Tokyo is another of Mo Hayder's deliciously chilling criminal outings, but probably won't produce the frisson of disapproval that such novels as Birdman and The Treatment did. The days are gone when Hayder was identified as one of a cadre of women writers who did something totally unacceptable: produce grisly crime novels quite as unsettling as the products of male imagination. People seem to have finally accepted that the tough crime novel needn't be an exclusively male preserve.

Her troubled female protagonist in Tokyo is Grey, haunting the thronging streets of Tokyo in search of an elusive piece of film recording the infamous Nanking massacre of 1937. But did the film ever exist? The past is a touchy subject for Grey, with incidents in her own life that she has not yet come to terms with. She ill-advisedly becomes a hostess in a nightclub where the clientele is a tad unsavoury (another example of Hayder utilising real-life crime for her plots, with the echoes of a recent murder case). And Grey finds a lead to her quest: a taciturn survivor of the massacre who is now an academic, with no time for the woman pestering him. But Grey makes progress with him—until she encounters a powerful Godfather figure and his violent associates, with a clandestine source for his well-being a much sought-after elixir. Soon, Grey's life becomes two things: very complicated and a place of considerable danger.

The change of locale for Mo Hayder here has ensured that the imaginative energy of her earlier books is consolidated, as is the rejection of the now hackneyed serial killer plot. Atmosphere is brilliantly sustained, set pieces are pulse-racing, and (most satisfying of all) Grey is a truly complex and damaged heroine, the perfect conduit for the reader through this dark world. —Barry Forshaw

From the author of the multi-million-copy selling Otori series, Blossoms and Shadows is a compelling tale of women and men, love and war, and the rise of a nation.

It is Japan, 1857. The age of the Samurai is ending and a new Japan is about to be born. For those caught in the middle the times are unsure and turbulent, as new beliefs clash with long-held traditions.

Tsuru is a young woman with a secret ambition to become a doctor. Caught up in the politics of these unstable times, she will be forced to make some difficult choices. And when war comes, Tsuru's struggle to be treated as an equal will take her onto the battlefields...

Dans le Japon féodal du XIVe siècle, la guerre des clans fait rage. Sur les montagnes, les premières neiges viennent de tomber et Takeo, seul héritier de la puissante famille des Otori (après la mort de son maître Shigeru), a promis de rejoindre la Tribu, renonçant à la fortune et au pouvoir. Guerrier courageux, prêt à affronter les pires dangers et à assumer les plus lourds sacrifices, Takeo n’en est pas moins homme. Le souvenir encore brûlant de la mystérieuse Kaede – celle qu’il aimerait tant épouser – hante encore son cœur et son esprit. Mais la belle doit elle aussi suivre son destin et sa vie ressemble à un long combat sans répit pour retrouver sa liberté et cesser d’être un objet de convoitise dans un cruel monde d’hommes. Les deux histoires entrecroisées de Takeo et Kaede plongent le jeune lecteur dans une intrigue menée de main de maître où poésie et violence s’affrontent avec une rare beauté.
À la fois conte fantastique et roman d’aventures foisonnant et palpitant, l’épopée des Otori est une lecture incontournable, à découvrir dès 12 ans. —Catherine Taudin

Lian Hearn's third installment in the Tales of the Otori series Brilliance of the Moon brings a mystical and violent conclusion to the saga of Takeo Otori as he fulfills his destiny to reclaim the Otori lands. At the climax of Grass for his Pillow, Takeo's passion for his beloved Kaede was finally realized with their secret and forbidden wedding. As spring approaches, Takeo and Kaede prepare for war and embark on a campaign to reclaim their respective realms. But just when victory seems certain, Hearn characteristically uproots her characters with unseen treachery and the two lovers are again separated. Takeo must summon courage from his conflicted heritage as he marches towards his destiny. The fates of other Otori characters are also determined in a succinct and magical finale.

This third chapter in the Otori saga lives up its predecessors. Hearn's mythical ancient Japan is again brought to storybook life. Although the novel's climax comes suddenly and almost unexpectedly, the afterword hints at another tale to be told by the heirs of Kaede and Takeo's legendary rise. —Jeremy Pugh

Lian Hearn's second novel in the Tales of the Otori, Grass For His Pillow continues to enrich and expand his mystical imaginings of feudal Japan. Picking up where Across the Nightingale Floor left off, Takeo fulfills his debt of honor and accepts his heritage as a member of the superhuman cabal of assassins known as "The Tribe," and is thus ingested into their plots. But his heart yearns for Kaede, his one true love, and secretly wishes to fulfill the final wishes of his adopted father, Otori Shigaru. Meanwhile, Kaede returns to her homeland to find her father's estate in ruin and her inheritance in jeopardy. The two each encounter vast political machinations and deadly consequences as they unconsciously move toward their overwhelming urges to reunite and defy (or perhaps embrace) fate.

Hearn's second book into the Tales of the Otori series is a more poignant tale than the first, painfully examining the lines between honor, duty, and love. With its calming and satisfying conclusion, the landscape of Hearn's mythical vision of Japan braces for a dazzling storm in the book to come. —Jeremy Pugh