Ways to Die in Tokyo by Thomas Ran Garver
A gangster is calmly explaining to a nervous and sweating Hank Fisher that there are two Japans, one a very safe one that most people populate and experience. “But the other Japan is different,” Suzuki warns. “It has a different rule book. If you enter this Japan and break the rules, you are not safe.”
Fisher, an ex-pat journeyman and washed-up Mixed Martial Arts fighter, is an accident waiting to happen.
Actually, it already has happened – several times — and he is about to enter the world of that second Japan in Thomas Ran Garver’s thrilling new novel Ways to Die in Tokyo.
Fisher longs to get his estranged wife and two kids back and pines for the dream family life. They have fled, and he employs a private investigator to locate them.
Mobsters, Danger and Spine-Chilling Moments
Meanwhile, trouble finds this flawed, muscle-bound protagonist like a magnet. He gets thrown out of his MMA training club for going too far and abusing his sparring partner. Then as a bartender trying to break up a disturbance, he destroys the violating patron and loses his job.
Desperate for money — to pay the private investigator, among other things — he agrees to a dubious bodyguard assignment through an acquaintance with connections to Japan’s underworld. The job sounds simple enough. But it backfires, with Fisher knocking out one of the mob bosses.
When the gang tracks him down, he is at their mercy to enter their world and perform various tasks for them just to survive. One assignment lands him a large bag of cash and places him at the site of a murder. Now the gangsters want their money, and the police need a suspect. Fisher is a rat in a maze.
The author clearly knows the world from which he writes. He understands the lay of the land and creates realistic characters that chill the spine and prove the perfect juxtaposition to the struggling Fisher, the American caught in that second Japan. He captures the energy and danger of the streets, the neighborhoods, the culture, and treats readers to those insights with his characters and fast-moving plot, which doesn’t quit just when you think the chaos is under control.
Every decision Fisher makes, as his options dwindle, seems to spiral him deeper into trouble and despair. Is there redemption for Fisher? Readers root for him, but will their faith be rewarded?
Noir Thriller for Fans of Sliding Doors
In Ways to Die in Tokyo, Thomas Ran Garver’s tale is as much about the ride as the destination. It is a noir thriller sure to please fans of the genre and make them ponder the paths we take in the name of our dreams. In the 1998 movie Sliding Doors, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) plays out two separate scenarios based on a choice she makes. I was reminded of that movie through the bad choices Fisher makes, even though they don’t seem so bad at the time given the circumstances.
Ways to Die is about life choices, but much more than that. Leave it to the skills and imagination of the author to take us on a roller coaster ride with twists and turns that test our emotions, keep the tensions high, and treat us to a marvelous action story inviting readers to constantly ask, “Who do you trust?” Thomas Ran Garver has a way of making us feel the sweat on every page. Give it a shot, and you’ll see what I mean.
About Thomas Ran Garver:
Tokyo-based lawyer and author Thomas Ran Garver was born and raised in Northern California. A long-time student of the Japanese language, Garver first traveled to Japan on a year-long study-aboard program in college. He returned to the country as a graduate student a few years later and then worked for several years as a translator at a Tokyo-based investment bank before attending law school in the US.
Garver has had a lifelong interest in the martial arts and began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) in Los Angeles in 1995. He holds black belts in both judo and BJJ.
Ways to Die in Tokyo is his first novel and the first book in a projected trilogy featuring the expat MMA fighter Hank Fisher.
Garver is married with two children. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, reading, writing, and exploring Tokyo’s amazing food scene.
