Customer Reviews

Tokyo Suckerpunch

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you hate to read great books...DONT READ THIS...adamsons' dialogue and brilliant story telling create an amazing who dunit capturing the flaws and fanits of tokyo using various characters each unique in itself. If you love all things JAPAN and and a great story dont wait to read this book along with hokkaido popsicle and dreaming pachinko!!!!!

Tokyo SuckerPunch Is a fast-paced and somewhat disjointed tale of Billy Chaka , American Reporter for an American-made Japanese Magazine Called "Youth In Asia". In Tokyo to cover a martial arts tournament. Chaka who seems more at home in Japan than America Is a laid back but intellegent Portagonist who falls for a mysterious woman who seems linked to the death of his friend a B-Movie director who was writing a movie based on Chaka's life called "Tokyo Suckerpunch". With the plot involving ancinet religious orders, the japanese Yakuza, and ancient mystical beings. Adamson Book reads like your typical Japanese Manga with a little pulp novel thrown in for flavor. The story seems to lose it's place and rushes to catch up. Some of the characters never seem to be more than window dressing or a rest stop onto the next plot point. The one character I wanted to know more about was his assistant who seemed a little more interesting than Fan-boy Chaka. TP is a great start to the character of Chaka and I hope Adamson grows him and his assiatant a little more.

It seems there wherever you go, you encounter a weird glorification of the Japanese culture. From anime lovers to those who preach of Japanese traditions (more often than not without knowing much about them), it is hard to find an objective and yet an entertaining view of modern Japan.

Here's where Isaac Adamson doesn't disappoint. In his character, Billy Chaka, an American journalist working for a teen magazine finding stories in Tokyo, Adamson combines a strong lead character who doesn't take himself too seriously while remaining a kick-bum (literally) smart mouth. In this installation of the Billy Chaka adventures, Billy pursues a mysterious geisha, finding a weird conspiracy full of what works best in mystery novels: personal tragedy, greed, and of course, dark secrets. Billy Chaka, one of the few gaijin speaking fluent Japanese has an easy time infiltrating the Japanese culture, but even he can manage to get in trouble before solving the mystery (and even that only partially).

This is a fast-read novel, entertaining and engaging. It does not glorify the Japanese (nor any other) culture, but neither does it condemn it nor patronize it. Most of the characters are very well developed and work well with the plot. It is a good book, and an excellent beginning of a series. I highly recommend it.

Adamson's first Billy Chaka adventure gives you a high-speed tour through Tokyo. What makes this book so fun is the character of Billy Chaka, a modern day Philip Marlowe minus the caustic edge. Add that he is not a professional detective, but a journalist for "Asian Youth" magazine; it's his feline curiosity over a slick Geisha that hurls him into a cloak & dagger chase involving Yakuza, a religious cult, a Speed Tribe (teen bikers) and an honest-to-god private detective.

The heart of this book is fun & mystery, but Adamson does a great job of painting Billy Chaka as a youthful adult nearing the cusp of middle age. You see a streetwise and all too curious man, halfway to that cynical Marlowe persona, but still maintaining a youthful inquisitiveness and an uncontrollable desire for Geisha!

Only drawback is enough typos to be noticeable, but not enough to dilute such a fantastic tale. Check this book out, you won't be disappointed.

Adamson certainly knows how to dream up a compelling anf action-packed story, but what should be a great read is dragged down by his inability to write dialog in more than one voice. Every single character, whther hip young teen or elderly matron, speaks like a 20-something guy from the States trying to sound tough. If this author can ever learn to create more than one character voice, then he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Until then, well, the story itself is a lot of fun even if the words used to tell it leave a little something to be desired

This book was a huge dissapointment. Do not be tempted to buy it.

I love these books (also get the next book, Hokkaido Popsicle.) They are a much needed break from the two dominating trends in writing, heavy meandering literature and last-page twist detective books. Billy Chaka rules. I don't want to give anything anway....but COME ON! The guys works for a mag called Youth In Asia. Nuff said. Hat's off to the cover designer...they got the attitude right.

It isn't easy being the top reporter for Cleveland's number-one Asian teen magazine. Billy Chaka travels the world in search of the hip, the hot, the happening, and somehow always manages to find a little trouble along the way. This trip is nothing different. In Japan to cover the Handicapped Martial Arts Championship, Billy finds himself embroiled in a mystery that involves the yakuza, youth gangs, a religious cult, and a geisha with a hazy background. And that's before you count the murder, the arson, and the movie that's (apparently) being made of his life.

Such is the life of the jet-set reporter.

Tokyo Suckerpunch is a simply stunning tour of Japanese pop culture, told with a combination of cynicism and awe that seems highly appropriate for the amalgamation of weird that is modern-day Japan. Isaac Adamson appears to have done his research, a problem with many of the tales of Japan told by westerners. This book will have you laughing - and gaping - at the antics of both the hero and of those he encounters. A fast read well worth the time you put into it.

I felt that this book tried to promise a lot more then it could deliver. I think the author wanted to have all the cool action scenes with Jackie Chan-esque fight sequences, but each scene is rushed through, so you don't have much of a chance to enjoy it for the moment. Jackie Chan fights are best for visual mediums, like TV or film... trying to describe it on paper is long, convoluted, and confusing. I'd much rather the character be an ineffectual fighter, and get out of jams in other fashions. It was also slightly annoying to have the character so incredibly "capable" in various things. It became uninteresting, as he was more than a little cocky. Faults are interesting.

I also felt that there wasn't enough resolution with the character Orange Blossom... it felt like "we have to wrap up this story quick!" And did so.

I didn't completely hate this book, but I don't think I'm interested to read the sequel.

If you are looking for a novel with a deep meaning, this is not for you, but if fun is what your after than Tokyo Sucker Punch has it. The plot is nothing special, but the adventure of our protagonist is. He gets himself into so many unusual situations. Adamson does a great job of making the reader feel as if they were in tokyo. The book has enough action to please anyone. If you are looking for a quick, comical, and adventurous ride than this book is for you.