I read it as incessantly as I could over the work week and then did a good devouring over the weekend. IF YOU’RE LIKE ME, you’re drawn to noir for the grim settings, moral ambiguity, and a cast of characters with cynical worldviews forged from a lifetime of hard knocks — damaged goods, everyone. For those familiar with WW2 history, you will know that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour is coming and leads to the entry of the U.

To quote Nolan's review in the WSJ: "Lyrical, violent, intelligent, breathtaking: this is an unforgettable book. Trapped in their home for years, Joe learns Japanese from Sachi, and becomes intimately aware of the cost of war from a Japanese perspective, including the unprecedented horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I don’t know if James Kestrel, the author’s pseudonym, is a veteran, but he certainly red-lined the pressure by stranding his Five Decembers detective, Joe McGrady, in the middle of a war. The story has a nice old-fashioned noir flavor and I welcomed the less graphic love-making scenes I found them more romantic and much more poignant.Political pressure mounts when one of the carved-up victims is identified as the missing nephew of a Navy admiral. I usually ask for more stories about a character after finishing a book I enjoyed but this time I feel the main character Joe McGrady has gone through so much in his mission to bring this case to an end. Kestrel brings the streets of WWII era Hawaii, the south Pacific and the far East alive with his vibrant and gritty portrayals of societies on the brink. This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story―it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Another commenter wrote positively about this year’s Edgar winner, so I’d be keen to read that one too.

This is hardboiled fiction at its best: an exceptional tale, filled with emotion, plenty of surprises, and enough violence to satisfy the most bloodthirsty reader. The tone is in the same kind of terrain as Chandler, with an economy of prose and a propulsive sense of momentum. But I guess it's in keeping with that older style, after all our protagonist has both the worst and best luck in the world, and somehow manages to always just outsmart even the wiliest opponent.McGrady, a rookie detective, is the only one in the department who doesn’t know to make himself scarce before the long Thanksgiving holiday.