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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Steve Doherty’s Crossroads, in 1948, American counterintelligence officer Jonathan Preston learns that Uchito Tsukuda, a former Japanese intelligence commander, is moving weapons to North Korea while searching for a legendary Masamune sword. Tsukuda believes the blade can restore his power, but Preston sees a chance to turn that obsession into a trap. After an attack in the Sea of Japan exposes Tsukuda’s reach, Preston builds a covert operation around forged artifacts, coded warnings, a Kabuki play, and the feared name of a Muramasa blade. Each move draws Tsukuda closer to Tokyo under American occupation, where loyalty in his own household begins to change. As postwar Asia edges toward another conflict after Japan’s surrender, Preston must stop Tsukuda before a private empire forces Korea into war.
Steve Doherty’s Crossroads is a brilliant historical novel that turns postwar espionage into a sharply placed story about statecraft and survival. The period detail is superb, especially in the British PBY Catalina using Browning M2 fire to save Jacqueline in 1948 and in Truman’s Berlin airlift crisis, which reshaped American plans. Preston is such a great lead, and I love when he protects Japanese Americans by stopping the public disclosure of a wartime mission, then later risks himself. Guy Wong, Preston’s counterintelligence ally, is also fully realized. His fist-pump moment is when he hits Georgetown while disguised as a Jesuit priest. The settings are strongly drawn and darn near cinematic, from Fabio Martinez’s guarded São Paulo gem business to Tokyo’s Kabuki-za Theater during The Legend of the White Samurai. Readers who enjoy historical spy fiction with loads of twists will adore this book. Very highly recommended.
