First published 2024
Mike Brink arrives in Tokyo during the Year of the Wood Dragon with an impossible task. The Imperial family has summoned him to solve the Dragon Box, a nineteenth-century puzzle that Emperor Meiji sealed during Japan's upheaval when samurai lost their power. Every puzzle master who attempted this challenge over 150 years has died from its traps and poisons. Only Meiji and the box's creator Ogawa knew its secrets, and both took them to their graves. Now two sisters from a fallen samurai family want to claim whatever Meiji hid inside. They believe the contents can reshape Japan's destiny. When they join forces with Brink's rival Jameson Sedge, the stakes become lethal. Brink races across Japan from Tokyo's Imperial Palace to Kyoto's temples to ancient caves in Kyushu. As he battles the box's deadly mechanisms, he uncovers not just Meiji's treasure but the deeper truth about his own abilities.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, mystery, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, treasure-hunt
Setting: Imperial Palace, Japan, Kyoto, Kyushu, Tokyo
Period: 19th-century, Year of the Wood Dragon
336 pages · Hardcover · Random House