About the book
In the late 1930s a brilliant
Japanese military spy-in-training hides a dark secret. Despite unparalleled
academic achievements and impressive physical ability, he hides a damning
psychological disability that is unknown to the public or his military superiors.
His “condition” is one he shares with few others, but they are, like him, the
high achievers of their day. Scientists, doctors, scholars, writers,
politicians, actors and more. Unknown for the most part, even to one another,
in the early twenty-first century they wrestle their shared disability into
submission or risk losing everything they dream of and have worked for.
Today we celebrate so many of them. The secret is out. These people have bipolar syndrome. But in 1938 so little was known that the disability was without even a public name although there were inklings of its existence in scientific circles.
Today we celebrate so many of them. The secret is out. These people have bipolar syndrome. But in 1938 so little was known that the disability was without even a public name although there were inklings of its existence in scientific circles.
The propensities of the
condition were then, as now, unpredictable, sometimes shocking and often simply
bizarre. It’s likely that as human beings have suffered with this “mood
disorder” through millennia, some of them have been able to suppress the demon;
have been able to press it deep into themselves and contain it…most of the time.
“The Water Trade” is a novel
built around the idea that a high level covert operative of the Japanese
government was a very high functioning sufferer of what is today known as
bipolar syndrome. The novel is an espionage tale and a historical romance which
takes many cues from history, but imagines also what might happen when an agent
with an undiagnosed psychological malady slips unnoticed into a leading role in
a history making series of events. Even the most disciplined sufferer might be
prone to make ill-advised decisions from time to time. “The Water Trade”
explores how those decisions might impact the fate of people and governments
and the future of nations.
In 1938, while still in training
with the Japanese Imperial Navy, ensign Arashi Sasaki is assigned to monitor
shortwave radio messages when he comes upon one describing the northward
movement of seventeen British troop transports on the open ocean to the west of
Dakar, Sengal. He immediately reports the intercept to his superiors and the
information quickly finds its way to the German High Command in Berlin. The
subsequent sinking of the transports resulted in the death of over 1,000
British seamen. A year later, and courier-delivered hand-written letter of
thanks from German Chancellor Adolph Hitler was delivered to the ensign. The
rising star of the Imperial Navy might have languished in the obscurity of
Tokyo office buildings if not for this lucky lightening strike, but as it was he
was selected by top brass to be the eyes and ears of the Japanese Imperial Navy
in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the fall of 1941.
A poor choice of disguises on
a daylight reconnaissance reveals his identity to a Japanese civilian woman and
a US Navy shore patrol. Compromised by his unmasking he begins making a series
of course corrections to keep the suspicious couple at bay. As the clock ticks
down to the day of the attack on December 7, 1941, just as incriminating
evidence has been obtained, the zeros unload their ordnance on Pearl Harbor and
three parties are flung far from one another across the globe.
The three primary characters,
despite their individual determination to let the past lie, are nevertheless
drawn together once again to a final explosive conclusion in 1954 Honolulu
orchestrated by international forces they would never have imagined.
My Review
Intriguing piece of story in the backdrop of World War II! The
moment I started reading the historical fiction I was completely drawn towards the
amount of research the author had done in developing the story plot.
The war is upfront and all the details of the enemy will
help the Japanese take reigns and to keep their strong hold and Arashi is the
man for the job. Arashi is a spy deployed by the Japanese to find the secrets
of the enemy and to foil their plans. He is the man for the j0ob.
The protagonists of the story play their part in the best
way possible and will keep you hooked up, as you move through the pages.
The story is quite descriptive and the way the author has portrayed
the happenings in the pre-war scenario will amaze you. There is so much to read
in the story, with spies, love, deception and war upfront, there is a lot
happening throughout the book.
Be prepared to go back in history and to watch the lives of
people in the pre World War II period. Incredible story but the best part of
the story lies in the end where things go a little eerie in the most unexpected
way you can ever imagine.
Read more about the book at Online Book Club
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