Daikon: A Novel

by Samuel Hawley

“A riveting tale about war, intrigue, love, and perseverance.” —John Grisham

“Absorbing...Unfolds like a detective novel...The story barrels ahead urgently...Duty, anger, sorrow, conscience and even hope mix together to form the novel’s bracingly intimate ending.” —The Wall Street Journal

“What if not two but three atomic bombs wound up in the Pacific theater?...Hawley’s impeccably detailed narrative offers an unnerving fictional answer...The novel’s tension mounts in highly cinematic fashion, despite our awareness of what the history books tell us.” —The New York Times

“Thrilling...Builds to a pulse-pounding climax. The result is the most imaginative take on Hiroshima since Edwin Corley’s The Jesus Factor.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A sweeping and suspenseful novel of love and war, set in Japan during the final days of World War II, with a shocking historical three atomic bombs were actually delivered to the Pacific—not two—and when one of them falls into the hands of the Japanese, the fate of a couple that has been separated from one another becomes entangled with the fate of this terrifying new device.

War has taken everything from physicist Keizo Kan. His young daughter was killed in the Great Tokyo Air Raid, and now his Japanese American wife, Noriko, has been imprisoned by the brutal Thought Police. An American bomber, downed over Japan on the first day of August 1945, offers the scientist a surprising chance at salvation. The Imperial Army dispatches him to examine an unusual device recovered from the plane’s wreckage—a bomb containing uranium—and tells him that if he can unlock its mysteries, his wife will be released.

Working in secrecy under crushing pressure, Kan begins to disassemble the bomb and study its components. One of his assistants falls ill after mishandling the uranium, but his alarming deterioration, and Kan’s own symptoms, are ignored by the commanding officer demanding results. Desperate to stave off Japan’s surrender to the Allies, the army will stop at nothing to harness the weapon’s unimaginable power. They order Kan to prepare the bomb for manual detonation over a target—a suicide mission that will strike a devastating blow against the Americans. Kan is soon confronted with a series of agonizing decisions that will test his courage, his loyalty, and his very humanity.

An extraordinary debut novel that is the result of twenty-seven years of work by its author, Daikon is a gripping and powerfully moving saga that calls to mind such classics as Cold Mountain. It is set amid the chaos and despair of the world’s third largest city lying in ruins, its population starving and its leadership under escalating assault from without and within. Here is a haunting epic of love, survival, and impossible choices that introduces a singular new voice on the literary landscape.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Japan, World War II, War, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2025

About the author

Samuel Hawley has BA and MA degrees in history from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and worked in East Asia as a teacher for two decades before becoming a full-time writer. His nonfiction books include The Imjin War, about Japan's 16th-century invasion of Korea and attempted conquest of China; Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties; Ultimate Speed, the authorized biography of land speed racing legend Craig Breedlove; and The Fight That Started the Movies, the epic story of how the emerging technology of cinema combined with prizefighting to make the world's first feature-length film. His latest book is a novel about Japan in the closing days of WWII, Daikon, hailed by John Grisham as "a breathtaking story of what might have been. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Daikon is a riveting tale about war, intrigue, love, and perseverance.”

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if there were three atomic bombs destined to Japan during the end of WWII? What is the first bomb failed and fell into the hands of the Japanese?
I often tire of reading WWII books, but this story if very different. I got to learn so much about Japanese and the technology of building bombs. Some of these facts were a lot to absorb for me. There was extensive research that went into this book. The authors notes at the end of the book were very interesting.
Keizo Kan has a lost everything. His young daughter was killed I. The Great Tokyo Air Raid. His wife Noriko is imprisoned by Thought Police.
The Imperial Army dispatch him to examine a device found in a plane crash. If he helps his wife will be released from prison.
This was a very compelling story. It is a story of resilience and love. I really enjoyed it. I just felt the technology was overwhelming at times. I just wanted to get to the story.
If you love history you will enjoy this what if story.
I received this advanced readers copy from Simon Schuster and NetGalley.

[None Ofyourbusiness Loves Israel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every page of Daikon hums with urgency. At its heart stands Keizo Kan, a physicist whose training pulls him from chalkboards into firestorms. His entrance comes as he flees Tokyo air-raid sirens into a shelter.

His wife, Noriko, arrives under harsher light. She faces censors who accuse her of treachery for speaking German on the radio, trembling through interrogations that shape her path through the wreckage.

A third figure, Ryohei Yagi, brings a gambler’s cynicism. A Korean-born sailor forced into service, he voices his disdain when he mutters, “I would rather die in a brothel than in a bomber.”

Around them circle officers drunk on fantasy and fear. Colonel Sagara exhales smoke and boasts, “We will build a bomb fatter than any radish.” Captain Onda kneels before a Buddha carved from shrapnel, as though ritual could sanctify destruction.

Japanese soldiers scavenge uranium fragments from a mangled American B-29. Kan scratches “E = mc²” across a blackboard while plotting in silence. Hunger bleeds into villages where farmers trade daikon and dried fish for scraps of paper.

Each chapter stings with detail. Noriko coughs blood as she stumbles through scorched fields. Children giggle over charred candy wrappers. Engineers pack tungsten plugs into steel shells.

“Thirty-six uranium rings” shift from hand to hand like cursed coins. Priests chant sutras beside the airbase. Keizo thinks of his wife while rigging wires. Yagi dreams of pachinko halls as he palms dice. Onda prays with fervor sharpened by madness.

The story traces Keizo forced into service of a weapon named Daikon. Noriko wanders a ruined empire. Yagi endures coerced duty with a gambler’s stubborn spark. Officers shape a kamikaze plan around their improbable device.

Noriko trudges through villages stripped bare, her ordeal balancing Keizo’s chalkboard calculations. “If the temperature rises, the wiring fails,” he mutters, embedding sabotage beneath equations.

Sagara commands the bomber engines tested. Villagers cower from firebombs. The Emperor’s voice flickers through static, heavy with surrender.

The device moves from warehouse to hangar. Always a step from ignition. Always a breath from catastrophe.

The fusion of absurd comedy and apocalyptic dread recalls Kurosawa’s detailed fatalism. It shares the lunatic logic of Doctor Strangelove.

Hawley sharpens irony through detail: a lullaby hummed while soldiers swig kerosene-spiked sake, a farmer cursing that “the sweet potatoes shrank to the size of a man’s thumb.”

The book ponders the madness of science bent to power. It lingers on loyalty tested by ruin. It charts the collapse of empire through hubris, while survival sprouts in unlikely soil.

The author, a Canadian enthralled by Japanese history, anchors fiction in archival echoes. He stitches documents, diaries, and wreckage into a story that fuses gravity with grim wit.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book is that the US had actually planned on dropping a third nuclear bomb on Japan at the end of WWII, but that they lost one. This unexploded weapon was recovered by the Japanese military, which tried to discover the secrets behind it, and use it against the US. A scientist is enlisted in this endeavor and he agrees to work on the project in order to get Japan to release his Japanese American wife from prison. In addition to this plot, the book describes some of the infighting in the Japanese government and the devastation caused by the bombing. All of that is handled much better in nonfiction books.

I don’t think that the bombing of Japan is a particularly good subject for a fantasy novel. However, if the book had been more entertaining and/or thought provoking the author might have gotten away with it. It’s obvious from the Sources and Acknowledgments at the end of book that the author was really interested in getting the science of nuclear bombs correct. Unfortunately, I couldn’t care less about the science, and there was way too much technical detail for me. I also thought that the “romance” between the scientist and his wife was peripheral, unnecessary and cheesy. The author obviously did a lot of research for this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, pacey, and engaging!

Daikon is an intriguing story that sweeps you away to Japan in the final days of WWII and into the life of US-educated physicist Keizo Kan who, in the wake of atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is recruited to use his intellect and knowledge to figure out how a large radish-shaped bomb containing uranium and found at the crash site of a US Bomber works in order for the Japanese to use it against their enemies.

The prose is atmospheric and descriptive. The characters are intelligent, anxious, and driven. And the plot is an entertaining tale about life, love, survival, tragedy, war, romance, loyalty, subterfuge, devastation, culture, and the intricacies of making nuclear bombs.

Overall, Daikon is a well-written, captivating, thought-provoking tale by Hawley that incorporates a nice mix of historical events, insightful information, and plausible fiction that is both enlightening and compelling.

[Lisa Goodmurphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this thrilling alternative history set in Japan during the final days of World War II, the US plans to drop three atomic bombs but one falls into enemy hands.

In August 1945, an American B-29 bomber crashes before it can drop its payload and an unusual device is recovered from the wreckage by the Japanese. It's not clear at first what sort of weapon it is but when uranium is detected, Army Lieutenant Colonel Sagara summons U.S. educated physicist Keizo Kan to conduct further investigations. Japan's own efforts at enriching uranium have failed so Keizo is shocked by the realization that it is an atomic bomb.

After the destruction of Hiroshima followed by Nagasaki, Sagara is infuriated by those calling for surrender and orders Keizo to prepare the bomb for manual detonation over an American target. Meanwhile Keizo's Japanese-American wife, Noriko, has been arrested and imprisoned by the Thought Police for unknown reasons and Keizo knows that if he doesn't follow orders that Noriko will pay the price.

A gripping debut novel of love and war that has been meticulously researched. (Samuel Hawley is a historian who has authored several non-fiction books and worked on Daikon for 27 years.) This is the first World War II historical fiction that I have read on the Japanese experience and I found that perspective fascinating. Well-written, suspenseful and thought-provoking - I couldn't put this down and recommend it to anyone who is interested in historical fiction.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an ARC of this book for review purposes. All opinons are my own.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweeping and suspenseful novel of love and war, set in Japan during the final days of World War II, with a shocking historical premise: three atomic bombs were actually delivered to the Pacific - not two -and when one of them falls into the hands of the Japanese, the fate of a couple that has been separated from one another becomes entangled with the fate of this terrifying new device.

This was a rollercoaster ride to the very end for me, keeping my stomach tied in knots, never knowing which direction the third bomb was going to end up. A great little fiction mystery to real history, We know what really happened but this was a grand little ploy to use our imagination.

Although the novels are not similar at all. I picked up very strong vibes from the Orphan Master's son while reading Daikon. Daikon was a very pleasant surprise.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting speculative fiction set in Japan near the end of the Second World War which posits that the US built not two, but three, atomic bombs and a crashed plane causes one of the bombs to fall into Japanese hands. I was especially interested in the descriptions of the vast devastation visited upon Japan, far beyond the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I was aware of the Tokyo firebombing, for instance, but not at all of how massively devastating it was in loss of life and total destruction. And I knew from a few movies I’ve seen that at the end in Japan there was a power struggle (and attempted coup) between those at the top who wanted to surrender and the hard-line militarists who wanted to keep going, insisting that every man, woman and child sacrifice their lives in defense of the homeland upon the imminent US invasion. This novel filled in more of my sketchy awareness of events. I’ll have to dip into some non-fiction to better inform myself.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an extraordinarily interesting novel that suggests what could have been the scenario if the Japanese had found an atomic bomb (due to a plane crash) in 1945 just before the bombing of Hiroshima. In this book, the bomb itself is a character, as the reader watches the Japanese soldiers and physicists try to decode this huge, heavy bomb. Fascinating!

[Kirstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daikon is an alternative history set in Japan at the end of WWII that posits the question, “what if there had been a third atomic bomb, and what if it had fallen into the hands of the Japanese?”

This is not my usual fare, which may account for the slightly higher rating (too many other books blur together). The author spends a lot of time on the technical aspects of the bomb, and uranium, and timing switches, and.. which may put some folks off, but I rather enjoyed. There is also love and loss and friendship and morally fraught decisions all against the backdrop of war.

[A.D. Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good "what if" historical story of Japan in WWII - I couldn't put it down.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

More science than I expected but a good message

[Diane Nagatomo · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Daikon” by Samuel Hawley is an alternative historical fiction piece that considers the question of what could have happened if the US Allies had had a third atomic bomb, and that bomb had been accidentally dropped (but not detonated) in Japan on August 1,1945? The physicist Keizo Kan is called to investigate what kind of mysterious object that has been found. Still reeling over the death of his daughter Aiko in the firebombings of Tokyo in the spring that had killed over 100,000 people in a single night and the imprisonment of his Japanese-American wife by the Thought Police, Kan is shocked and horrified by the uranium he discovers. At first, believing this is a single bomb—that the Americans could not have produced multiple bombs capable of such destruction--he agrees to help the Imperial Army. This, he feels, is the only way to get his wife released from prison. But then the Americans drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Kan discovers the true and unimaginable power of the bomb. Japan is heading toward surrender, but those who know of the bomb’s existence want Japan to push to the end.

This is not my usual type of read, but having lived in Japan for nearly fifty years I was quite interested in reading this book. I don’t know much about the Imperial Army or about the construction of nuclear weapons. But it is clear to me that Samuel Hawley has meticulously researched these details, creating a suspenseful page turner. The characters’ dialogs seemed so authentic and so did the attention to setting details, which were seamlessly woven into the story. I I especially appreciated the author’s notes at the end of the book, detailing the references.

All in all, this was a great book. I felt like I had stepped into 1940s Japan. I believe it will be of great interest to fans of historical fiction pertaining to World War II and to people interested in Japan. While reading, I was already imagining the movie.

Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this book. My opinions are my own.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of WWII historical fiction set in the US, France, England, Germany, and Poland, but I have never read one set in Japan. This book was fascinating in it's premise. It supposes that the US plane carrying the "first" atomic bomb was shot down and the bomb recovered by the Japanese. They enlist a scientist make the bomb workable to use on US troops. This book was well researched with perhaps too much detail on the workings of the bomb. But I found this book very compelling and the author's extensive note at the end was also fascinating. Thank you to Avid Reader Press for an ARC of this book won through a Goodreads giveaway. And congratulations to Samuel Hawley on his fictional debut at the the age of 64. Well done!

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.6 An interesting story on “what if” there was an unused atomic bomb in WWII that was located in an American plane shot down in Japan. A little too technical in detail for me but the novel presented an interesting historical perspective on the waning days of the war in Japan, centered on a Japanese physicist and naval soldier who unwillingly got caught up in a last ditch effort to try and win the war. It was not in my normal genre of stories yet certainly will be of interest to many. Very well researched by the author, 20+ years. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an honest and candid review.

[Alessandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allora. La scrittura è scorrevole e a tratti prende. Temo che però questo libro sia sorto come risposta al benedetto film Oppenheimer (già non guardo film di solito, ma ricordando quanto fosse famoso quando è uscito, per carità), e quindi immagino che lo rincorra un po'. Non capisco, sia per quanto riguarda Oppenheimer, sia per quanto riguarda Daikon, questa sorta di glorificazione della bomba atomica e di chi l'ha creata, si tratta del lato peggiore dell'umanità, in senso stretto, quindi proprio non ho gradito l'atmosfera generale del testo. I personaggi giapponesi oltretutto sono molto americanizzati, non vogliono altro che andare in America, non vedono l'ora che il Giappone si arrenda e l'America vinca la guerra, insomma, poco realistici e poco gradevoli. Penso che difficilmente questo libro possa essere apprezzato da appassionati di Giappone.

[Nicky Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book. The premise sounded so interesting but it started off really bad - I felt like there was a lack of character development at the beginning to where I was confused by who everyone was and didn’t care about the characters. It ended up growing on me but was still a tough book to get through.

[Claire Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. A solid speculation on what might have happened if there had been a third atomic bomb that ended up in Japan and able to be used by them (third bomber that crash lands but bomb does not explode). This was not really a thriller (which is fine!). I liked the slow going exploration of what the bomb was and the Japanese characters living in what would be the final weeks of war. But after that everything happened in a big rush.

[Liberi Leggendo · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’è una domanda che attraversa tutto Daikon: fino a che punto può spingersi un uomo quando l’amore e la sopravvivenza entrano in conflitto con la propria coscienza?

Keizo Kan non è un eroe tradizionale. È un uomo spezzato, un padre a cui la guerra ha strappato una figlia e un marito che agisce spinto dall’unica speranza di salvare sua moglie, prigioniera di un destino crudele. Incaricato di studiare un ordigno americano, una bomba all’uranio, mai vista prima, si ritrova improvvisamente al centro di un gioco in cui la scienza diventa arma e la moralità un ostacolo da abbattere.

Il romanzo ci accompagna passo dopo passo nella sua discesa negli abissi del dubbio. Keizo non è cieco davanti all’orrore: vede i suoi assistenti ammalarsi dopo aver toccato l’ordigno, sente nel proprio corpo gli effetti letali delle radiazioni, eppure non può fermarsi. Ogni esitazione potrebbe significare la morte di Noriko. Ogni progresso lo avvicina invece al baratro: costruire un’arma capace di distruggere città intere.

La scrittura di Daikon è feroce e struggente al tempo stesso. Sullo sfondo delle rovine di Tokyo, devastata dal fuoco e dalla disperazione, l’autore intreccia la grande Storia con il dramma intimo e personale di Keizo. Ne nasce un romanzo che è insieme ucronia e riflessione universale: cosa resta dell’umanità quando la guerra spinge a compiere scelte disumane?

La tensione cresce fino all’ultimo, in un crescendo di pressioni militari, dilemmi etici e paure che divorano l’anima. Keizo è un uomo in bilico, un padre e marito disposto a sacrificare tutto per amore, ma che allo stesso tempo sa che il suo gesto potrebbe condannare migliaia di innocenti.

Daikon è una lettura che non lascia scampo: ti costringe a fermarti, a pensare, a guardare la guerra da dentro, non solo come evento storico, ma come tempesta interiore che travolge chi la vive. È un romanzo che riscrive la Storia, ma soprattutto mette a nudo l’essere umano e le sue contraddizioni.

Una storia che fa male, che emoziona, che scuote. Perché non parla solo del passato, ma di tutti i dilemmi che continuano a segnare il nostro presente.

[Kathyconsiglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tokyo 1945
Il fisico Keiko, dopo la caduta di un veicolo americano, viene incaricato di scoprire il funzionamento di uno strano ordigno:una bomba all'uranio.
Keiko sarà disposto a capire fino a che punto spingersi e cosa è pronto a sacrificare?

Un romanzo che rielabora la storia, alterandola, esplora la crudeltà della guerra in tutte le sue manifestazioni, illustrando come una forza così potente possa essere impiegata contro ogni individuo e collettività.
L'autore fornisce una descrizione dettagliata di ogni fase, avvalendosi di uno stile narrativo distintivo che evoca l'atmosfera cupa e opprimente della guerra. Inoltre, il romanzo invita alla riflessione sulla vera natura umana, offrendo uno sguardo sul Giappone in un periodo storico particolarmente difficile e concentrandosi sui due personaggi principali,Il fisico Keizo si troverà ad affrontare una situazione di portata considerevole, in un contesto nazionale già frammentato,e sarà chiamato a prendere decisioni cruciali, coadiuvato da Yagi, con l'obiettivo di affrontare le complesse dinamiche sistemiche, specialmente in un periodo di particolare difficoltà per il paese.

Nel complesso il romanzo integra elementi storici reali con elementi di finzione, esplorando come la guerra trasformi individui e contesti, ponendo di fronte a scelte che potrebbero avere un impatto globale, ben oltre la sfera personale.
Quindi se amate i fatti storici,l'umanità alla mercé della guerra e le decisioni importanti per tutta l'umanità, questo è il libro che fa per voi.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 ⭐️
Un romanzo ucronico che immagina lo scenario di una terza bomba atomica inesplosa, caduta in mano ai giapponesi. Samuel Hawley scrive con una prosa scorrevole e densa di immagini, capace di immergere il lettore in luoghi e sentimenti descritti con nitida intensità.
Il romanzo affronta temi e dilemmi profondamente umani, mettendo in luce coraggio e fragilità attraverso il protagonista Keizo Kan, che resta pienamente umano ma diventa “immenso” per la strada che sceglie. Le scene di bombardamento – in particolare Hiroshima, 6 agosto 1945 – sono narrate con tale realismo da renderne quasi tangibili gli effetti sulla popolazione. Alcune pagine ho dovuto interromperle, per riprenderle solo a distanza di una mezz’ora, tanto erano emotivamente insostenibili.
L’unica nota di rammarico riguarda la rappresentazione degli americani sul finale: a mio avviso escono troppo bene dalla vicenda. Gli estremisti dell’esercito giapponese sono raffigurati con precisione (il proseguire la guerra “fino a mangiare le pietre”), e per questo mi sarei aspettata un ritratto più severo verso chi, il 9 agosto, sapendo ciò che era accaduto il 6, riuscì comunque a lanciare un secondo Daikon.
Romanzo intenso, bellissimo, che mi ha fatta piangere e come si può notare, anche molto arrabbiare. Come era giusto che fosse.

[Doug Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! The "alternate history" genre can get kind of out of hand but this book starts with one imaginative factual alteration and follows it through very logically. It is especially accurate in its portrayal of Japan in the last stages of the war, including details such as the enmity between the army and navy as well as a plot to stage a military coup to prevent the government from surrendering. I liked the characters, some of whom were modeled on certain historical figures. The ending could have gone several ways as the tensions increased, and I was pleased with the way that the author wraps things up.

I did find it helpful to look up some articles in Wikipedia along the way, especially one that has a detailed design drawing of the "Little Boy" atomic bomb that was used on Hiroshima.

[Johanna Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book. I knew the premise was a “what if” a third atomic bomb had fallen into Japanese hands right before the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I have read a lot of WWII fiction but mostly set in Europe. I also thought this would be very pro American bc I haven’t read anything from the Japanese perspective from WWII and the idea of an enemy getting an atomic bomb during that war is a terrifying premise. But it wasn’t black or white. What this book did is remind me of the good and bad people in every place that get caught up in events not of their making and the suffering that results. It also reminded me that although the ending of WWII happened as it did, there are so many ways it could have gone differently. I enjoy books that take me down that road of thought.
The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars from me is bc the technical parts lost me but that’s really on me and not on the author.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

What would happen if the Japanese found an intact atomic bomb in a downed American aircraft during world war two? That is the interesting premise of this alternative historical fiction novel that I found quite interesting and propulsive. It's told totally from the Japanese point of view which is different from most of the other WW2 books I've read. If you enjoy alternative historical fiction I encourage you to give this one a try.

[Whitney Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

To put it simply: I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I think it had a terrific balance of historical references/details and fiction. Petty Officer Ryohei Yagi was my favorite character, but a lot of the characters were memorable. It was a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this revisionist history book is, what if there was a third atomic bomb during WW2 and the Japanese captured it. The book held my interest even though the characters were flat. I enjoyed it, but can’t recommend it 3.5*

[Peggy Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good bit of speculative historical fiction, in which the Japanese accidentally acquire an American-made atom bomb.

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like the writing style , it was far too technical and scientific for my taste.

[Sadie Patton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book, so bear with me here. It is so rich. Hawley implements a lot of war slang and engineering and scientific terms. Also, Hawley writes with large vocabulary words. All of this combined made this book hard for me to get into, understand, or even enjoy. I am still so surprised I finished the book. It took me about a month, but I did it! I do think the book was really good, it was just way above my head. I understood the simple story line (husband and wife separated by war), but got confused with all of the war slang/engineering terms and missed the deeper plot. I think I need to become a better, more observative reader before reading this book again.

[Lisa Beller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book and the premise was very interesting. It was quite detailed, a little much for my tastes. Not much of a love story.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall enjoyable and somewhat sad to see what war does to people in the face of desperation but to also know that we all have choices to make that are "more right" than others.