The Arrow Catcher

1948. Young Jonathan Lusk’s life was perfect. Big Boston house. Swimming pool. Summers on the Cape. His father a Nobel Prize winning Harvard professor; his mother the beautiful only child of Boston socialites. When his parents get caught between rival Arab and Jewish faculty over the creation of the State of Israel, Jonathan’s life is turned upside down. He soon finds himself in Japan, living with his grandfather, former American Ambassador and a judge on the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. American opulence and comfort is abruptly replaced by subtle Japanese elegance and traditional austerity. The boy is thrust into a life among strangers and forced to navigate his way through a new country, foreign customs, unfamiliar language, and ultimately political intrigue that will threaten his life. This suspenseful story, one of personal survival, is a testament to a young boy’s perseverance and to human courage and loyalty that are sometimes found in unexpected places.

Jim Mather graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Communications and minor in Creative Writing. He went on to receive a masters degree from Stanford in Education and reach Ph.D Candidacy in the same subject. He has published hundreds of articles in various periodicals, including years as a columnist for Black Belt magazine. He spends his days writing, teaching, and hiking along the Big Sur Coast, where he lives with his wife, Diane, and his dog, Mira. He especially enjoys writing fiction, especially thrillers, suspense, and action adventures stories. His first novel, The Arrow Catcher, is a historical suspense thriller as is its sequel, The Arrow Shooter. A third novel in the Jonathan Lusk Trilogy is in the works.

He has spent many years in the Japanese martial arts, hold grandmaster status, and still teaches at one of the country's oldest karate schools. He is a former national karate champion and served for several years as a national coach for the official USA Karate Team under the U.S. Olympic Committee. In the late 70s, he caught arrows on the old ABC TV show, That's Incredible!, and was the subject of a PBS short feature entitled The Arrow Catcher.