December 6 [Hardcover]

Smith presents a story deeply researched and fluently expressed. There's never a dull moment, even during the flashbacks to Harry's youth. He becomes a hustler early, attracted to the "floating world" of Tokyo's theatre, art and gambling circles. These many facets of underworld life gain him entrance to a wide cross-section of a society distrustful of "gaijins" - foreign barbarians. Harry encounters Tojo, plays poker with Yamamoto, watches the con of a scientist looking for military support, and money. On the other hand, there's the nagging sensation that Harry has another agenda. He has suffered much at the hands of Japanese, and will endure more if war comes. He tries to maintain his "cool" even at the expense of dignity.

The modern "thriller" is only mildly concerned with characterisation or even plot. Harry becomes Cruz Smith's vehicle for showing off his research. That's not a fault, but the unprepared reader can be overwhelmed. Smith has detailed prewar Japanese life, both civilian and military, high and low, to an amazing degree. He understands the theatre, woodblock art production, military attitudes and the impact of America's embargoes on pre-war Japan. In a surprise flash, Cruz Smith even dredges up Archbishop James Ussher's pinpointing the date of the onset of the Biblical Flood. He uses this point to give Harry the edge in a gambling dispute. Now that's research!

Books such as this are an escape. You tuck away your reservations about what's plausible and let yourself sink into the narrative. Turning pages to encounter the next episode, you are caught up in events right along with the protagonist. If the writer is skilled, as Cruz Smith certainly is, distractions are rebuffed as you follow the adventure. Only after the last page is closed do you sit back to consider whether the book reflects any level of reality. No matter. If the author has kept your mind captive through his tale, he's accomplished what he set out to do. Sink yourself into this book. Ignore the little quirks of impossibility and enjoy a fine story. It's well written and exciting stuff. Never mind that you know how it will turn out. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

While DECEMBER 6 does not live up to GORKY PARK, and while Harry Niles is no match for Arkady Renko, Martin Cruz Smith's latest effort is stamped with his distinctive use of details. His prose is clean and reflective, never coarse or unfinished or abrasive. The plot is not linear but rather slips back and forth, weaving time, place, and characters into a novel that some will find confusing, others beautiful.

Me, I ended up somewhere between confused and awed. Smith's touch is magic, but the sheer volume of research included in DECEMBER 6 made it at times read more like a school paper than a novel. One paragraph, which detailed some gruesome beheadings, managed to stretch more than two pages. Plus, during some points Harry Niles came across as unemotional and detached, although I was aware of churning undercurrents. The dialogue disappointed me as well. Still, I felt the ending was a fitting finale to an intriguing story of love, violence, and politics.

A newcomer to Smith's writing may be overwhelmed by this fact packed thriller, but Smith's fans, as well as anyone interested in wartime Japan, will find DECEMBER 6 absorbing and thought provoking.