Yakuza says Novelist Libels Japan
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(New York, NY, February 4, 2008) Suit was filed today in the Supreme Court for New York County alleging successful novelist and New York lawyer, Jay Lillie, libeled the infamous Japanese mob through his realistic portrayal of its activities in PACIFIC REBOUND (Ivy House Publishing; $16.95).
PACIFIC REBOUND projects the story of Peter White, a well known New York corporate executive, who takes on a couple of Japanese mobsters who are after his lady friend. The Yakuza follow them both to Honolulu and across the Pacific, while Peter White conducts business with one hand and holds his girlfriend’s hand with the other.
What were the Yakuza after? Why were they following the attractive woman Peter White was escorting around the Pacific Basin? This woman is the real mystery in this story. Who was she? And what was she trying to get her hands on . . . besides Mr. White?
This character, Peter White, certainly had his own hands full between the good looking lady on his hip and his company’s President on his case for not attending to business. We get to know these players intimately, traveling with them across the Pacific and through Sydney, Tokyo, Alice Springs and Auckland, communing with the lost Aboriginals out back in Australia and meeting an unforgettable Maori Chief in New Zealand.
No spokespersons for the Yakuza were available for comment, but the complaint alleges that PACIFIC REBOUND details an ongoing course of criminal activity that Plaintiffs assert is malicious and extremely damaging to the image of Japan. They point out that Lillie is an experienced international lawyer who would know the confidences he intentionally discloses are not generally known outside Japan.
The author, reached at his country residence in the North Carolina Research Triangle, stated he was aware of the lawsuit being filed, but that his intentions in writing PACIFIC REBOUND were not malicious. Lillie quoted Mark Twain as saying the difference between telling the truth and writing fiction is that fiction has to be credible.
If anyone is libeled by PACIFIC REBOUND it’s the Imperial Government of Japan. While it’s highly doubtful the Japanese government would enter this case on behalf of their nation’s criminals, the author admits taking liberties in exposing the tight conspiratorial relationship between industry and government in Japan.
The American Embassy in Tokyo and the Embassy of Japan in Washington both refused comment on the New York lawsuit, but an unconfirmed source suggested the Japanese government would not want to be cross-examined about their role in PACIFIC REBOUND.
The author’s contemporaries in the legal community wonder where he gets all these ideas about international business and politics that he writes about. “If they’re not libelous maybe they should be,” one lawyer said.
“Jay Lillie has written a lot of legal fiction for his clients,” said, YYY, a well known lawyer and ex-partner of Lillie’s in Manhattan and Tokyo, “but he outdid himself on this one.”
Retired British Major General and literary critic, ZZZZZ, said, “Lillie has a lot of guts publishing this story. I’ve had equally exciting experiences in these places, but my friends would have a fit if I published them.”
“One of Lillie’s clients in Manhattan had this to say: “Jay Lillie is fearless when it comes to exposing what few Westerners know about these cultures. I guess he’ll need to sell even more books to pay for this lawsuit.”
We asked the lawyer for the reputed New York Mafia, Alphonzo Ragazzi, what he thought of PACIFIC REBOUND. “It’s a pack of lies. There’s no truth in it. My clients are determined to pursue this case. If we lose they’ll probably put out a contract on Lillie. Either way, this is not over ’till it’s over.”
We asked Jay Lillie how seriously we should take what he wrote in PACIFIC REBOUND, which after all is one of his novels. “This is a beach book that’s good enough to keep you out of the water,” he said. “The paperback edition will be released in May – just in time for summer.”
It’s true that PACIFIC REBOUND keeps you guessing and coming back for more. So go ahead and take your dip in the ocean; but hide the book under your beach towel or it might not be there when you get back.
For more information contact Ms. Anna Howland at the publisher. ahowland@ivyhousebooks.com