Kataki: A Novel

by Hank Searls

After the nightmare of Hiroshima is unleashed, a fiercely driven Japanese secret society is forged with the single goal of seeking revenge against the United States

345 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 1988

About the author

Born Henry Hunt Searls Jr. novelist and screenwriter Hank Searls, author of the best-selling Overboard, Jaws II (based on the movie), and Sounding, is creator of the New Breed TV series and writer for the 1960's classic television series The Fugitive . His novel Pilgrim Project became Robert Altman's film Countdown. He has lived most of his life on, under, or over the ocean, having been a world-cruising yachtsman, underwater photographer, and Navy flier.

Reviews

[Christian D. D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember when the paperback edition of this novel came out in 1988 (I was in middle school at the time), a few months before then-Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush was elected POTUS, and I recall a quote from Mr. Bush stating that he was “enjoying ‘Kataki’ immensely.”

35 years later, I’m glad to have finally read “Kataki,” as I too enjoyed it immensely. Not only is at a highly engrossing novel, it’s chockful of obscure facts about WWII—particularly the American-descended white Japanese of Chichijima and the many American GIs who suffered ill-effects from the A-bombs—that deserve much more coverage. Kudos to the late Hank Searls for making these facts better-known.

[Heather Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a little lost in the beginning of the book, with all the different characters and settings, but as I continued, I was intrigued by the plot and found myself looking up how much of it was reality.