Tokyo

Tokyo is another of Mo Hayder's deliciously chilling criminal outings, but probably won't produce the frisson of disapproval that such novels as Birdman and The Treatment did. The days are gone when Hayder was identified as one of a cadre of women writers who did something totally unacceptable: produce grisly crime novels quite as unsettling as the products of male imagination. People seem to have finally accepted that the tough crime novel needn't be an exclusively male preserve.

Her troubled female protagonist in Tokyo is Grey, haunting the thronging streets of Tokyo in search of an elusive piece of film recording the infamous Nanking massacre of 1937. But did the film ever exist? The past is a touchy subject for Grey, with incidents in her own life that she has not yet come to terms with. She ill-advisedly becomes a hostess in a nightclub where the clientele is a tad unsavoury (another example of Hayder utilising real-life crime for her plots, with the echoes of a recent murder case). And Grey finds a lead to her quest: a taciturn survivor of the massacre who is now an academic, with no time for the woman pestering him. But Grey makes progress with him--until she encounters a powerful Godfather figure and his violent associates, with a clandestine source for his well-being a much sought-after elixir. Soon, Grey's life becomes two things: very complicated and a place of considerable danger.

The change of locale for Mo Hayder here has ensured that the imaginative energy of her earlier books is consolidated, as is the rejection of the now hackneyed serial killer plot. Atmosphere is brilliantly sustained, set pieces are pulse-racing, and (most satisfying of all) Grey is a truly complex and damaged heroine, the perfect conduit for the reader through this dark world. --Barry Forshaw

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No doubting the quality of the writing but its a bit visceral - Rated
Mo Hayder writes very well indeed and I was more than two-thirds of the way through the book before my revulsion at the details of the plot overcame my attraction to her writing style.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had read it at one sitting (I almost wrote 'one gulp' but changed my mind in time). In short, it's an exceptionally stylish piece of writing but not a good one to read at bedtime

one of the best I've read ...... - Rated
This was excellent - un-put-downable. It was so good that I ordered what I thought was the sequel, called The Devil of Nanking. Be aware - it is actually the same book under a different title!! I feel just a tad ripped off.

Interesting, if a little predictable - Rated
I'm a big fan of Mo Hayders first two books and was looking forward to reading this. I'm impressed that she can turn her hand to other styles (although the gory bits are still there) but I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped.

After about two thirds of the way through, I could see the end coming and wasn't surprised at all by the end and the reason that "linked" the two main characters.

I see that her next novel is another Caffrey one. Now I'm excited...

A Fantastic Novel - Rated
Tokyo is a fantastic and haunting book, I thought the ending was extremely cleverly done and the link between Grey's past and Nanking was not what I expected at all but it was a brilliant revelation.

To C. Knowles, you obviously did not actually read the end of the book if you don't understand Grey's obsession with Nanking...

Mo Thrills - Rated
TOKYO is identical in all but title to the more aptly named Devil of Nanking, and for me consolidates Mo Hayder as one of the very best thriller writers around today. Her more mainstream novels Birdman and The Treatment were excellent but this one is even better, despite it being a wholly different kind of story and one which you will probably be thinking about a year or more from now. It's one of those rare occasions when I was yearning to reach the end (to find out what happens) while knowing at all times that I will be a little bit emptier for doing so, because I knew that the chances of my next reading material being as entertaining as this are very slim. What a treat it is to be seduced, mesmerised and teased by the written word! Mo Hayder's is an exceptional talent, her research is comprehensive and convincing, her ability to create a sense of atmosphere a cut above the majority of her peers. I can vouch for at least some of this novel's authenticity as I lived in Tokyo for most of the 1990s myself, so little corporate touches such as Pocky's, Lawson Station and the Maranouchi Line bring back memories of a city that changed my life for the better, even if this tale might lead you to think only of its darker sides.

Although the violence of Hayder's first two books is less graphic here, she manages to build a story once again around a somewhat taboo subject. In her debut novels we had to come to terms with paedophilia and necrophilia, in TOKYO the subject matter is arguably the lowest and most repellent form of human activity; what makes it all the more shocking is that her fictional tale is based on events that supposedly did take place. But what I enjoyed most was Hayder's skill at leaving the worst atrocities unwritten, at implication rather than description, at leaving the reader to imagine some of the events which, as we know, is invariably more horrifying than actually knowing. One of the scariest characters in TOKYO is a `person' with a variety of noms-de-plume including The Nurse and The Beast of Saitama - and trust me when I suggest that The Nurse makes Luca Brazzi seem like your fairy godmother in comparison. That's one of the enduring memories of the book for me, the fact that some of the `events' were never explicitly described so you are left to complete them in your own mind, and this uncertainty makes them even more horrific than they would have been had they been explained in full by the writer. Delicious, old-fashioned and how it should be done in my humble opinion.

TOKYO is chilling, haunting, gritty yet lyrical, stylish and suspenseful, very moving and thought-provoking but ultimately it is a real treat to be entertained in this way with the reader having to fill in some of the crucial gaps and being more emotionally disturbed as a consequence. A thriller of the highest order and one that you should add to your `must read' list without a doubt.