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lgpiper's review against another edition
4.0
While I was searching for Charlie Chan, I discovered a cache of Mr. Moto books on the Canadian Gutenberg site (Charlie Chan comes from the Australian Gutenberg site). Anyway, I had some vague recollections of, or references to anyway, Mr. Moto from my childhood and thought perhaps he was similar to Charlie Chan, albeit Japanese instead of Chinese American. Nope, Charlie is an American police detective, albeit of Chinese extraction. Mr. Moto, on the other hand is a Japanese spy working for the glory of Imperial Japan in the 1930s.
The protagonist of this book is actually not Mr. Moto, but an American aviator, K. C. Lee. He is in Tokyo, expecting to fly across the Pacific in a publicity stunt arranged to advertise a tobacco company. But the flight falls through, and K.C., who has become rather a disreputable drunk, whines and complains and blames his troubles on his home country, i.e. America. Mr. Moto happens to overhear him and thinks perhaps he can get K.C. to help him find some secret naval plans that have gone missing. He, Mr. Moto, gets a beautiful white Russian ex-pat who grew up in Northern China to vamp K.C. and see if he might be recruited to help find the missing plans. Needless there's lots of skullduggery and attempts to kill K.C. and others and it all ends "adequately" for all sides.
While Mr. Moto is a spy, he is a polite one. He doesn't hold any animosity toward the people he's working against. It's almost like the old-fashioned view of sports from the Victorian era, you fight like hell for the victory, then go off at the end to have tea together, the best of friends, hoping for another "good show" another day. Or something like that. I'm vaguely undecided whether I'll read the next Mr. Moto or not, but likely I well. The story is well plotted and well written.
The protagonist of this book is actually not Mr. Moto, but an American aviator, K. C. Lee. He is in Tokyo, expecting to fly across the Pacific in a publicity stunt arranged to advertise a tobacco company. But the flight falls through, and K.C., who has become rather a disreputable drunk, whines and complains and blames his troubles on his home country, i.e. America. Mr. Moto happens to overhear him and thinks perhaps he can get K.C. to help him find some secret naval plans that have gone missing. He, Mr. Moto, gets a beautiful white Russian ex-pat who grew up in Northern China to vamp K.C. and see if he might be recruited to help find the missing plans. Needless there's lots of skullduggery and attempts to kill K.C. and others and it all ends "adequately" for all sides.
While Mr. Moto is a spy, he is a polite one. He doesn't hold any animosity toward the people he's working against. It's almost like the old-fashioned view of sports from the Victorian era, you fight like hell for the victory, then go off at the end to have tea together, the best of friends, hoping for another "good show" another day. Or something like that. I'm vaguely undecided whether I'll read the next Mr. Moto or not, but likely I well. The story is well plotted and well written.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
4.0
K.C. Lee, or Casey, as he is called, is the protagonist of the first Mr. Moto book, No Hero. Mr. Moto himself is a Japanese enemy agent, albeit someone of honor, wisdom but murderous efficiency, too.
Set in the early 1930s, No Hero perfectly captures the mood of the times. The rising power of Japan, the naval arms race in the Pacific, and the dismemberment of China all play thematically in Marquand's look at the Orient. And it should be the "Orient," here, not "Asia." Culturally, the Orient of the 1930s signified unknowable peoples and cultures, alien values, and a decadent disregard for life. Race is an acknowledged ideal of the book. No Hero plays up to these motifs and ideals but incorporates them into a convincing "hardboiled" detective story. It should be pointed out that Casey is no detective, not even a spy as are all the other main characters in this novel, but an aviator down on his luck, an adventurer looking for someone to finance his next journey. It is this that entraps him into the ring of spies he must deal with.
And there is a love interest, an effective femme fatale, Sonya. All plays out in the expected fashion of the genre. But it does so against the grand sweep of the Orient--Tokyo, Yokohama, Shanghai, and the Chinese interior. The setting of 1930s Shanghai has now become iconic. But when Marquand was writing this novel, he was one of those helping to establish and define the iconography of the "Mysterious East."
Set in the early 1930s, No Hero perfectly captures the mood of the times. The rising power of Japan, the naval arms race in the Pacific, and the dismemberment of China all play thematically in Marquand's look at the Orient. And it should be the "Orient," here, not "Asia." Culturally, the Orient of the 1930s signified unknowable peoples and cultures, alien values, and a decadent disregard for life. Race is an acknowledged ideal of the book. No Hero plays up to these motifs and ideals but incorporates them into a convincing "hardboiled" detective story. It should be pointed out that Casey is no detective, not even a spy as are all the other main characters in this novel, but an aviator down on his luck, an adventurer looking for someone to finance his next journey. It is this that entraps him into the ring of spies he must deal with.
And there is a love interest, an effective femme fatale, Sonya. All plays out in the expected fashion of the genre. But it does so against the grand sweep of the Orient--Tokyo, Yokohama, Shanghai, and the Chinese interior. The setting of 1930s Shanghai has now become iconic. But when Marquand was writing this novel, he was one of those helping to establish and define the iconography of the "Mysterious East."
vsbedford's review against another edition
3.0
Fast-moving spy thriller and definitely a relic of its age. Fully immersive in an Indiana Jones-y kind of way, complete with the casual racism and sweeping racial stereotypes of 1930s world politics. Recommendable but with a caveat that the modern reader will snort with disbelief, a lot.
I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
bev_reads_mysteries's review
3.0
Your Turn, Mr. Moto (1935) is the first story in John P. Marquand's mystery thriller series starring Japan's number one secret agent, Mr. Moto. The only thing...it's not really Mr. Moto's story. Yes, he is a vital character, but the real protagonist of this early spy thriller is World War I flying ace Casey Lee. At the beginning of the story, Lee is a bit disenchanted with rhis American homeland. When he first came home from the war, he was feted and paraded and generally fawned over. But when the crowds of grateful Americans longing to hear his tales of bravery in the face of the enemy dwindled, he found that he missed the life of danger and adrenaline which accompanies combat. He then spent time as a stunt flyer and giving testimonials for various products. Which brings us to Tokyo, Japan.
A large tobacco firm offered him the chance to make a flight from Tokyo to the United States with plane and expenses provided. But the longer Lee waited for the the plane to arrive and the publicity machine to get rolling, the more he spent on drink and the louder he proclaimed his disgust for the good ol' U S of A. One night he gets word that the tobacco company has changed its mind about the flight and plans to offer him passage home and nothing else. He gets himself particularly well-lubricated, makes a bigger spectacle of himself than usual, and wakes up to find Mr. Moto attentively waiting up on him in his room. Moto asks him if he truly meant his declarations of the night before--when he declared he was through with America and tore up his passport.
Before Casey knows it, he has pledged himself to Moto's service and gotten himself involved with a beautiful White Russian refugee. They're all after top secret plans that Moto is afraid have fallen into the wrong hands. He, the Russian Sonya, and Moto set sail on a ship bound for Shanghai. Once there, Casey is meant to mix with his countrymen and see if he can discover whether the Americans have the plans. But getting to Shanghai will be a difficult task all on its own. A mysterious man comes into his cabin at night with strange messages. Then the mysterious man is killed. Everyone assumes that Casey has been given the plans and there are those who are willing to kill him for the information. It doesn't help that Casey falls in love with Sonya...even though he's not sure that he can trust her. He'll have to decide soon. Because his own fate and the fate of several nations' naval forces may depend on it.
This is a fairly entertaining spy novel that gives a very good sense of East Asia during the years between the world wars and it provides a fairly complicated look at the Japanese of the time period. Mr. Moto is a spymaster and, in some ways, a bad guy--but he is no stereotypical Fu Manchu and he is a very honorable man. When faced with the resolution which Casey provides, he accepts it and honors his bargain with the American. Were he the typical Asian villain from the time period, he would be threatening all sorts of revenge at being thwarted.
Casey changes from the dissolute man of the opening chapters to the brave hero of World War I fame. He finds the answers to Mr. Moto's dilemma, fashions his own solution to what to do about the plans, foils a villain more dangerous than Moto....and manages to get the girl in the end. A pretty satisfactory bit of light espionage entertainment.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
A large tobacco firm offered him the chance to make a flight from Tokyo to the United States with plane and expenses provided. But the longer Lee waited for the the plane to arrive and the publicity machine to get rolling, the more he spent on drink and the louder he proclaimed his disgust for the good ol' U S of A. One night he gets word that the tobacco company has changed its mind about the flight and plans to offer him passage home and nothing else. He gets himself particularly well-lubricated, makes a bigger spectacle of himself than usual, and wakes up to find Mr. Moto attentively waiting up on him in his room. Moto asks him if he truly meant his declarations of the night before--when he declared he was through with America and tore up his passport.
Before Casey knows it, he has pledged himself to Moto's service and gotten himself involved with a beautiful White Russian refugee. They're all after top secret plans that Moto is afraid have fallen into the wrong hands. He, the Russian Sonya, and Moto set sail on a ship bound for Shanghai. Once there, Casey is meant to mix with his countrymen and see if he can discover whether the Americans have the plans. But getting to Shanghai will be a difficult task all on its own. A mysterious man comes into his cabin at night with strange messages. Then the mysterious man is killed. Everyone assumes that Casey has been given the plans and there are those who are willing to kill him for the information. It doesn't help that Casey falls in love with Sonya...even though he's not sure that he can trust her. He'll have to decide soon. Because his own fate and the fate of several nations' naval forces may depend on it.
This is a fairly entertaining spy novel that gives a very good sense of East Asia during the years between the world wars and it provides a fairly complicated look at the Japanese of the time period. Mr. Moto is a spymaster and, in some ways, a bad guy--but he is no stereotypical Fu Manchu and he is a very honorable man. When faced with the resolution which Casey provides, he accepts it and honors his bargain with the American. Were he the typical Asian villain from the time period, he would be threatening all sorts of revenge at being thwarted.
Casey changes from the dissolute man of the opening chapters to the brave hero of World War I fame. He finds the answers to Mr. Moto's dilemma, fashions his own solution to what to do about the plans, foils a villain more dangerous than Moto....and manages to get the girl in the end. A pretty satisfactory bit of light espionage entertainment.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
omnibozo22's review
2.0
Wow, this crap won a Pulitzer? Clunky writing, tortured obvious plot and typical 1930s racism. Watched some of the movies years and years ago... not sure I'll go back and find them again. Won't be reading any more of these.
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