1995, Japan struggles with a severe economic crisis. Fate brings a number of people together in Hiroshima in a confrontation with dramatic consequences. Xavier Douterloigne, the son of a Belgian diplomat, returns to the city, where he spent his youth, to come to terms with the death of his sister. Inspector Takeda finds a deformed baby lying dead at the foot of the Peace Monument, a reminder of … of Hiroshima’s war history. A Yakuza-lord, rumored to be the incarnation of the Japanese demon Rokurobei, mercilessly defends his criminal empire against his daughter Mitsuko, whom he considers insane. And the punk author Reizo, obsessed by the ultra-nationalistic ideals of his literary idol Mishima, recoils at nothing to write the novel that will “overturn Japan’s foundations”….
Hiroshima’s indelible war-past simmers in the background of this ultra-noir novel. Clandestine experiments conducted by Japanese Secret Service Unit 731 during WWII become unveiled and leave a sinister stain on the reputation of the imperial family and the Japanese society as a whole.
PRAISE FOR RETURN TO HIROSHIMA:
Van Laerhoven’s Return to Hiroshima might well be the most complex Flemish crime novel ever written.
Fred Braekman, De Morgen, Belgium
A complex and grisly literary crime story which among other things refers to the effects of the
nuclear attack on Japan.
Linda Asselbergs, Weekend, Belgium
Van Laerhoven skillfully creates the right atmosphere for this drama. As a consequence the whole book is shrouded in a haze of doom. Is this due to Hiroshima itself, a place burdened with a terrible past? Or is the air of desperation typical for our modern society?
Jan Haeverans, Focus Magazine, Belgium
Van Laerhoven won the Hercule Poirot Prize with Baudelaire’s Revenge. You’ll understand why after reading Return to Hiroshima.
Eva Krap, Banger Sisters
Author Bob Van Laerhoven pulls together an outlandish ensemble cast of peculiar personalities; fierce, fragile individuals who claw their way under your skin. Their predicaments –and their potential to unleash chaos – drag you into the narrative’s darkening abyss.
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Return to Hiroshima, by Bob Van Laerhoven, is a novel that falls between many genres, Noir, Crime Thriller, Mystery, Literary, and Historical fiction. This multi-genre story unfolds in many layers, shedding a country’s horrific past. Mr. Laerhoven’s novel is replete with sinister characters, lost, damaged souls consumed with wicked, corrupt acts―greed, incest, lust, and a murderous psychopath of imperial blood, believed the incarnate of Rokurobei, a Japanese demon, and a master of lies. Lies so convincing, I question the truth throughout the story, a version that contradicts his daughter’s, Mitsuko, who’s escaped his control into the city. And the reason Rokurobei has resurfaced after many years―to find and silence his daughter’s untruths.
Although the story takes place in 1995, Japan, the dark, urban setting feels post-apocalyptic. Unscrupulous characters indulge personal demons in clandestine places while a psychopath who believes he is one scours the city on a murderous mission to uncover his daughter.
World-War One’s Little Boy, Military Intelligence Service Unit 713’s ghastly experiments to create a master race, shadows and serves as a backdrop to modern-day Japan.
Sated with seedy nightlife, secret clubs (Suicide Club) living on the fringe of society, a corrupt government, amid a recessionary economy, and a suspicious bank robbery, the sinister plot thickens as Japan seems on the brink of collapse.
Undoubtedly, there are monsters in this story, not just grotesque abnormalities of war, and secret experiments gone awry, but regular people suffering personal demons. Mr. Laerhoven interweaves backstories effortlessly from 1945 to 1995, revealing how past misdeeds impact present-day character’s lives.
The author isn’t afraid to write mankind’s baseness or grisly details that repelled but compelled me to turn the page, no matter how repugnant. There is no light, no salvation in this Noir fiction. No happy endings, only darkness, death, Karmic retributions, black as toxic dust. I approached the last page with a heavy sigh and laid my head on the sofa with several maxims blitzing my mind. Karma is a bitch. The past always haunts the present. Demons exist in human form. Evil knows no light.
But there is always hope as the Peace Monument, an effigy of a young girl named Sadako Sasaki who remained hopeful until illness from Little Boy’s toxic dust claimed her life. The Peace Monument stands today in Japan as a reminder of man’s darkness, hope, and light.
“. . . the bullet-shaped memorial to Sadako Sasaki, the twelve-year-old little girl who was standing on Misasa Bridge when Little Boy exploded above her head and toxic radiation descended on the city like a blanket. She died ten years later from leukemia. Sadako spent the last year of her life folding paper cranes because a clairvoyant had predicted she would survive if she reached a certain number. . . she had folded many more than the required number when she died with malignant bulges on her neck and throat . . . Nowadays, after every school trip, hoards of nervous, giggling schoolgirls leave behind a veritable mountain of finely folded paper at her monument.”
Return To Hiroshima, a well-written, page-turner, will stir you to the core, play on every emotion, make you deliberate man’s evil, and hope for some light amidst darkness. I highly recommend Return to Hiroshima but caution those faint of heart.
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Return to Hiroshima is a dark, gripping novel, filled with a beautifully real-feeling Japenese culture and society along with corruption and the search for power. The story is very grim and sinister, and at times, very intense. There are some difficult topics covered in this story, with research centers and camps during WWII, but it fits with the theme over the novel and is necessary for telling the story.
One part of this novel that threw me off a tiny bit was the rapid character introduction in alternating chapters. It takes some getting used to and concentrating. Once things came together though, the story becomes immensely powerful. So, when reading this one, you just have to power through that part, and it becomes well worth it.
A multi-layered plot, with intense characters and powerful themes, Return to Hiroshima is one you don’t want to miss.
*I received this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*