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I was fortunate to find a copy of this e-book through my local public library many years after it went out of print. Since its publication K.J. Charles has become quite the juggernaut in M/M historical/paranormal fiction and one of my favorite authors. I can't say Non-Stop Till Tokyo is as strong as her later books, but it's still enjoyable although very different.
The book starts out with our heroine Kerry running for her life, and the danger never lets up till the epilogue. And the stakes just keep getting higher - at first she's trying to save her own life, but then she puts herself into even more danger trying to protect her two best friends, one of whom has already been violently victimized. At times the book is hard to read because there is no safe place, and hardly any time to catch a breath before the next dangerous scene.
Then there's the singular character of Chanko, the big, bad former sumo wrestler with a dark past who comes to Kerry's rescue and sticks around because...well, we're not sure at first, but Kerry is as good at reading people as she is skilled at languages, so although she doesn't quite trust him, she knows he isn't out to hurt her. I can't say they were the most romantic couple I've encountered in KJC's work, but their interactions are appropriate for two people whose lives are in constant danger.
KJ mostly writes M/M fiction, but Kerry makes me wish she had more female MCs. She's a complicated character, smart and brave but also somewhat drifting through her own life without being very proactive about it. She is petrified about being a target of the yakuza, but she's pissed as hell too about the unfairness of it all, and she gets to put her brains to good use at a critical moment where Chanko's brawn isn't enough.
There isn't as much fun, snarky dialogue as in later Charles books, but Kerry's descriptions of the subtleties of Japanese are fascinating and just as much fun for word lovers like me. The secondary characters, including Kerry's friends and hostess coworkers, all have important parts to play and their safety comes to be just as important to the reader as Kerry's.
In a Facebook conversation with the author, she said that it didn't make sense to re-release this as a self-published work as she has done with many of her other Samhain titles (her exact words were, “It sold so incredibly few copies, I cannot tell you. It would be more cost effective if I went round to people's houses and and told them the story individually). But if you are fortunate enough to come across a copy in your library, I'd highly recommend it.
