Talking Location With … M J Robotham – VENICE
The Devil of Nanking
Location(s): Nanjing (Nanking), Tokyo
Genre(s): Crime, Suspense
Era(s): 1937 and 1990
Grey Hutchins is in pursuit of an obsession. She is searching for a piece of film taken during the infamous Nanking massacre of 1937. Some say it never existed. Grey is certain that it does, and that it lies hidden – somewhere in Tokyo.
Alone in an alien city, Grey becomes a hostess in an exclusive club catering for Japanese businessmen – and gangsters. One gangster dominates – an old man in a wheelchair surrounded by a terrifying entourage – who is rumoured to rely on a powerful elixir for his continued health. It is an elixir that others want – at any price …
With its focus on 1990’s Tokyo and Nanking in 1937, The Devil of Nanking is a literary thriller of the highest order. With its heady atmosphere of overt violence, lurking fear and sexual tension, this is a novel that takes hold of the reader and does not let go until its explosive final pages.
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