SUSPENSE FICTION from Winter Wheat Press
DOUBT AND DEBT
The sequel to BLIND TRUST
His best friend wants him to help enemies of the United States. A voracious corporate raider wants to take over his family’s business. And an unknown adversary wants him and those closest to him dead. Brad, wife Amaya, and daughter Kozue start the new year of 2026 in Tokyo, entangled in high-stakes diplomatic intrigue over North Korean bombs traded for Iranian natural gas profits. But are they safer in Japan than their own home in California? Follow battles of wits and wiles as they unfold in this political and romantic suspense thriller, sequel to blue-ribbon award-winning BLIND TRUST.
"[Feist's] work introduces us to complex issues involving international trade at the highest level, greed, murder, and above all, the intricacies and rewards of multinational, prominent, and sometimes multiracial families . . . The business negotiations between the various parties are of a high order, both complex and yet intriguing. They offer insights into how the Great Game between multinational companies and governments plays out, written clearly from the position of someone who has been there as a player . . . Do yourself a favor and pick up the first two books in the series, NIGHT RAIN, TOKYO and BLIND TRUST, before you dive into DOUBT AND DEBT, and find out for yourself why John Feist writes novels we love." --Chanticleer Book Reviews
Read the full five-star review from Chanticleer Book Reviews here:
DOUBT and DEBT by John Feist| Chanticleer Book Reviews (chantireviews.com)
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BLIND TRUST
The sequel to NIGHT RAIN, TOKYO
1st Place Blue Ribbon winner, CLUE Book Awards for Suspense Thriller Fiction, 2019 Chanticleer International Book Awards
What good can come of a nationwide power outage? What power can Japan’s first woman prime minister wield—even in her own family? What power play can end a war? Whose business is it, anyway? Brad Oaks, American steel executive, and Amaya Mori-Oaks, Asian art connoisseur, put their family planning on hold to tackle these questions.
In 2022, Japan’s liquefied natural gas infrastructure suffers crippling explosions. Power rationings follow. Tokyo’s lights go dark, and bullet trains don’t go. The New Leaf Democratic Party seizes on this disaster to overturn government complacency and corruption, and installs Yuko Kagono as Japan’s prime minister.
Kagono’s bold plan to exploit natural gas discoveries from either China or Russia sounds good in theory, but she faces stark impracticalities. A Russian deal could cinch peace treaty negotiations stalled for seventy years. But her brother’s business vanity threatens to stifle her plans. If she overrides him, she risks financial scandal. She turns to Amaya—trusted since their college days—for common sense, and to Brad for unbiased, elegant business solutions.
BLIND TRUST reunites characters from NIGHT RAIN, TOKYO in a new geopolitical business thriller that defies conventional thinking. Fresh ideas lead Japan in new directions and Brad and Amaya into deeply personal discoveries.
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Read the full review from Chanticleer Book Reviews here:
NIGHT RAIN, TOKYO
Diplomacy, danger, and desire collide when Brad Oaks pursues an ingenious international trade proposal that would rescue a family steel business and secure a scarce natural resource for the US. Is it a powerful idea or just a pipedream?
New to the Washington, D.C. lobbying scene, Brad’s pursuit of a solution to this political issue takes him from D.C to California to Tokyo as he seeks to thwart an international plot to sabotage America’s infrastructure.
Brad has a plan to ease the bureaucratic red tape that’s derailing the Wishbone Pipeline project that’s so crucial to his client, Elgar Steel. After a close call with a bullet from a sniper’s rifle, and the death of the owner of Elgar Steel, Brad is thrown into a tumultuous power struggle that finds him flying off to Tokyo to meet Amaya Mori, a previously-unknown heir to the family business.
Brad is powerless to resist this Japanese woman’s sophistication, intellect, and beauty. Just as Brad and Amaya have found each other, the pair find that they are targets of yakuza criminals who are in league with Iran. This faction is determined to claim the Elgar Steel inheritance and unleash their evil plan against the US.
Will Brad be able to save the woman he loves and secure the future of the family business?
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Read a review of the audiobook version on Brian's Book Blog: Night Rain, Tokyo by John W. Feist | Brian's Book Blog
Read the five-star review from Chanticleer Book Reviews here:
NIGHT RAIN, TOKYO by John W. Feist, Thriller (chantireviews.com)
From John: THOUGHTS ON AMAYA AND BRAD
Amaya Mori is not someone I know, but I'm sure is someone I've observed attending a concert or a theater performance in Tokyo. Educated and thriving in solitude, Amaya reflects much about her American father, who was committed to her wellbeing and showed her as much love as he could from twelve time zones away. Her elegant beauty reveals interior grace, integrity, and strength of character.
Japan’s culture is deeply rooted in nativism. I was surprised to learn from Japanese friends that families of salarymen returning from just a three-year posting abroad often experience discrimination. The word schools applied to their children, kikokushijo, is translated by the Japan Times as “returnees to a country not yet ready for them.” Since the 1970s, economic globalization has gradually reduced harsh practices at schools meant to strip away “foreignness,” but the old stereotypes and prejudices remain.
Amaya’s nuclear-strong force must resist the cumulative stigmas of being female, fostered, unmarried at 45, and fathered out of wedlock by a foreigner.
Brad Oaks’s solitude stems from a tragedy that deprived him of family and nearly of hope. He filled his emptiness with intense commitment to work at Elgar Steel, as Amaya did with her art gallery. They are content in solitude until they meet, and their business connection quickly becomes personal. What commitment are they willing to embrace to be together? What is the value of "a chance to not be alone anymore" for two people who thought they would always be alone?
