Tokyo (novel)

{{Short description|2004 novel by Mo Hayder}}

{{For|the novel Tokyo 1921–1923|Kamitsukasa Shoken}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = Tokyo

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = Tokyonovel.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Mo Hayder

| cover_artist =

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Thriller novel

| publisher = Bantam Press

| release_date = 4 May 2004

| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)

| pages = 409 pp

| isbn = 0-593-04969-1

| dewey = 823.914 22

| congress = PR6058.A9776 T65 2004

| oclc = 56476730

| preceded_by = The Treatment

| followed_by = Pig Island

}}

Tokyo is a 2004 novel by British crime writer Mo Hayder. It was short-listed for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger award, as well as several others. (For the US market, the title was changed to The Devil of Nanking, which had been Hayder's working-title for the book.) Tokyo was reviewed by the internationally read UK newspaper, The Guardian"[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview22 Review: Tokyo by Mo Hayder]". Books. The Guardian (2004-05-08). Retrieved on 2014-06-04. as well as by Kirkus Reviews under its US title.Hayder, Mo. (2005-04-01). [https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mo-hayder/the-devil-of-nanking/ "THE DEVIL OF NANKING by Mo Hayder"]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved on 2014-06-04.

Plot introduction

The story is about a young woman (nicknamed 'Grey' by a fellow mental hospital patient) who is obsessed with the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanjing (Nanking), which resulted in the Rape of Nanjing. She travels to Japan in order to find a professor said to have rare footage of the massacre detailing an event that she could not otherwise prove occurred. The professor decides that he will only show her the tape if she was to procure an unknown ingredient of Chinese medicine from the local yakuza group. After being recruited into a host club, Grey finds her chance.

Major themes

The book deals with the evils of ignorance, Grey being a home-schooled child whose mother heavily censored everything she came into contact with, the politics of modern-day yakuza, and the glitzy underground night-life of Tokyo, as well as the build-up and reality of the Rape of Nanking and the effect it still has today.

References