Pieces of Wood by Kenneth James Moore

A superb thriller grounded in fact. Highly Recommended!

This book took me back to my childhood and my father reading extracts of the atrocities carried out by the Nazi against the Jews in the WWII concentration camps. These terrible things are well documented, held up as they should be as an example to the world of the terrible injustices suffered by helpless people at the command of a cruel dictator. Yet, in the first few pages of this book I discovered another, unknown, yet horrific act of evil which was carried out in the Mariana Archipelago. There five-thousand women and young boys were brought to be burnt alive in the Shinagawa Manufacturing company’s ovens, built on site by The Imperial Japanese Army.

It was July 4th 1944 when the then 27 year-old Marine Corps Captain Frank Clifford smelt gaseous fumes and went to investigate….What he saw that day was to live with him for the rest of his life, and his actions that day were set to have a marked effect on the lives of those involved, their offspring, and impacted on the lives of many, decades later.

Whilst Hitler’s aim was land acquisition, the Japanese wanted to rid the world of everyone who wasn’t Japanese, and see Emperor Hirohito and his heirs seated on the Throne of the Chrysanthemum, as rulers of the world! The Japanese scientists had been working germ warfare for years, and Dr. General Ishii Shiro was already experimenting, using prisoners as Guinea pigs…

However, this was years ago. This story is set in1978 Chicago, where the FBI’s first female Special Agent, Michaelene (Mike) Westgate has been called to investigate a series of killings.

As the death toll rises, the public are getting scared. Michaelene and fellow agent Steve Donaldson are desperate for answers. When ‘their own’ begin to be targets they suddenly realise that there may be more than one killer, a scorpion and a frog. If this is the case, what is the link between them, and what is their motive?

As the plot thickens in this incredibly clever thriller, the reader finds themselves learning fascinating snippets about Japanese history, as they are drawn into the warped psyche of two men, linked, and driven by powerful beliefs.

The author of this book is a very successful businessman and investment banker who established The Moore Financial Group, which he sold aged 45 years. He went on to fulfil his life-long passion which is to bring closure to the families of America’s MIA. His non-profit organisation Moore’s Marauders continue on their global mission to locate the remains of America’s fallen.

This book is not only a great thriller, it is also, and I think more importantly, a story which should be told. At the end of the book there are graphic photos, information, and statements about the ovens. The author was once asked: “Why am I the one person in the world best suited to tell this story? He said, the answer is easy. Simply because in June of 1998, I was perhaps, the only living being to unwittingly crawl into the human incinerators featured in this novel since they were last in use on July 3rd, 1945.” What more powerful reason could there be?

I thank God that there are people like the author, people who are brave enough to speak for those who no longer can, like the poor victims, the Japanese cruelly called “Pieces of Wood.”

About the Author:

Ken received a Bachelor’s of Science in political science from Arizona State University then continued his studies in international relations as a graduate student at Georgetown University. Following an internship with the National Security Agency, he was hired at Beverly Hills Securities in Beverly Hills, California, leading to a post as an international investment banker. Thereafter, and over the course of the next decade and a half, Ken owned and operated his own firm, THE MOORE FINANCIAL GROUP. He successfully sold it at age 45. With that Ken now sought to fulfill his life-long passion of bringing closure to the families of America’s MIA’s, the brave men and women who fought and died to preserve our nation whose remains still linger on yesterday’s battlefields. To accomplish the objective, he designed and headed a 501C-3 non-profit organization known affectionately as Moore’s Marauders. From all around the world volunteers stepped forward setting forth on a global mission to locate the remains of America’s fallen. Married to the love of his life now for 40 years, at age 71, Ken and Patti live in Scottsdale Arizona, where he as the “First Marauder,” continues to write, seeking to tell the tales of the unparalleled bravery and determination of his teams of volunteers and the heroes they sought.

Author’s Website:https://kennethjamesmoore.com/

About the Book:

On Pieces of Wood

Bill Thompson, New York based editor for Stephen King and John Grisham, offered this:
“Ken, You know how to tell a hell of a good story! Pieces of Wood is a fascinating read! You did a great research job. This novel combines historical background, interesting characters and exciting action. I was particularly riveted by the final 70 or so pages. Top marks, Ken.”

Britt Pfluger, a London-based literary scout since 1991, provided the following:
“I believe the main premise of your novel has huge potential, focusing as it does on a part of 20th-century-history that, at least to my knowledge, has not been explored much, if ever, in novel form! Pieces of Wood is an utterly riveting thriller with plenty of twists and turns.”

The Story

It’s 1978. Two sons of the Rising Sun reignite their fathers’ World War Two diabolical disdain for women, secreting it to Chicago’s shores. The first – the mastermind – a professor of nuclear physics, is readying an ingenious new weapon that if released, will have a catastrophic effect on every human being across the North American continent for decades to come. The second, a butchering psychopath, is loose in the streets, diverting local authorities with an ever-escalating, body count of his young female victims. Recalling a childhood riddle, the FBI’s first authorized, gun-toting, female agent Michaelene Westgate, rushes as the clock ticks, to decipher and crush the professor’s barbaric scheme.

The Research

Author Kenneth James Moore has traveled the globe to research a little known holocaust that has remained a closely guarded secret of Japan and US allies alike, for over 80 years. A battle plan like any other, drawn during WWII by the Imperial Japanese Army’s general staff, it aimed at destroying the women of the countries they planned to occupy. This international crime thriller wraps such historical events with edge of your seat adventure and heroism. Today, for the millions of women who mercilessly fell at the hands of Imperial Japan, their story needs to be told as a way for modern day feminists in western culture to expand their values to ones that are more intersectional. Pieces of Wood does just that. From the east coast of the United States to its mid-west, to Japan, the Mariana Archipelago, Malaysia, China, London, the former Soviet Union, to the underground remnants of 1816’s Fort Dearborn along the Chicago River, this epic, historically accurate, crime thriller is set to electrify readers, worldwide.

Available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Pieces-Wood-Kenneth-James-Moore-ebook/dp/B08...