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zobelle 's review for:

The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder
3.0

Deeply horrifying, especially because of its basis in historical fact. For all those who say the twist is not horrifying enough, I implore you to read Iris Chang’s the Rape of Nanking and to understand that this is not in fact torture-porn fiction but was a real massacre that was perpetrated against real, innocent civilians.

Well paced, well written, and nuanced but there were some b-plots I did not enjoy (the relationship between Jason and Grey was nauseating in the worst way) and some key characters that remained two-dimensional (both Jason and the old yakuza gangster). I think these “villain” characters remaining two dimensional does a disservice to the otherwise well-explored theme of good people being able to commit acts of atrocity, and how that changes a person’s life