The Devil of Nanking (Paperback)

~ Mo Hayder (Author) "Sometimes you have to really make an effort..." (more)
Key Phrases: wisteria tunnel, aluminium doors, ponytailed man, Shi Chongming, Mama Strawberry, Mickey Rourke (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A harrowing thriller that plumbs the hidden connections between Japan’s modern-day underworld and the grisliest atrocity of its wartime past

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.

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143036998
• ISBN-13: 978-0143036999
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #327,588 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 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 (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last prize from Tokyo, April 9, 2007

By	Max Crowe "Bleary-eyed in PTY" (Panama, Republic of PANAMA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My jatlagged mind must have led me to include this book, under the blander latter title of "Tokyo", among my purchases at Narita upon departure after a whirlwind 1-week professional tour of Japan. Little did I know what a gem I would discover on a sleepless journey back to Atlanta! Impossible to put down, "Devil of Nanking" exposed me to Mo Hayder, an author of impossibly tormented powers of description and plot-building. After "Devil", I moved quickly to her only other two books available, "Birdman" and "The Treatment". How I suffered until I got my hands on "Pig Island" this year! I am currently savoring the novel as if it were the finest foi gras, to be rolled over and swallowed one morsel at a time... not for the faint of heart tho'; I am 47 and have had to sleep with the lights on!

6 of 6 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

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.