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151 ratings, 3.87 average rating, 42 reviews
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published
May 30th 2006
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
binding
Paperback, 480 pages
isbn
0143036998
(isbn13: 9780143036999)
description
A harrowing thriller that plumbs the hidden connections between Japan's modern-day underworld and the grisliest atrocity of its wartime past ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 226)
Read in November, 2008
This book was a reading group choice, and I, knowing nothing about it, stumbled into it with only four days before the group would meet for discussion, presupposing the paperback was a light, contemporary, multi-cultural tale. What a surprising encounter with the dark side of humanity! I soon discovered that Hayder's novel was on a level with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, for its subject is a descent into the realms of taboo: behavior, action, and choice forbidden by law and cultural tradi...more
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Read in June, 2008
This book is beautiful, informative, and although historical fiction it is completely riveting and spot on. I can't put it down. It has beautiful and unique descriptions. The ending is quite disturbing however, so be prepared for some graphic/ violent scenes.
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Mo Hayder's Tokyo (or The Devil of Nanking as I was surprised to find it's known here in the US--I have a British edition) is a compelling, sleek, cinematic, chilling, horrifying, deeply disturbing and unsettling thriller.
I love the way she combines the old and new in her depiction of contemporary Tokyo, as it is largely the collision of past and future in Tokyo that makes it a rather uniquely fascinating place to me. The novel is centered around Grey, a 20-something British woman who come...more
I love the way she combines the old and new in her depiction of contemporary Tokyo, as it is largely the collision of past and future in Tokyo that makes it a rather uniquely fascinating place to me. The novel is centered around Grey, a 20-something British woman who come...more
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Grey is a young Englishwoman who, ever since she first saw a book on the Nanking Massacre in her parents house, has been fascinated with event. She believes she saw a reference to a specific act so horrible that her family and doctors think that she is insane.
She travels to Japan to find a film that documents the occurrence only to get mixed up in the Japanese underworld of the yakuza.
The story seemed very interesting, compelling even, so I picked the book up. This book involves two inte...more
She travels to Japan to find a film that documents the occurrence only to get mixed up in the Japanese underworld of the yakuza.
The story seemed very interesting, compelling even, so I picked the book up. This book involves two inte...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Jen by:
Goodreads rec
If I could, I would give it 3.75 stars. (I wonder if I am a tough grader?) Anyway, the beginning of this book was great. It sucks you in and makes it hard to put down. Somewhere in the middle, it starts to slow down a bit and then there is a race to the finish. I read this one fast b/c I really was on the edge of my seat wanting to see what the heck was going to happen. I felt like the characters were not quite fully developed and I really wanted them to be b/c they were so interesting in a...more
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Read in September, 2008
Mo Hayder has a twisted imagination and a talent for creating suspense. I don't think I've ever before felt such a sense of dread while reading a book. As it turns out, my imagination must be pretty twisted, too, because I actually came up with things even worse than what was revealed in bits and pieces throughout the story.
The main character is Grey, a young woman from England, who has come to Tokyo in search of a rumored film depicting something terrible that happened during the Japane...more
The main character is Grey, a young woman from England, who has come to Tokyo in search of a rumored film depicting something terrible that happened during the Japane...more
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Read in June, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in June, 2008
As w/Hayder's other novels, this one is intriguing & well crafted. There *are* some slower bits, but thats what building suspense is all about, so I cant understand that critique. I felt that the characters were as well developed as they needed to be, & the way that the Grey & Chongming narratives compliment each other as the tale unfolds was highly effective. I think that Hayder is an impressive new writer in the thriller genre, & one that I will be keeping an eye on. Her abili...more
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Read in January, 2006
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.
There you go, you should go out, mug someoene for some buckage and buy it.
I got this from Audible on a lark, I had just finished Iris Chang's incredible "Rape of Nanking" and I had Nanking stuff on the brain. This book just came up on a search for all literature Nanking in nature.
This book is a mystery, a thriller, a historical adventure, and a dark love love story that ends, well, poorly.
You must read this book S L O W L Y , you'll wan...more
There you go, you should go out, mug someoene for some buckage and buy it.
I got this from Audible on a lark, I had just finished Iris Chang's incredible "Rape of Nanking" and I had Nanking stuff on the brain. This book just came up on a search for all literature Nanking in nature.
This book is a mystery, a thriller, a historical adventure, and a dark love love story that ends, well, poorly.
You must read this book S L O W L Y , you'll wan...more
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Read in October, 2008
OK, this is one of those books where I respect the author's efforts and think the writing was OK but I HATED IT. Almost gave this one star but the detailed sense of place in the descriptions of Tokyo and Nanking and the ultimate denouement of the story made me feel like I couldn't. But basically, read this if you want to spend hours imagining how it would be to befriend and hang out with psychotic Japanese officers who carried out the massacre of Nanking, interspersed with flashbacks to the barb...more
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The Devil of Nanking was a horror story which took place in Tokyo, Japan. It was about a young woman that travels to Japan because she was obsessed with the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking, It was also known as the "Rape of Nanking. She goes to Japan in order to find a professor that is said to have rare footage from the massacre of a baby being cut out of a woman's stomach by a Japanese soldier, and surviving. She is obsessed with this idea , and also joins a Host Club sot that she can t...more
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This was a strange book. The female protagonist goes to Japan in search of a videotape documenting the Massacre of Nanking. She's British and has no personal relation to these events except for a book she discovered and lost when she was a child. I had a hard time understanding her motivation for wanting that tape.
However, there is a second story, the diary of a man who refused to evacuate Nanking when he heard the Japanese soldiers were coming. I enjoyed the Chinese man's diary a lot mor...more
However, there is a second story, the diary of a man who refused to evacuate Nanking when he heard the Japanese soldiers were coming. I enjoyed the Chinese man's diary a lot mor...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone
This is the second Mo Hayder book I read, and I was pleasantly suprised. I had read her debut novel "Birdman" and liked it, so I thought I would give this one a try. It turned out to be a page turner, and good story.
Its a historical novel that jumps back and forth between 1937 and the present, and although I usually don't like to jump back and forth, the author pulls this off nicely. I would recommend it to most, but it is somewhat dark and at times pretty graphic.
Its a historical novel that jumps back and forth between 1937 and the present, and although I usually don't like to jump back and forth, the author pulls this off nicely. I would recommend it to most, but it is somewhat dark and at times pretty graphic.
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Read in January, 2007
The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because I thought there were some slow parts. That said, this is a twisty human mystery--why is a modern-day woman desperately looking for piece of film from World War II--specifically relating to the Japanese rape of Nanking...? The answer is devastating. Not an easy read, due to the subject matter, but it shines on a light on a dark piece of history in a completely unique way.
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Read in September, 2007
Although an interesting mix of mystery, history, and a little horror, I found the writing too simple and lacking detail to be truly gripping. I would have liked more history in the history and more local color in the modern day Tokyo. Now some people who like cutting to dispose of all that isn't story may like it that way, but I think stories that have modern renounce from historical actions require a bit more.
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Read in January, 2007
A girl obsessed with the memory of a picture that altered her life can not move on with her life until she can prove to herself that the picture actually existed. Through the context of a quest/mystery we slowly learn about the horrors that occurred in Nanking. Though I did not find myself liking any of the characters, I rushed through this book with the main character in search for the answers she sought.
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Read in November, 2007
I really liked this book but I'm not sure why. It's gripping but in a way that sticks with you (which is good because it took me a couple of months to read it). I guess I'd call it historical fiction but maybe not my typical genre of historical fiction. I'd never heard of the Nanking massacre until I read this book.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Kelly by:
Professor for a Essay recommends it for: Historical Fiction Lovers
I found this book interesting but it was a bit odd and slightly disturbing, in a good way. The book not only explores a historical event, the nanking massacre, but its also tells the reader about a modern day woman , Grey, searching for something that no one believes exists.
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Read in September, 2007
This is really two and half stars I think. I kept me on edge and I stayed up late to finish the thing - but in terms of decent character development and holy coincidence batman - it rates pretty poor on the credibility scale. Really relies on gore to do its thing.
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Read in October, 2008
Deliciously creepy, dubiously gory but a fascinating look at the tragedy of Nanking coupled with a modern day look at Tokyo and the bizarre world of a young woman obsessed with a film documenting atrocities in Nanking. Well written and suspenseful.
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