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Pacific Burn

Book 3 in the Jim Brodie thriller series

Now available in paperback!

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"There is really no one quite like the enigmatic Jim Brodie... Lancet created a character much like Lee Child's Reacher and Michael Connelly's Bosch. It's the perfect triad."
   —Providence Journal

"Pacific Burn is a page-turning, globe-spanning tale of murder, suspense, and intrigue that grabs and holds your attention from beginning to end. Barry Lancet is truly a gifted author, and his character of Jim Brodie is unlike any private investigator you've ever encountered in literature."
   —Nelson DeMille

In recognition for his role in solving the San Francisco Japantown murders, antiques dealer, sometime-PI, and "true 21st century hero" (Steve Berry) Jim Brodie has just been brought on as the liaison for the mayor's new Pacific Rim Friendship Program. Brodie recruits his friend, the renowned Japanese artist Ken Nobuki, and after a promising meeting with city officials and a picture-perfect photo op, Brodie and Nobuki leave City Hall for a waiting limo.

As soon as they exit the building, a sniper attacks from the roof of the Asian Art Museum. Brodie escapes, but Nobuki ends up hospitalized and in a coma. With the suspicious and untimely death of Nobuki's oldest son a week earlier in Napa Valley, Brodie realizes that someone may be killing off his friend's family one by one.

Suspects could be in the United States or anywhere along the Pacific Rim. The quest for answers takes Brodie from his beloved San Francisco to Washington, DC, in a confrontation with the DHS, the CIA, and the FBI; then on to Tokyo, Kyoto, and beyond, in search of what his Japanese sources tell him is a legendary killer in both senses of the word—said to be more rumor than real, but deadlier than anything else they've ever encountered. In the latest installment of his Jim Brodie series, Barry Lancet delivers yet another "sophisticated international thriller" (The New York Times Book Review).


Reviews & Praise

"Just like the first two of Lancet's books, Japantown and Tokyo Kill, Pacific Burn is a gritty thriller...highly suspenseful...5 stars." (read full review)
   —San Francisco Book Review (Michael Shulman)

"Pacific Burn, (Simon & Shuster) by Barry Lancet is the third installment in his astounding and amazingly good, award-winning series of thrillers featuring Jim Brodie.... [S]prinkled throughout this fascinating, fast-paced and excellent novel. A great summer read, you won't be able to put it down after reading the first page!"
   —Mysterious Book Report (John Dwaine McKenna)

"The third book in the series, Pacific Burn, offers a potent mix of action, atmosphere, and fascinating cultural details."
   —Los Angeles Review of Books (Lisa Brackmann)

"Ripped from the headlines, Brodie's latest outing is already receiving strong buzz and is arguably the best in the series."
   —Criminal Element

"Barry Lancet's Pacific Burn is a stellar detective thriller with a fast-paced, tense and complex storyline. I have been a fan of the characters in this unique series since I read/reviewed the first novel."
   —Fresh Fiction (Tanzey Cutter)

"Lancet, through Brodie, has a fine eye for the subtleties of Japanese culture and an ability to decipher its impenetrability for the ignorant average Westerner."
   —Sunday Times, Books Live (William Saunderson-Meyer)

"Pacific Burn is a page-turning, globe-spanning tale of murder, suspense, and intrigue that grabs and holds your attention from beginning to end. Barry Lancet is truly a gifted author, and his character of Jim Brodie is unlike any private investigator you've ever encountered in literature."
   —Nelson DeMille

"I loved Japantown and Tokyo Kill, but Pacific Burn is Lancet's best book yet. Japan expert, art dealer, and sometimes PI, Jim Brodie makes for a character as layered and nuanced as the Japanese culture. Lancet knows art, knows Japan, and knows how to write a mystery that grabs hold and doesn't let go."
   —Marc Cameron, author of the USA Today bestselling Jericho Quinn thrillers

"All of these stories have been outstanding, and in this new title, Jim is up against a global conspiracy that is the biggest he has ever seen, while dealing with a killer that even the underworld avoids. Barry Lancet is an incredible suspense author who has 'knocked it out of the park' yet again."
   —Suspense Magazine (Mary Lignor)

"An exciting story with plenty of twists and turns and an ending that will definitely surprise the reader."
   —Booking Mama

"There is really no one quite like the enigmatic Jim Brodie. He's got one foot in the refined art world and another on the gritty streets of Japan and the United States... The book offers a fast-paced thrill ride that deftly unveils all the chilling obstacles Lancet tosses at Brodie. Lancet created a character much like Lee Child's Reacher and Michael Connelly's Bosch. It's the perfect triad."
   —Fairfield Daily Republic (Susan Winslow)

"The story was a high octane mix of action and mystery with some history and art added in. But Lancet didn't ignore the characters; Brodie and the others are shaded and complex. You won't find any cookie characters here. The locations, both in the US and Japan, aren't cookie cutter either but essential to the story...The story kept me reading, wanting to know more and to see how Brodie and his people would solve the mystery. Along the way, I learned more about Japan and art, always a bonus."
   —Bea's Book Nook

"[Pacific Burn] goes a step further to enhance Lancet's undoubted skills as a writer of cross-cultural thrillers... It once again centres on many aspects of Japanese culture and behaviours. It was a short, well-written and fast-paced page-turning thriller with a difference. 4.5 stars."
   —Suncoast Book Reviews

"This was another fast paced action thriller that takes place in America and Japan. The writing is smooth, and the characters come alive. The plot has many twists, until the mastermind behind the assassin is finally uncovered, and the assassin unmasked. This is topnotch story telling from the first page to the last. Highly recommended for thriller and action lovers."
   —Pulp Den (Tom Johnson)

NEW! "While just the third novel in Barry Lancet's series, he's already delivered three high-quality thrillers. Pacific Burn is another thoroughly entertaining adventure."
   —The Real Book Spy (Ryan Steck)

"As ever, Lancet stages some good fight scenes—no one gets beaten up as well as Brodie—and keeps the action going... An action-filled effort."
   —Kirkus

"Reminiscent of classic Daniel Silva and Barry Eisler. Lancet's unique background bleeds authenticity into the story."
   —J. T. Ellison, New York Times bestselling author

"If you're a thriller fan who hasn't read Lancet's series, get on board. You can read the books in any order because they are stand-alones, though you might want to start with #1 (Japantown). Heck, get all three books because binge-reading is likely!"
   —Book Buzz, Amy Rogers (sciencethrillers.com)

"Certainly Lancet's best effort to date, Pacific Burn demonstrates that like its bilingual protagonist, the author's been adding more tricks of the trade to his repertoire."
   —Japan Times (Mark Schreiber)

"Lancet does a fine job of taking us into Japanese (and Japanese American) culture without resorting to stereotype. The plotting is tight, the characters are richly detailed, and Brodie continues to prove himself a solid series lead."
   —Booklist (David Pitt)

"Lancet takes this terrific mix of beauty and battle and layers in the ruinous aftermath of the nuclear meltdown in Tokyo, a killer so deadly that street toughs give themselves up to avoid him, and the sort of expert descriptions of the places and patterns that make up the real Japan that usually belong to John Rain. In the end, though, Brodie is the quintessential American private eye: one man standing alone with only his personal honor to prevail against a venal society out to break him and everything he loves... It's Sam Spade meets the Magnificent Seven. Art meets action and creates a world-class read."
   —"Tired of Talking About Myself" blog (Terry Irving)


Simon & Schuster, hardcover, February 2016, ISBN: 9781476794884