Michael Pronko's Blog, page 9

Editorchick Interview

Michael Pronko: Balancing Detail with Momentum in Thrillers

September 22, 2018 Nancy LaFever 

Editorchick.com

In your thriller, “The Last Train,” you do such a great job of immersing the reader in the setting of Tokyo with detailed descriptions of culture, location, and food (!). But the book is a thriller. How do you balance the critical factor of establishing setting w/ moving the story forward?

MP: Having a strong sense of place and a strong sense of story might seem opposed, but they create a delicious tension. On the first drafts of the novels, I usually have about twice as much description. And then, painfully, reluctantly, I cut, cut, cut. I save all those cut words in a huge “cuts” file. It breaks my heart to take out some of the culture, location and food, but the most detailed descriptions are exactly the ones that would distract and disrupt the pace and flow. Sadly.

On the other hand, sometimes I write passages in a first draft that read like pure action—too fast and too abstract. The details of a restaurant, a backstreet, or a face shape the action and add weight to the momentum. Chases are chases, but a chase through the crowded train platforms of Tokyo immerses the reader into the city’s life. You can’t stop the chase to describe everyone in the crowd. That’s anthropology, not narrative. But without seeing the crowd at least a little, the chase would be lifeless.

The same for the eating scenes. A discussion over sake in a small sushi bar at midnight lets the detectives’ discussion become as subtle and complex as Japanese cuisine. But I always want to hone in on the details of that vinegar-cured slice of fish with the silver-black skin cradling a dollop of ginger, but the story must move on. Like over-packing for a trip; you realize you don’t need to bring everything with you.

Balancing the diverse elements is a huge challenge. ‘Balancing’ might not be the right word. It’s more like music, which I usually listen to as I write, and rewrite. If a piece of music has no change in tempo, no pauses or calmer passages, it’s just too intense, and kind of irritating. It’s important to know where to take a break, how long to slow down and when to lock back into the propulsive drive.

That balance is especially important in the setting of Tokyo, because the basic experience of Tokyo is moving forward. Of course, people slow down and relax. But never for long. You feel one way on the express train, and another when you’re in the standing bar underneath the tracks. Another reason to slow down for details of the setting is that Tokyo has such fantastic ones. I’m captivated by some of the places I see in Tokyo, and want to pass that along to readers—to make them see and feel the place, to be there.

There’s no low gear in a thriller, no mystery without mashing the accelerator. Yet, moments of reflective stillness, when the description brings things to a halt, are also essential. Those moments allow meanings and understanding to come together. They allow the reader to reflect through the details.

The stopped moments in a novel also crank the tension as taut as possible. The narrative and descriptive forces pull against each other, for a moment, or two, of pure stillness, and then—twang!—off the story goes again. I find pleasure in writing both and in getting the two balanced just right.

Pronko’s second thriller in the Tokyo series, “The Moving Blade,” launches September 30.

Blue Ink Review

 

 

Publisher: Raked Gravel Press Pages: 318Price: (paperback) $15.99 ISBN: 9781942410164Reviewed: September, 2018

Blue Ink Review

 

From the beginning of The Moving Blade, Michael Pronko exposes readers to theft, murder and international diplomacy. The unease they provoke never diminishes in this riveting mystery set in Tokyo.

Hiroshi Shimizu officially works in the Tokyo homicide department but spends most of his time investigating white-collar crime from his cramped office. Because he’s bilingual, having studied in Boston, he’s asked to probe the murder of U.S. diplomat Bernard Mattson, whose stolen documents, some of which were to be presented at an upcoming global symposium on Asian security, potentially have worldwide implications.

The police have few leads other than the sword cuts on the victim’s body. (The title refers to the rapid-fire movement of sophisticated swordsmanship through use of various swords capable of inflicting different types of damage.)

When Jamie Mattson, who hasn’t seen her father in years, returns to Japan for his funeral, she’s immediately approached by people interested in publishing her father’s work once it’s recovered. Jamie, like readers, isn’t sure who is trustworthy among this group, and tension builds as Hiroshi and Jamie work together—and independently—to find Mattson’s murderer and the missing papers.

The author includes several clever plot diversions: for example, Mattson’s collection and research on Japanese erotica was also stolen, raising questions about what the thieves were truly seeking. Another diversion is a possible love interest. However, the main focus is on finding the documents before the symposium begins.

The large number of characters can occasionally be hard to track, but that’s a quibble. This is a true page turner, with main characters that come alive with their intelligence, curiosity and imperfections. Pronko combines suspense with occasional light-hearted moments as he takes readers to back-alley ramen shops, crowded train stations and busy Tokyo streets. The roller-coaster pace delivers slow acceleration to a critical point before plunging forward and into absorbing twists and turns.

Best Thrillers

https://bestthrillers.com/the-moving-blade/ 

The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers. A string of grisly murders, high stakes geopolitics and the prose of a master craftsman elevate this crime thriller to rarefied air.

What do a murdered American diplomat, a set of rare erotic Japanese wood block prints, and an agreement to keep American bases in Japan have in common?

That’s the question facing investigators in The Moving Blade, the second in Michael Pronko’s Detective Hiroshi series. The book opens with a break-in at the Tokyo home of diplomat Bernard Mattson during the victim’s own funeral. The experienced burglar quickly finds his target: two files from the deceased’s computer, which he downloads onto two USB drives before hiding them in a cigarette pack. Less than an hour later, the burglar himself is slain on a dead-end street.

Fortunately for Detective Hiroshi Shimizu, the swordsman leaves one of the precious files behind. Tokyo Police find a curious file containing two rare erotic woodblock prints. The post-it notes and pencil sketches around the margins are of particular interest. And what of the filename, “SOFA,” an acronym for The Status of Forces Agreement with America, the agreement governing the continued military presence of American military following the post-War occupation?

Mattson’s estranged daughter, Jamie, hasn’t been back to the country since she was 13 years old. She finds a world of quiet expedience where everything from the autopsy to the particulars of her father’s death have been all-too-conveniently whisked away. Through her eyes, we experience the seemingly impenetrable bureaucracy and bewilderment of a relative outsider in Japan. It’s inevitable that her insistence on a thorough investigation will put her in danger, but thanks to Pronko’s expert pacing, the build-up is anything but predictable.

In this second series installment, Pronko resists the temptation to morph Hiroshi into a Western-style investigator trademarked by quirkiness or self-abuse. Instead, Hiroshi remains a likable but thoroughly believable vehicle through which we explore this sophisticated, multi-faceted puzzle.

Thanks in large part to the extreme care in which each and every sentence is crafted, fans of Barry Eisler’s John Rain series may find a new favorite author in Pronko.

Literary Titan Five out of five stars

https://literarytitan.com/2018/09/21/the-moving-blade/

Literary Titan

Five out of five stars

This book made it to my favorites list before I even finished reading it. I am a sucker for a good mystery and The Moving Blade provides suspense and intrigue from the very first chapter. In fact, the first chapter is what kept me going through the next several chapters which do get a bit dry as far as action goes. However, I love the author’s style of writing which is very descriptive without being overly wordy and this keeps the reader interested even when nothing spectacularly interesting is happening.

The characters are effortlessly interesting which I think is pretty hard to accomplish, so kudos to the author there as well. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Shibata, who was an old friend of Jamie’s recently deceased father. Shibata is eager to meet with Jamie after her father’s (Bernard Mattson) funeral and while his demeanor is calm and kind and heartwarming you can tell there is something more to him than he lets on to. It’s also clear early on that Jamie is in for more than she bargained for and that staying in Tokyo to settle her father’s affairs will not be as simple as expected.

The main intrigue of the story surrounds Bernard Mattson’s writings, which are unpublished but well sought after at the time of his death. In fact, Jamie immediately finds herself bombarded by those who wish to obtain them. The detectives on the case of Mattson’s murder are unsure that his death was politically motivated, but it quickly unfolds that the missing manuscript was probably the driving factor behind his death.

The book is a good mix of drama between its many likeable characters and the action that can be expected from a murder mystery. I love the imagery that the author invokes with his good use of descriptions. For instance, reading about the book shop owned by the Endo brothers (maybe because I love books!) gave me such a great image of the shop. I find that in a lot of newer books that I pick up these types of small details are left out and they really make or break a book in my opinion. I also loved the description of Shibata’s home. When Jamie mentioned that she somewhat remembered his house, he told her that it was actually a completely different house and only looked the same on the inside. These little details are a great addition to the literary quality of the book and I found them throughout the story.

These are the types of things that really stand out to me and give the author distinction as a great writer. Some books you read because they’re quick and fun, but like I said, this one ended up on my favorite’s list because of the great writing.

IndieReader

https://indiereader.com/2018/09/the-moving-blade/

THE MOVING BLADE

by Michael Pronko

September 21, 2018/in Fiction, Indie Book Reviews, IR Approved, Mystery/Thriller /by IR Staff

Verdict: THE MOVING BLADE, Michael Pronko’s smoothly written and fast-faced police thriller, is populated with colorful characters and will be of particular interest to readers wanting to learn more about Japanese culture.

Tokyo detective Hiroshi Shimizu, still smarting from both the physical and bureaucratic wounds of a case last year, is called into the murder investigation of Bernard Mattson. Mattson was an expert on Japanese art and an American diplomat, and Hiroshi’s American education makes him ideal for analyzing the case. But things become complicated when Jamie, Matton’s headstrong daughter, shows up and becomes a target. It seems that Mattson’s killers aren’t done yet, and it’s up to Hiroshi and his allies to figure out what they’re still searching—and willing to kill—for.

There are no particular surprises in the narrative of THE MOVING BLADE. As a thriller, it is smoothly written and follows the standard boilerplate of political intrigue. There is also a dash of current events. The writing is compact and sometimes quite elegant, and the plot is populated with colorful characters like Sakaguchi, a jovial cop and ex-sumo wrestler, Takamatsu, a police officer on disciplinary leave turned scroungy private eye, and the Endo brothers, skittish twins who run a bookshop with an eccentric clientele.

But where the novel really shines is in its descriptions of Japanese culture and contemporary Tokyo. The city’s various neighborhoods, whether they’re historical or the ones you wouldn’t want to be in at night, are all sketched in a loving style. Tokyo comes across as truly cosmopolitan, and the novel touches on Japan’s place in the international realm as it deals with the United States, China and the Korean peninsula.

Author Michael Pronko was born in Kansas City, but he’s worked as a writer and educator in Japan for decades. His skills as a cultural researcher are clearly on display. Not only international distances are covered, but temporal ones as well. References to 21st century Japanese society are incorporated alongside the etiquette of medieval swordsmanship and the philosophy of samurai Miyamoto Musashi. Perhaps this complex relationship is best explored in the character of Jamie, who poignantly describes herself as caught between the cultures of traditional Japan and the fast paced United States. “I always felt Japanese there, but I feel American here,” she confides to Hiroshi. “It’s like I have two identities arguing with each other in my head. Two passports. I’m supposed to choose one, but I’ve kept both.”

THE MOVING BLADE, Michael Pronko’s smoothly written and fast-faced police thriller, is populated with colorful characters and will be of particular interest to readers wanting to learn more about Japanese culture.

 

~Colin Newton for IndieReader

Post holder

Post holder

Winner Independent Press Award for Mystery and for Thriller (2018)

Winner Independent Press Award

for Mystery and for Thriller (2018)

Silver Award 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards

Silver Award 2018

Independent Publisher Book Awards

Winner 2018 Shelf Unbound Competition for Best Independently Published Book

Winner 2018 Shelf Unbound Competition

for Best Independently Published Book

 

Finalist 2017 SPR Review Awards

Finalist 2017

SPR Review Awards