Category: Action/Adventure, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Crime Thriller
Tour Date: Mid May- Mid June, 2013
Available in: Print & eBook, 380 pages
Working Tokyo nightclubs is easy money for beautiful and troubled American Val Benson - until a client with a rather unusual hobby - painting the private parts of his female liaisons - reluctantly gives up a map to a stash of Japanese war loot and tempts his favorite girl into a dangerous treasure hunt.
The Congressman's daughter is not the only one interested in the map: yakuza, bent cops, human traffickers, rogue CIA agents and her father are hot on her trail, snapping at her high heels. So begins the dark, epic journey of a new anti-hero of Asian Noir, a protagonist both ambiguous and courageous, and utterly unreliable. From comfort women and tomb-raiding in Japanese-occupied Burma to the murderous echoes of the Vietnam War, long forgotten crimes come roaring back to life, as Val leaves a trail of destruction and chaos in her wake.
Together with her best friend, the equally unreliable nightclub hostess Suki, Val travels through Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok to the Thai-Burmese borderlands for a dramatic showdown with her pursuers. Finding the treasure before everyone else does is her only hope for survival, and perhaps redemption.
Once again this is not my normal genre of book that I typically read, but I like to try new things so of course I gave it ago. The main character Val is a booze drinking, cigarette smoking, cocaine snorting, runaway basically she runs away from everyone and everything that is important to her, she blames her father for her brothers death and her mothers unstable mental health, but like most kids has no problem spending his money she just doesn't want to talk to him or have anything to do with him. Her antics lead her to Japan and into the home of her ex boyfriend Charlie. Val ends up working at the Cowboy club which is an exclusive night club for rich men who want to drink with pretty girls. Enter the painter and his entourage he enjoys Val's company and offers to paint her, and invites her to his house so he can do just that. And here's where the adventure begins and chaos ensues, I don't want to give any spoilers but it hits the fan. I went kind of back and forth with this book at times I was riveted and couldn't put the book down and other parts I was just kind of meeeh I get a little impatient so when the action was just starting to get good and then the timeline changed I had trouble going from exciting drama to back story of the painter. There is quite a bit of history hiding in plain sight here which I found interesting, and gave me a lot to think about. Overall I enjoyed the book and I would recommend Gaijin Cowgirl.
I gave this a 3.5 out of 5 star rating