NINTH STEP STATION – Episode 3: The Fallen Executive by Curtis C. Chen

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ninth Step Station by Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, Curtis C. Chen
Published by Serial Box on January 8 2019
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads

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A few notes about how I’m going to review this series. There are eleven episodes, and my plan is to put a review up each Wednesday as they become available. I’ve never done this before, so let’s see how it goes! Also, I won’t be giving star ratings to the individual episodes, but I will rate the series overall when I’m finished.

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About Ninth Step Station:

A local cop. A US Peacekeeper. A divided Tokyo.

Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great powers.

In the city of drone-enforced borders, bodymod black markets, and desperate resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda.

Together, they must race to solve a series of murders that test their relationship and threaten to overturn the balance of global power. And amid the chaos, they each need to decide what they are willing to do for peace.

Episode 1: The Faceless Body

Episode 2: The Bodiless Arm

A clear pattern has been established in Ninth Step Station: each episode features a new murder that Miyako and Emma must solve together. But whether these murders are all part of a bigger scheme or not remains to be seen. Author Curtis C. Chen gives us an exciting story that kicks off with a prominent businessman falling to his death from a skyscraper.

Arai Rinsho was the Chairman of the Taniguchi Group, and his fall from the Tokowabashi Tower looks like a suicide. He’s even found clutching what looks like a crumpled piece of paper in one hand—a suicide note, perhaps? But Emma isn’t convinced, and as the two women start to dig into Arai’s life and the events leading up to his death, they begin to suspect Arai might have been trading secrets with the Chinese. After interviewing his daughter Akiko, they luck out and get another lead that ultimately leads them to the killer. But the revelations of the crime leave everyone unsettled. The effects of the war are still resonating around the city, as the Japanese and Chinese factions continue to distrust each other.

Once again, drones play a role in the story. In this case, a government drone that was hovering near the window that Arai fell from ends up being discovered under his body, crushed by the impact of the fall. Luckily, the drone is able to supply a few clues about what happened, but it also comes under scrutiny because, as Emma says, “it’s one of ours.” Miyako is immediately suspicious about why a drone might be spying on a prominent Japanese businessman, and it makes you wonder why Emma was asked to help out Miyako in the first place. There’s lots going on beneath the surface, and I’m looking forward to learning more about the government peacemakers’ motives for wanting to work with the Tokyo Police Department.

This is the first episode where we see Emma and Miyako finally starting to understand each other. It’s subtle, but it’s there. At one point, Miyako visits Emma in the hotel room she’s living in and is shocked at how spacious and upscale it is, compared to her own humble apartment. At the end of the story, Emma tells Miyako that she’s decided to move out of the hotel in order to “understand what’s happening on the street.” In other words, she’s willing to leave her lofty highrise to come down to Miyako’s level, so to speak. It’s definitely a step in the right direction, and an indication that Emma is aware of the differences between the two women and wants to do something to close the gap. However, don’t let this fool you. There is still plenty of tension between them, and the fact that Emma is showing interest in a man named Kensuke from the Organized Crime division isn’t helping matters. It turns out that Miyako and Kensuke were together briefly, and when Emma finds out, things turn, well, a bit awkward.

Oh, and don’t get me started on Kensuke! What a sexist piece of work he is. Emma needs to wise up and dump the guy, because not only is he a sleaze ball, but I don’t trust him at all.

With such a short space in which to tell a complete story, I’m impressed by how well all the authors are able to keep the pacing tight, present a new murder and solve it by the end, introduce new characters in each episode without going overboard, and best of all, continue to build on the main characters’ development. Each episode is a tightly wrapped package that, while featuring a complete story (solving the murder), still manages to peak my interest by leaving hints about the larger story arc to come. I’ll be tuning in next week, will you?

Check back next Wednesday for a review of Episode 4: The Blackout Killer by Jacqueline Koyanagi.

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Are you intrigued? You can purchase the entire series for $13.99! Click here now to learn more.

About Serial Box:

Serial Box brings everything that’s awesome about TV (easily digestible episodes, team written, new content every week) to what was already cool about books (well-crafted stories, talented authors, enjoyable anywhere).

Like TV, we release a new episode of our serials every week and serials typically run for seasons of 10-16 weeks. Easy to pick up, episodes are enjoyable on their own but build over the course of the season to tell a bigger story. Each episode is available in ebook and audio and takes about 40 minutes to enjoy.