The third and final installment of former Road & Track International editor Sam Mitani’s car-themed thrillers is Keys to the Empire. The trilogy began in 2018 with The Prototype, continued in 2023 with Red Mist, and draws to a close with Mitani’s latest novel.
Keys to the Empire continues in the universe established in the two previous books, though it works as a standalone story as well. Characters from the first two novels appear in Keys, but the protagonist is a new deadly assassin.
Dalton Lang was an elite agent in China’s Ministry of State Security before defecting to the United States. He’s called out of retirement when people close to him are hunted by unknown assailants. Is it the MSS, the yakuza, or corrupt LAPD detectives? The search for answers takes Lang, in the finest Mitani tradition, on a globe-trotting adventure with cars at its center.
As is typical of a Mitani thriller, the car each character drives serves as a window into their personality, like a preferred liquor or weapon of choice. When Lang, who has adopted a new identity as a San Gabriel Valley restauranteur, drives a silver Acura MDX to blend into Los Angeles traffic. But that’s just for traveling incognito; his true steed is a R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, in Bayside Blue, of course.
Even minor characters have their cars described, and the make and model are always accurate to their location. For example, Toyota sedans have a lot of presence in Keys, but the mid-level fed drives a Lexus ES in LA, while a yakuza boss has a Toyota Century in Japan. Mitani’s 22 years as the Japanese car expert for one of the premier automotive magazines in the country certainly didn’t hurt his ability to weave accurate and much appreciated automotive descriptions into his tales.
Do the models matter in the grand scheme of things? Probably not, but we can’t help but be frustrated when other books describe “a yellow taxi” without any further explanation. A vivid picture is painted when the cars are real. Also real is the website one character uses to find information on a rare Japanese car (Hint: it has the initials J, N, and C.), an honor the site’s staff can barely believe.
Keys to the Empire is an entertaining read with non-stop action. It went by fast, and we’re sad that there will be no more novels in the Prototype universe. We think these would translate into excellent movies. And if done faithfully to Mitani’s vision the automotive scenes would serve as a salve to the ocular assault found in flicks like the Fast franchise.
With the publication of Keys to the Empire, the first two books of the trilogy, The Prototype and Red Mist, have been reprinted with new cover art. The three can be ordered as a hardcover set or individually. Sam Mitani will also be at our booth at JCCS this Saturday, October 11. Stop by for a book and he might give you an autograph as well.
