December 6: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Martin Cruz Smith (Author)
Key Phrases: movie man, tael bars, germ mask, Harry Niles, Happy Paris, Hong Kong (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ever wonder how things might have been different for Rick Blaine, the ostensibly selfish nightclub owner from Casablanca, had he lived in Japan during the 1940s, rather than Morocco? Martin Cruz Smith offers a reasonable scenario in December 6.

This slickly plotted, exotically atmospheric thriller opens in Tokyo just a few days before bombs start raining on Pearl Harbor. There we meet roguish Harry Niles, the culturally conflicted son of religious missionaries and owner of the Happy Paris, a club known for its enigmatic jukebox jockey, Michiko, who also happens to be Harry's mistress. With war rumors rampant, Harry--distrusted by both U.S. and Japanese authorities--"was skipping town. Any sane person would." He has a seat waiting on what may be the final flight out to Hong Kong, and plans to escape from there to the States with a British diplomat's wife. But first, there are business and personal affairs to settle, not the least of which is an oil-tank con he's been running on the Imperial Navy--a desperate strategy to stop his beloved Japan from entering into self-destructive conflict with America. Harry also has to duck a sword-wielding military fanatic, who's seeking revenge for a long-ago incident that cost him honor, and bid sayonara to Michiko, a woman as scary as she is seductive. (Oh, well, at least they'll always have the Happy Paris.)

This book memorably re-creates wartime Tokyo, with its pet beetles and mincing geishas and naive belief that "victory lies in a faith in victory." Yet it's Harry Niles--cynical on top, sentimental beneath--who really carries December 6, a novel as brilliantly convoluted and captivating as any Smith (Gorky Park , Havana Bay ) has yet concocted. --J. Kingston Pierce

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-In early December, 1941, Harry Niles runs his nightclub, Happy Paris, in Tokyo's Asakuza district, keeps a mistress, and makes plans to escape from Japan with the British ambassador's wife. His departure is complicated by the Japanese, who consider him a spy and arrest him several times; the British and Americans, who deny him any help; and a Japanese soldier who wants him dead. He manages to elude most of his problems, narrowly escaping only to discover that he is trapped in Japan on December 7. Smith vividly conjures up the beauty of the country and the ugliness in people. Along with clear descriptions of locations, he creates realistic pictures of a distinct time and place. While the protagonist is the most fully developed, the secondary characters, as well as those who play far lesser roles, quickly take on distinct personalities and attributes. The book has flashbacks of Niles growing up in Japan as a mistreated and neglected son of American missionaries. As the plot progresses, his background helps to explain his attitude toward Japan, the imminent war, his relationships with two lovers, and his love of gambling against the odds. Since the story takes place over three days, the events move quickly and the plot is tightly woven together. The result is a historical thriller brimming with action, odd characters, and an ending well worth the read.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684872536
• ISBN-13: 978-0684872537
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Complex and Intelligent Read, November 28, 2002

By	Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Martin Cruz Smith is one of the most the most skillful and versatile writers of contemporary fiction. His work is painfully researched (accounting for the relatively short list of published works) and beautifully written. December 6 is no exception, as Smith again demonstrates the range of his talents, this time setting the story in 1941 Tokyo. He spins the unusual story of Harry Niles, the son of American missionaries stationed in Japan. Alienated from his parents as they are off proselytizing in rural Japan, Harry is left to grow up on the streets of Tokyo. Much more Japanese in culture and beliefs than American, the enigmatic Niles, now an adult Tokyo nightclub owner, finds himself in a precarious situation on the eve of the Pacific World War II.

Give Smith credit for creativity: this is certainly an unusual, if not bizarre, subject for a story. Harry Niles is a mysterious main character. Accepted fully by neither western nor eastern cultures, perpetually only a step ahead of (or behind) the law, the reader never knows exactly where to categorize Niles: hero, spy, traitor, patriot?. Supporting characters are likewise complex and unable to be easily quantified. Michiko, Harrys mistress: the cool and aloof juke-box jockey, yet also the submissive geisha. Ishigami, the sword-yielding samurai demon with a uniquely Japanese penchant for both honor and terror. Smith adroitly blends Japanese tradition in the background, avoiding the tendancy of many western authors writing of Japan to allow the culture to overshadow the story. The imminent war is portrayed from a uniquely Japanese, and fatalistic, perspective. Like all of Smiths novels, the characters and events are intricately woven in a complex fabric of intrigue and suspense, leading to a surreal, nearly mystical, climax.

What December 6 lacks in sheer thrills and fast action of Gorky Park is compensated by the intelligent and convoluted story line and though-provoking characters. As with all of Smiths novels, December 6 leaves the reader anxiously awaiting his next effort.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Day Before Pearl Harbor - From The Japanese Perspective!, August 16, 2003

By	Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a most unusual historical novel, an espionage thriller of sorts, but much more. Martin Cruz Smith's hero, Harry Niles, is even more unique then the tale he tells - the story of Japan on the eve of Pearl Harbor. The perspective is Japanese, interpreted for us by a chameleon.

Harry Niles grew up in Japan, the son of American Baptist missionaries, zealous in their determination to bring the light of God to the Japanese. Harry's Uncle Orin, a devout alcoholic, baby-sat him as his parents wandered the country spreading the Word, with no knowledge of the Japanese language, or culture, and no desire to learn. The couple saw Harry as a "sort of amphibian, neither honest, nor stupid, neither adult nor innocent, neither American nor Japanese." And Harry, who ran wild in the streets of Tokyo, at home in the shady underworld, dance halls, and back-room card games, learned early to survive well in this environment - and became a master of the "artful scam." He survived Japanese school, where he was the only "gaijin," (foreigner), forever playing the Indian to the Japanese schoolboys' cowboy...or samurai, as it were. He also learned the aesthetics of Shinto, which he was more comfortable with than his parent's Christianity; as well as Japanese ethics, their world view in general, their take on international politics, etc..

The narrative switches back and forth between Harry's adolescence, and his present life, in early December, 1941. He owns the "Happy Paris," an American jazz bar, where a juke box provides the music, and his Japanese Communist lover, Michiko, selects the tunes. He is a con man with a heart of gold. Niles has more than an inkling that the Japanese are about to attack Hawaii - he is a man with many sources, and knows how to do simple addition. And 2+2 = Pearl Harbor. He needs to be on the last flight out of the country - otherwise the consequences won't be pretty. Japanese military and intelligence officials don't particularly care for him, and neither do the Americans, nor the Brits, for that matter. His last days in Japan, before the war, are filled with intrigue, suspense and murder.

Cruz Smith writes a tight, taut narrative, as always. He is a master at building suspense, in a real life drama that is already fraught with tension. His research is impeccable and I learned much while enjoying the read. Descriptions of a meeting of the elite Chrysanthemum Club, where Harry tells the Japanese version of the upcoming hostilities, are both hilarious and informative; as is the scene where Harry plays catch with the Japanese Giants' baseball team. One minute you're laughing, the next you're biting your nails.

Harry Niles is Smith's real masterpiece, however. Niles breathes life into every event and person that surround him. He is a perfect anti-hero on the surface. He is well aware of the multitude of contradictions that make-up his persona, and accepts them, even enjoys them, with a dark, sardonic humor. The scam has a whole new meaning in Harry's hands - his cons can cause war! Yet he is also a decent and kind man. Just beneath the surface, there exists the man who saved many Chinese lives in Japan's brutal rape of Nanking. And he continues to help both friends and strangers up until the novel's last page. Harry just doesn't want anyone to know. He doesn't want to be anyone's hero.

This is one of Martin Cruz Smith's best works. The historical aspect and original point of view make it 5 Stars all the way!

JANA

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of character, setting, and story, October 31, 2002

By	nancy b. "[e-mail]" (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

I found the book riveting from page one. It works on so many levels, from its atmospheric setting in Japan to its exciting story lines, set both in the childhood past of American Harry Niles and the present, the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. But the intriguing characters in the novel are what drive the story. Harry Niles is by far one of the most interesting characters I've encountered lately. So is his Japanese mistress, the unpredictable and scary Michiko.

One of the most suspensful and delicious scenes in the novel takes place in a Willow House, where Harry is forced to make small talk and observe Japanese decorum while knowing he has just minutes to live. He has been lured to the Willow House by his lover, at first unrecognized because of her geisha makeup and demeanor. There, he encounters bitter enemy, Ishigami, the master swordsman who has sworn to behead him. Ishigami is like a cat playing with the mouse before pouncing. The reader cannot help but wonder throughout the book how Harry will survive.

I read a huge number of books, both fiction and non, and this one is a gem. (Another great novel set around the time of WWII is Joseph Kanon's "The Good German"). December 6 is one of the few books that I will actually go back and reread, slowly, to figure out how the author managed to put it all together.

Finally, as a response to the reader who claimed he was not an old white man and why should this book be on his "must read" list, I am not an old white man either. If a reviewer is going to give one star and a grumpy one-liner, but no concrete criticisms at all, his review enlightens no one.