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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic Smith, M. 2002 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
As seen through the eyes of an American con man living in Tokyo days before the Japanese attack, "December 6" is Smith at the top of his game. The #1 bestselling author of "Gorky Park, Red Square, Havana Bay" and "Rose" returns with his most audaciously original and brilliant novel yet.
Author Notes
Martin Cruz Smith is a writer of suspense novels. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on November 3, 1942 but grew up in New Mexico and the Philadelphia area. Smith earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Smith worked for local television stations, newspapers, and the Associated Press. His early work was published under the names Simon Quinn, Jake Logan, and Martin Smith. Smith is best known for a series of suspense/thrillers featuring Investigator Arkady Renko. The first of these books, Gorky Park, was published in 1981 and adapted as a film starring William Hurt and Lee Marvin two years later. An earlier film of his work, Nightwing, directed by Arthur Hiller, was released in 1979. Smith is a member of the Authors League of America and the Authors Guild.
In 2013 his title Tatiana made The New York Times Best Seller List. The Girl from Venice also became a bestseller.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Smith hits on a clever historical conceit here, rolling back events one day before Pearl Harbor and setting his story not in the United States, but in Japan. For Smith, the foreign locale is a given, yet similarities to his previous crime-based novels (Gorky Park; Rose) stop there. This is not only a meaty character study of American Harry Niles, but also a piercing examination of Japanese culture during the years leading up to WWII. The only child of Baptist missionaries, Niles grew up on the streets of Tokyo, but as a gaijin, he's always been treated as an outsider. He's a slippery sort. He owns a nightclub, the Happy Paris, yet spends most of his time in more shadowy pursuits con games, gambling, possibly even a little espionage. But one thing is clear: he loves Japan and is convinced that the country will doom itself if it provokes a fight with the U.S. He says so loudly and publicly, and his outspokenness quickly marks him as a troublemaker. As the bombing of Hawaii begins, Harry becomes a man on the run. Smith's plot, meandering at first, steadily gains focus. Enriched by cameos of historical figures, it builds to a powerful climax. All the while, Harry is surrounded by several well-drawn secondary characters who illustrate the chasm between the two cultures his prickly "Modern Girl" lover, Michiko; the tradition-bound samurai, General Ishigami; and a host of stolid American and Japanese officials who have no idea what hell lies ahead. The plot slips a few too many times into distracting flashbacks, yet Smith's narrative rarely strays from its mesmerizing evocation of time and place.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Siler (Iced, 2001, etc.) introduces another tough but tender protagonist, this one determined to uncover the truth behind her spouse's death. Lucy Greene's hangover stems from booze, pills, grief, and the nagging belief that her husband Carl wasn't killed in an auto accident, as the police report concluded. Lucy remembers how skillfully Carl navigated ice-covered roads at home in Colorado. So how, she wonders, could he crash his car on a rainy night just outside Seattle? Former friend and investigative television reporter Kevin Burns feeds her suspicions. Just before Carl died, he'd phoned Kevin, eager to hand him a major story that had to be discussed in person. Carl's work at Bioflux Corporation now seems the place to dig for answers. But first someone rifles Carl's home office late at night, scattering the files; then, after he's retrieved Carl's Bioflux files, researcher Craig Weldon turns up shot in the head. Ostensibly, Biolflux did immune-system research, but clues suggest that the firm pursued darker matters: Lucy's brother Chick suffers from Gulf War Syndrome, and Lucy and Carl's infant son died of severe birth defects. Kevin and Lucy start tracking down the firm's board members for answers, a pursuit ultimately leading to Seattle. Joining them is a prison inmate on probation-her warden is also desperate to get Carl's data. On the track of the unlikely but canny trio is a hired gunman with orders to take them out. Untying the knots in the case, Lucy and Kevin, once lovers, try doing the same with their lives. They're luckier with the case. The final scene fades on the two of them, alone and apart on a dark Christmas Eve. Aside from a credibility-challenging hostage scene at the end, Siler hits her marks with quick, fast takes packed with telling clues and sharp details. Authour tour
Booklist Review
When Smith chooses a place to write about, he makes it his own. Cold war Moscow in Gorky Park, contemporary Cuba in Havana Bay, and now Japan on the eve of Pearl Harbor--our sense of these places and historical moments are forever vivified after Smith lays claim on them. What was Tokyo like on the day before the day that shall live in infamy? Ask Harry Niles, a nightclub owner in Tokyo's Asakuza district, where West and East meet in the pursuit of pleasure ("Life-size posters of samurai stood between cardboard cut-outs of Clark Gable and Mickey Mouse"). Considered "too Japanese" by his missionary parents and fellow Westerners and a spy by the Japanese, Harry has a plan to trick the Imperial Navy into not attacking the U.S. His goal isn't to save the world for democracy but, rather, to save his own brand of multicultural hedonism in a place he loves. But he has an out clause--a ticket on board the last plane to leave Japan for the West. If Harry boards that plane, he must leave behind Michiko, his Japanese mistress, with whom he is entangled in a relationship far more complex than either will admit. Complicating matters further is a disturbed latter-day samurai who would like nothing better than to separate Harry's head from his body. This is a superb thriller and a remarkable evocation of a place. Smith cleverly plays with his readers' shared knowledge of historical events, breaking down common assumptions and providing texture instead of stereotypes. Best of all, he tells a moving, believable love story in which individual lives are invested with great dignity, even in the face of national ideals. "Well, it may be petty of me," Harry declares, "but I still want to come out of this war alive." Bill Ott
Library Journal Review
Well loved and well regarded, Smith (Havana Bay) opens his new thriller on the day before Pearl Harbor erupts in a wall of flames. Harry Niles, whose fluency in Japanese idioms of culture and language was honed for years as a missionary brat, knows that there is just one chance for him to leave Japan before war breaks out. A wheeler-dealer of the first order, he must extricate himself from the love affairs, vendettas, investigations, and outright cons that he has perpetrated over the years. Strongly suspected of being a spy by both Japan and the United States, Harry plays both sides against the middle but only up to the point that he can preserve his own honor and sense of what is right. Readers will love not only Harry but also his opponents, pillow partners, and allies. The pace is like a bullet train, the characters are limned far beyond the usual stereotype, and the locale is as evocative as the cherry blossom itself. Purchase multiple copies. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/02.] Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.