Customer Reviews:
 Shades of Casablanca April 20, 2008
There certainly are. Harry Niles, like Rick, is planning his exit, to catch the last plane out. He even helps a couple in love, with a visa, of sorts. The villain of the piece is a scary guy indeed. This is my favorite book by the author, not counting the Renko novels. This is not just a spy or romantic story, there are some interesting facts here as well.
 Warning August 30, 2005
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a great book and well worth buying as long as you haven't already bought "December 6", which is in fact the same book with a different title!!
Another treat from Martin Cruz Smith November 21, 2003
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Whoever is a faithful Martin Cruz Smith reader will not be disapointed by this book. I felt as if Harry Niles was just a pseudonim for Arkadi Renko, Smith's most famous character from the "Russian trilogy". Once again, it is a sensitive and powerful character who will stand in the face of anything to protect his values, or in Harry's case non-values. Nothing is as it seems in the magically depicted pre-war Japan and the same goes for Harry Niles. Descriptions of the far-away world, it's culture and convictions are as powerful as if Smith was writing a journal from his long life in Japan.Maybe a bit long-winded at times, but the surprising and powerful ending makes it all worth while.
Smith's Empire of The Sun January 5, 2003
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Havana Bay was a great detective story, as were many of Cruz Smith's earlier books. This one isn't a murder mystery at all, just the story of expat American Harry Niles living in Tokyo in the days before the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Niles, the son of missionary parents, has gone native though you're never quite sure what his game is as the crunch looms and the fleet steams towards Pearl. Cruz Smith is brilliant with his descriptions of Tokyo and the people and the social and political atmosphere. Reading this novel, you almost feel that you're standing there with Harry, overwhelmed by "the martial delerium of a loudspeaker, the chatter of clogs running after a cascade of lanterns". Narrative tension is built around whether Harry can get a plane out to Hong Kong before a headbanger of a lieutentant can slice his head off. I found this plot device a bit lame, which is why it doesn't get my five stars. But the novel's descriptive power is such that that if it had been written by a "literary" author like Ballard, then Tokyo Station would be a Booker contender.
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