Mynton,
Henry. The Pachinko Woman. Morrow. Nov 1999. c.390p. ISBN
0-688-16170-7. $25. Fiction.
Plot lines galore lead to the attempted assassination of
a North Korean leader in a deadly game for regional
hegemony. Matters are complicated by a dizzying array
of story features and characters: money laundering,
improper election fund contributions, conflicts between
North and South Koreans and within North Korea between
hardliners and liberals, pachinko halls, comfort women,
plutonium samples, semiconductor cartels, Russian spies,
FBI agents, an American lawyer, a German killer, Japanese
police, corrupt politicians, a TV anchor, Korean banks,
and the Tokyo Stock Exchange—not to mention Yakuza gangsters, three ex-Presidents
of the United States, a Costa Rican UN worker, and a woman motivated by the Asian
women’s rights movement, among others. Though marred by extraneous details,
implausible coincidences, the lack of a dominant leading character, and an overwrought
conclusion, this spy story deserves praise for the pseudonymous author’s
control of its multiple threads, his thorough knowledge of Asian culture, and
the sustained suspense.