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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Search for a Missing Pearl, October 26, 2004
Rei Shimura is living in Washington DC with her fiancé Hugh after being forced to leave Tokyo. She feels a little lost and aimless in her new home and isn't excited about planning her wedding, so she's delighted when the opportunity to decorate a new Japanese restaurant drops into her lap. Rei jumps into her work with both feet and things are going well until her cousin Kendall is abducted from the opening dinner. Was it politics, a restaurant rivalry, or something even more sinister?
While the police are investigating the kidnapping, the restaurant's snooty hostess asks Rei to investigate the decades-old disappearance of her Japanese war-bride mother. Andrea reached out to her because they are both half-Japanese, and Rei feels obligated to help. Just as they launch their plan to get more information from Andrea's father, Rei's Aunt Norie shows up from Japan to plan her wedding. Norie soon gets pulled into the missing-mother mystery. When Rei's investigations into the past turn dangerous in the present, it threatens to ruin her relationship with Hugh.
This is Massey's seventh Rei Shimura book, and although most of the others have taken place in Japan, Rei is no stranger to America. This can easily be read stand-alone, but it might be helpful to start earlier in the series to get a better feel for the relationship between Rei and Hugh.
Massey is very good at drawing tension from the conflict between Japanese traditionalism and American individualism and independence. On the one hand, Rei obviously finds it hard to say no to people and is horrified that Norie might find out about her living arrangements with Hugh. But at the same time she is reluctant to take on the role of a wife and wants to be in full control of her own destiny. Rei's turmoil about her future unfolds against the hectic whirlwind of restaurant crises and her investigations for Andrea. In a couple of places there was so much happening at once, it almost felt like I needed to catch my breath while reading.
Rei, Hugh and Norie are likeable and interesting characters, and Andrea became more sympathetic as events unfolded. However, I didn't like that most of the other characters with significant roles ranged from slightly unpleasant to over-the-top obnoxious. Still, it was an absorbing story, and I like Massey's insight into culture clash.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Totally phony, January 4, 2006
The impression I get was that this book was written for effect. It is as if Massey wants to prove that she is a hard-core Washingtonite (if I may use that word). Throwing in the political angle was superflous as well - Senator Snowden - give me a break.
There is no real story here - the plot about the pearl diver is just added in to connect the ramblings about the restaurant and Washington political scene.
On the whole this was not a satisfying read at all.
And finally why the negative review of Rei's work at the restarant? What did that achieve?
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Out of Japan, October 18, 2004
Those of us who have read the wonderful Rei Shimura series from its inception have followed with great interest her adventures in Japan. Half Japanese, half American, Rei fits completely into neither culture, which is the main reason for her enormous charm. But in the last book or two, she is in the United States, and I hope this isn't forever.
Mindful of spoilers, I won't tell those who have not read the entire series the story of Rei's departure from Japan. It is mentioned in this book, but only in passing. Rei now lives in Washington, DC, with her hunky fiance, Scottish lawyer Hugh Glendenning. At the beginning of this book, they are planning their wedding, and as always, Rei is reluctant to commit (a trait that becomes annoying for the very first time, at least to me, in this installment).
A struggling antiques dealer, Rei is thrilled when she gets a commission to decorate an up-and-coming Japanese restaurant newly purchased by a trendy DC restauranteur. But as she becomes involved with the kitchen help, the nasty but interesting hostess Andrea, and a cast of other characters, Rei once again switches from onlooker to sleuth. Somebody kidnaps her wealthy cousin on the eve of the restaurant's gala opening, and the plot thickens from there.
Rei's delicious Aunt Norrie is in this book, fresh from Japan, and a welcome reminder of Rei's background--like a delicate spice in a Japanese soup. And Rei is her own difficult self, with the old push-pull of her traditional ways and her ultra modern self. But some of the piquancy of the earlier novels has been lost in the all-American venue, and I miss it.
I would never miss one of Sujata Massey's novels, and I eagerly look forward to the next one, but like other reviewers, I hope that she allows Rei and Hugh to go back to Japan--at least for the next few books!
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