The Devil of Nanking [Mass Market Paperback]

Mo Hayder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006

Like the thrillers of Thomas Harris and Philip Kerr, Mo Hayder's riveting new novel animates the dark corners of modern history. The solitary Englishwoman Grey comes to Japan looking for a rare piece of footage that is said to document a particularly monstrous episode of the 1937 Nanking Massacre. Her quest will take her to a reclusive scholar and a wheelchair-bound gangster who clings to life with the aid of a mysterious elixir, and to a handsome American whose interest in Grey may be more sinister than romantic. The result is a work of spine-chilling suspense, masterful historical detail, and otherworldly beauty.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dazzling... extremely creepy book... the diabolically gifted British author spins a fascinating mystery from the legacy of Japanese atrocities during World War II (A)." — Entertainment Weekly

"A haunting, lyrical, disturbing, important, suspenseful, wonderfully written and beautiful book." — Harlan Coben

"The Devil of Nanking is such a perfectly sinister novel that doubt creeps in as one reads it. Can Mo Hayder pull it off? [She] creates such a threatening environment that when the novel gains its strength, every page evokes a shudder. And yes, she pulls it off. The Devil of Nanking ends as it begins - which is to say it''s a thoroughly satisfying thriller." — New York Daily News

"The Devil of Nanking is the kind of novel that invites excessive praise. It is beautifully written and often fascinating, and it has a powerful historical hook." — Washington Post

"There are some novels that infect the brain and never let go... Hayder writes of past and present horrors with beautifully understated prose, made more so by Grey''s innocence in the face of mounting evil. The Devil of Nanking is brilliant, haunting and scary as hell - a book not soon forgotten." — Baltimore Sun

From the Back Cover

"Dazzling... extremely creepy book... the diabolically gifted British author spins a fascinating mystery from the legacy of Japanese atrocities during World War II (A)."
—Entertainment Weekly

"A haunting, lyrical, disturbing, important, suspenseful, wonderfully written and beautiful book."
—Harlan Coben

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143036998
• ISBN-13: 978-0143036999
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Psychological & Suspense

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are looking for a cozy mystery, this isn't it, June 23, 2006

By 

Texas Reader (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil of Nanking (Mass Market Paperback)

Mo Hayder is one of the finest contemporary writers. Her books take you squirming and screaming to places you have never been. With a literary style, her damaged, but persevering, characters explore the depths of evil. The Devil of Nanking is an excellent novel. If it's possible, the book is even more gruesome than The Birdman and The Treatment. But this is an author who tackles the most difficult subjects. The Devil of Nanking is a fast-paced thriller into the exotic lands of Tokyo in the 1990s and Nanking during World War II.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Ignorance is not the same as insanity.", May 25, 2007

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Devil of Nanking (Mass Market Paperback)

A disturbed, young British woman, known only as Grey, arrives in Tokyo after a long hospitalization in a psychiatric unit. She has been hoping for nine years to find a piece of film recording the Nanking Massacre in China by the Japanese in 1937, a massacre of 300,000 people, which the Japanese deny happened. Needing a very specific bit of information that she believes is in the film, Grey contacts Shi Chongming, an elderly Chinese professor at a Japanese university, whom she believes has the missing film. She eventually agrees to try to unearth information he wants about a life-saving medicine used by an ailing Japanese gangster in exchange for information about the Nanking film.

Grey is a fragile and interesting character, bearing both physical and emotional scars, and when she is accepted as a hostess at the "Some Like it Hot" nightclub, run by the unforgettable Strawberry Nakatani, who believes herself a Marilyn Monroe look-alike, she meets the ailing gangster, Junzo Fuyuki. Other intriguing peripheral characters add to the drama: Jason, an American with a pre-occupation with death and a sexual fetish for "weirdos" like Grey; a pair of Russian twins, who are also hostesses; and Ogawa, the transvestite nurse of the gangster, who lurks in the background and acts as an enforcer. The various settings, especially that of a falling-down house occupied by Grey, Jason, and the Russian twins, showcase the bizarre characters and their actions.

The point of view alternates between Grey, as she tries to gain control of her life by finding this mysterious film, and that of Shi Chongming, who recounts in painful detail his memories of the Japanese invasion of Nanking and the attempts that he and his wife Shujing make to to stay alive. The author's ability to present both internal action and external terror is admirable, creating both tension and heart-stopping suspense, though she does resort to obvious foreshadowing to keep the reader going: "I knew that the answer I wanted was very nearby," for example, and "I was sure, without knowing why, that just behind those blinds...."

The plot and characters are intriguing for the first two-thirds of the book. Then, as the exact nature of Grey's quest on behalf of Shi Chongming becomes clearer, the plot veers into stomach-turning sadism and perversion. Sensational deaths and ankle-deep gore increase as Grey's shocking "crime," Fuyuki's pathology, and Shi Chongming's "sin" come together in dramatic fashion. Not for the faint of heart, this pop novel is nightmare-inducing, filled with pathological behavior and grotesque deaths, minutely described. (3.5 stars). Mary Whipple

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Historical Mystery/Thriller, June 9, 2006

By 

Shogun Len "tokieyasu" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil of Nanking (Mass Market Paperback)

The author did an excellent job writing a book that combines an excellent history of WWII China, the Rape of Nanking, and a look at modern Tokyo Nightlife. I was surprised that the writer was able to pull off combining all of these things, but she did and did it well. The book was hard to put down. I highly recommend it.