kendo. Why did you choose this particular martial art for Hiroshi to experience?
Kendo is one of the most traditional and popular of martial arts. Young men and women often join school “circles” for sports or other activities. That’s where Hiroshi and his girlfriend met. But I really chose that because I used to watch students at my university practicing Kendo. It impressed me deeply. For one thing, it’s really loud! People scream and hit hard. One of my students lost some hearing from an especially hard hit. As with most martial arts, the key point is less the physical side than the spiritual side. It’s maybe a cliché that Asians have some mystical interior world, but such practice really does encourage inner strength.
– How do you decide what theme, or subject matter, you will base your thriller/mystery on when you begin writing?
I can never read the news without becoming infuriated. I worked for the editorial section of The Japan Times for years, so I’d select topics there by the degree they angered me. I often stew over these outrages and carry on arguments in my head. I keep stacks of articles and read through them from time to time. That provides start-up energy. I’m not sure what other people do with their anger, but I need to process it into some meaningful form. I’m equally motivated by awe-inspiring aspects of Tokyo and Japanese society. Anger and awe, though, aren’t enough. I wait to see if characters and story lines emerge. Often, they don’t, but when they do, they take on their own shape. I write things down as they develop and figure out how to process that emotional energy into story form. Scenes sketch themselves out, dialogue pops into my head, and I write all that down right away. Little by little, the topic and emotion transform into concrete images. If all of that sounds imprecise, it’s because I don’t understand how it happens myself.
– When you’re in the process of writing a novel, from the initial idea, until the completed book is on the shelves, what task do you like to do the most? What part of the process do you like the least?
I like most parts of the process but have resistance to some parts. I love slathering ideas on scraps of paper, gathering up articles, and jamming them into folders. It’s almost a physical pleasure. Converting notes and ideas into narrative patterns is like a puzzle that you know has to work eventually, but still gives you a delicious delay. Imagining characters and visualizing settings has a freeing effect on my mind and is the part I like best. Drafting is hard, but it releases a lot of pent-up energy. As for rewriting, I ‘relish torturing a phrase once more’ as S.J. Perelman said, but after a long period rewriting, I’m zapped. I find promotion to be a drag, as it feels counterintuitive. Marketing doesn’t come naturally to me, so that’s irritating, too. Once the book is done, I want to start on the next one, so the promotion and marketing phase makes me feel stalled and uncreative. But still, there’s a lot to learn from each step of the process that can enhance the others.
– How do you handle constructive criticism during your writing phase, and/or negative reviews once your writing has been published?
I don’t handle it very well. The more accurate the input, the more it ticks me off. But after the constructive criticism percolates for a while, usually I come around to it. I often don’t agree with what a beta reader, editor or friend suggests, but they identify weak points that I can work on fixing in my own way. As for negative reviews, it depends. Some make me wonder if they read the novel at all. Some seem mean-spirited for reasons that are hard to fathom. But others frame the novel in larger terms, or explain their thoughts, so I can accept those negative comments for what they are. Working with newspaper and magazine editors to deadline and receiving evaluations from students every semester, I’ve come to feel all feedback helps, if only to keep me humble. Or maybe especially to keep me humble. Even when it hurts, you have to step over it and move on. Anyway, I’d rather live a life open to criticism, good and bad, than to live hidden away psychologically.
– In the book, detective Hiroshi has some issues with balancing his work and personal life, which of course upsets his girlfriend. How do you balance your teaching career, writing endeavors, and personal life, without making one aspect suffer?
I don’t handle this very well, either. Writing, teaching, living, they all suffer from time spent on the others. On any one day, I can manage one, maybe two, but the third ends up ignored. But I try to divide the day so that I can focus on just what’s in front of me. I carve out time and focus on just one of those. If I think about the novel in the middle of a class, I’d be too distracted to interact. If I start thinking about teaching while writing, it disrupts the flow. Wherever I am, I do let myself stop and jot down a note. Just getting it down lets my mind ease up and refocus on what’s in front of me. From one perspective, it’s a mess some days, but long run, I feel teaching, writing and living are deeply enmeshed, shaping and strengthening each other. That’s enough for me. I leave balance to jugglers and tight-rope walkers.
– Your books have all been independently published, so you have a lot of experience with avoiding the pitfalls and frustrations of trying to get your novel seen by large publishing companies. What advice do you have for new authors who are anxious to get their writing out, and into the hands of readers?
One day, I was out drinking with friends moaning about unanswered queries and my unresponsive agent at the time, when a musician friend said to me, you listen to indie label jazz musicians all the time, so why not for your books? I pooh-poohed that suggestion and ordered another drink. But on the way home, it struck me that that’s exactly what I should do. So, I did. It took a leap of faith. Everyone wants the approval, the imprimatur, of an authority, a famous agent or a respected publisher. I had that romanticized vision of writing for years. But it’s OK to just do the work and let the work itself provide authority. Independent publishing requires a lot of time and effort, and some source of steady income doesn’t hurt, but much more than that, it requires confidence and patience, and a deeply ingrained work ethic. It requires being independent in almost every way you can think of. I would have liked help, or luck, or a contract, but as The Little Prince said, it’s the time you spend on something that gives it its value.
– Cryptocurrency is another subject that you touch upon in this book. What’s your opinion about digital money?
I think the future of world commerce will eventually be digital money and regulating it will be hard. It’ll be a cat-and-mouse game for a long time. I think it will increase corruption, alternative economies and as-yet-unimagined problems, but it will probably go forward everywhere. It has the potential to really disrupt and destabilize the world economy, but it would take years for that to happen. So, maybe cryptocurrency can be brought under some sort of legal framework and oversight. If not, it will be like drug money, only much easier to cover up.
– While I’m not fluent in any language other than English, I have learned enough of both Polish and French that sometimes I’m unable to think of the English equivalent when I’m writing. Does this happen to you too when you’re switching between writing in English and Japanese?
Yes, all the time. Because the settings of the novels are always in Japan, sometimes I can’t remember the word for even basic things like floor cushions or vegetables in English. And some words seem so natural in Japanese that it’s hard to find a good translation, like genkan, the entrance area in every home. I suppose entryway is a good translation, but it doesn’t convey the same idea, because Japanese would take off their shoes and change their attitude upon entering an interior space. I try to include some Japanese words that fit without overwhelming readers.
– Back in 2017 when I interviewed you for the first book, The Last Train, I asked what were the reactions to your novel in Japan, and you responded that you were working on getting it published. Have you been successful, and if so, how have your books been received?
I decided to focus on getting more novels completed in the series first. So, getting the novel into the hands of Japan’s voracious readers is still on my list, right after the next novel, a screenplay adaptation, a guide to jazz in Japan, and another collection of short essays. And did I mention my job teaching and my personal life? They’re on the list, too, somewhere.
https://featheredquill.com/author-interview-michael-pronko-2/
Feathered Quill
Tokyo Traffic (Detective Hiroshi series, Book 3)
By: Michael Pronko
Publisher: Raked Gravel Press
Publication Date: June 2020
ASIN: B087QVRXZB
Reviewed by: Lynette Latzko
Review Date: July 30, 2020
They’re back again! Author Michael Pronko and his protagonist, forensic accountant-detective Hiroshi Shimizu, returns with his comrades in yet another pulse-pounding, crime-solving thrill ride through the streets of Tokyo.
The third novel of the Detective Hiroshi series, Tokyo Traffic, opens inside a warehouse converted into an adult film studio, where a young, strung-out and terrified young woman, Sukanya, is hiding amongst a mess of toppled-over equipment. She manages to control her shivering body long enough to go near the dead bodies lying on the floor, to take out cash from their wallets, and run off with an iPad and laptop. As if being shot with drugs and confronted with death isn’t horrible enough for anyone to live through, Sukanya is on the run in a completely foreign country where she doesn’t speak the language, doesn’t know where to go, and the few people she does know are nowhere to be found. A few things are certain, Sukanya needs to get her passport to safely get out of the country, and someone wants her, and the electronic equipment she escaped with, and they’ll do everything in their power to get it.
Meanwhile detective Hiroshi is living with his girlfriend, Ayana, after rekindling their long-lost relationship (and mutual love of the Japanese martial art, Kendo) from when they were young. He finds himself in a constant turmoil between being pulled into odd, and long hours at work, and spending quality time with Ayana. In fact, a recent call from his boss Sakaguchi, requesting his immediate presence at a crime scene filled with dead bodies, interrupts the ending of their Kendo practice. But duty calls and detective Shimizu is compelled to answer, even if it could potentially ruin relationships…or his life. Once the crime scene was worked over, three bodies were identified as the film studio director, an unidentified teenage female, and the head bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance. Upon further investigation, the detectives uncover more clues in the warehouse murders that lead them down a dark, complicated path involving a mix of human trafficking and the use of cryptocurrency as a means of funding pornographic projects. They also receive critical information that reveals the possibility of another girl who may have been a witness to the murders, and they must do their best to find her in the vast streets of Tokyo, before the killers do.
Tokyo Traffic, like its two award-winning predecessors, is a solidly written novel that extends further past the simple “whodunit” mystery genre, and delves deep into a complex and thrilling exploration of strong, multi-layered characters and an equally compelling, gritty setting. The author’s many years of experience in writing is evident; and combined with his personal experience and knowledge of the Japanese culture, the story propels readers right into a fast-paced thriller from the shocking opening scenes, moving into a vividly described middle that keeps readers at the edge of their seats, and swiftly slides right into a seriously electrifying finale. Pronko’s novel may be fiction, but the novel’s themes, specifically that of human trafficking, are real-life. By sensitively writing about these heavy subjects, he brings them into the forefront of readers’ minds, making this not only entertainment, but also food for thought.
Quill says: Author Michael Pronko adroitly takes readers on another outstanding Detective Hiroshi thrill ride into the streets of Tokyo, this time presenting a murderous case involving human trafficking that you don’t want to miss.
For more information on Tokyo Traffic (Detective Hiroshi series, Book 3), please visit the author’s website at: www.michaelpronko.com
https://featheredquill.com/tokyo-traffic/