THE JODAN JU | Richard Smythe Novels

David Turner, geologist and SAS Vietnam veteran, discovers a covert mine deep in outback Australia. It turns out that it is not the legitimate operation of Japanese conglomerate Tanada Industries at all – strange Asians are extracting and enriching high-grade uranium. The mine boss is a tall young Eurasian, Jimmy Shan – polite, ruthless…and a lieutenant of the Japanese Mafia, the Yakuza.

Pursuit by Australian Intelligence, with Turner and physicist Leonard Lee, leads to Japan and the influential Tanada family. The subsequent ritual suicide of the patriarch and his son unveils the sordid blackmail behind the affair and links to events of the 1930’s…a violent generational clash as the old world of the Samurai was swept aside.

The Intelligence agencies accede the lead to Oishi Okimura; supreme martial artist, cop and avowed enemy of the Yakuza. Only he can penetrate the top echelons of the crime families – once powerful men cowed in fear of a sinister force now controlling the Golden Triangle drug trade.

Israel’s Mossad, pursuing missing Arab and Russian nuclear scientists, joins the hunt into the steamy highlands of Burma, locating the jungle village of fugitive WW2 war criminal Shiro Mitani. Their ominous findings there lead to a man-and-weapon hunt across the US and Japan.

Mitani and Shan’s motives seem clear – revenge and retribution. Not so – for Jimmy Shan has a very personal agenda with the current President of the United States

5.0 out of 5 stars. Read this book — lovers of crime thrillers won’t be disappointed. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 August 2014 Format: Kindle Verified Purchase A wonderful, sweeping story, expertly told. This is first class writing set in a high-powered world of international business, Japanese mafia and nuclear terrorism.
There’s a personal story here too with well-defined characters you’ll root for right through to the end of the book. I can’t praise this work highly enough. If you plan to buy an e-book this month, The Jodan Ju should be on top of your list. From the gut-wrenching opening scene in a Japanese POW camp at the end of WW2, to the wide open spaces of the Australian outback fifty years later, there’s a human story here to get your teeth into. 1990s power play of revenge and international terrorism.Wow, a tour de force from a writer who clearly knows his subject. Kerry J Donovan International Bestselling author.

You’ll want a long weekend for this great read – once you’ve started The Jodan Ju, it’s hard to put down. It is a great blend of history, culture and pathos; of old and new, East and West; of Samurai justice and nuclear threat.
Character development is excellent with a very real mix of good and absolute evil.
I felt all of interest, excitement, intrigue, anger, tears, satisfaction with this fascinating plot. Roll on the next novel.
Maria Schollum, Australia

A very good read. Well researched and well written with a fast moving and plausible plot.
Attention grabbing and absorbing from the first page. From Australia to Burma to Japan to USA – all customs and details of the various countries described in an informative and amazingly integrated storey.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover – move over Clive Cussler and Bryce Courtney. Graham Tietjen September 2013, NewZealand

If you liked Lustbader’s Ninja or Donohue’s Sensei, you’ll undoubtably like the Jodan Ju. The story ranges from the forest of Burma to Australia and from Japan to the United States while make a trip back to WWII.A great read you’ll have trouble putting down. I’m really looking forward to the sequel “East Wind Rain”. (Now Winds of Sedition)
JR October 7, 2014, USA

‘Can’t put the JJ down. A ripping yarn. Loving it. All the elements I hoped for are there. A fitting end.’
Roger Cardwell; TV anchorman, Logie winner, Actor, Australia