#mo hayder

[derangedrhythms]

Cannibalism. Cannibalism. You could feel the word spoken on its own soaking into the walls and staining the carpet.

Mo Hayder, from 'The Devil of Nanking'

[tgsclassics]

British crime novellist Mo Hayder. As a former Page 3 model and actress, we know her better as Candy Davis, who appeared as Miss Belfridge in the BBC sitcom "Are You Being Served?" Her father an astrophysicist, and mom a schoolteacher, the lovely Miss Candy drifted to Tokyo, where she taught foreign language.

[bookmuseum]

[REVIEW] The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder

4/5 stars (★★★★)

I wrote most of this review as I finished up the last half of this book then revised it after I got to the last page. I binge-read The Devil of Nanking in less than 24 hours, which I guess speaks to its allure as a novel, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re coming in wanting a culturally relevant treatment of the Nanjing massacre. (You would think that’d be a given, but nope!) While I acknowledge and even commend Hayder’s obvious attention to detail, historical testimony, and humane sensitivity, I can’t find it in myself to say this book handles the subject matter appropriately. I did end up appreciating it as a novel — it’s one of those books you have to wait until the very end to form a real opinion of — but as an Asian person I can’t approve of how Hayder went about this exactly. I also don't really like that the top reviews for this book seem to be written by white Western people.

I wasn’t exactly horrified or felt ill reading this (I was promised that, by the way; this book showed up a lot under people’s horror “fucked up” recommendations, yet I am disappointed yet again. But that’s definitely my fault for being so disillusioned with horror). Despite never being scared — although there were times I was at the edge of my seat, definitely — I did have strong feelings of confusion and undiluted disbelief throughout the story. And not exactly in a good or profound way. There were just so many authorial choices Hayder made that I can’t wrap my head around or get behind, even from a narrative perspective. I liked this book, hence the four star rating, but I also disliked it for a number of valid reasons.

As a thriller, TDoN was very good. The writing was professional and, if I looked the other way from certain scenes, I could buy that the book was set in 1990s underworld Japan. (Not exactly all-immersive, but better than how Ryu Murakami in In The Miso Soup managed). Hayder knew how to keep the pacing suspenseful yet not overdo it with cliffhangers and vague cutoff scenes. While I love gore myself, I actually appreciate that she let off on the graphic descriptions and left most of it to the imagination, giving me only the bare facts of what I was supposed to envision. I think the two main murder scenes in the novel were well executed (pardon the pun). That being said, some of the writing was kind of awkward in terms of structure — the editors were not doing their job during the middle … — but altogether it’s a solid book.

However, and this is a big however, I can’t say TDoN was written in totally good or sound taste. Hayder certainly didn't write it for Nanjing/Chinese victims, survivors, and their descendants oppressed by the Japanese. I made the mistake of assuming that, given the subject material and historical context, an Asian person — probably Chinese or Japanese, maybe even Korean — wrote this book, so imagine my surprise when I found out the author was a British white woman who studied and did host work in Tokyo. The book kind of developed a pretty sour vibe after I discovered that, but not enough to not want to read to the end.

It did become cringe levels of apparent that a white woman, albeit one who did do the research (the bare minimum), was writing this when it got to the part that showed the elderly Chinese Nanjing massacre survivor saying he forgives Japan (LOL). Even though his “reasoning” for that statement is revealed to be more complex near the end, I didn’t like how Hayder implied that he’s wiser for taking the “high road” and seeing the humanity in the JIA. I knew where Chongming and Hayder were coming from, obviously, but the gesture was so disrespectful, offensive, and problematic because of Hayder’s pervading whiteness across the book. Even through fiction, it’s not at all her place to make suggestions like that. I don’t care if she consulted a billion Chinese people for this book, it still wasn’t okay for a white woman to choose to make a Chinese Nanjing survivor so forgiving. I’m not saying only Asian people can discuss Nanjing, but you’ve got to be smoking fried chicken testicles to think it’s fine as a white British woman to go the, “Oh let’s all just forgive each other for the atrocities because we’re all human and are all capable of monstrous things” route, even just subtly. Like girl no. I understand that Hayder never excuses Junzo Fuyuki or the “truly evil ones” in the JIA, but she leaves the distinction so up in the air to the point where it’s kind of useless.

The caucasity nonsense continued with the choice of the main character Grey being British, horny, and damaged in an “edgy sexy” way. Her sexuality was well written and brutally realistic, yes, but it wasn’t fleshed out beyond a kind of fetishism. It was interesting how to the very end Grey insists she wasn’t raped by those boys in the van, and how she still blames herself for what happened to her and her baby despite the fact she was a literal child taken advantage of by her parents, medical practitioners, and, of course, the men in her life. I truly felt sorry for her when she was talking about how deeply ashamed she was of being so innocent and sheltered. I know what that's like. The novelty of her complex personal background is kind of toned down (at least just a little) when she started having the hots for Jason the weirdo creep though. I guess they had chemistry, but I don’t like how Hayder tried to convince me Jason at any point was attractive and some sort of sex god. Very ew man from start to finish. (Although his end was more appealing to me than his introduction, if I do say so myself). Don’t even get me started on how objectively awful it was to make Grey and Jason fuck as a sort of "commercial break" from young Chongming's Nanjing massacre diary entries. That was definitely the most Not Okay part of the book. Grey's “perfect” night of marathon sex with Jason happens immediately before AND after we are shown a mountain of violated human corpses in Nanjing. Jesus. White women will write porn out of anything and call it “bold.” No it’s just racist, inconsiderate, and plain tacky.

If you separated Grey’s parts from Chongming’s diary entries, you’d end up with Orientalist pornography thriller versus speculative trauma memoir, which clash outrageously until about the last 100 pages of the novel when the pieces start making sense. (There was foreshadowing, yes, but not well fleshed out enough to warrant the insane contrast between the two narrators). I have zero idea who gave Hayder the okay to go through with this format. Who assured her it was a good idea to write a “steamy” sex scene between “two fucked up but still hot” white people right before AND after you show the rape of Nanjing? Literally who told her that was okay.

It was also painfully tone-deaf that Grey’s “big reveal” trauma was that she had an unborn baby that she supposedly killed herself by accident. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to belittle Grey’s trauma, I’m just saying it’s in extremely bad taste that Hayder so obviously cared more about this white woman’s experiences with the horrors of motherhood than what the women of Nanjing went through, which was a million times worse. (Not to sound like a dick, but at least Grey lived and got to a hospital. The women of Nanjing weren’t so fortunate). Hayder even constantly mentioned how babies would be ripped from their mothers’ wombs and get thrown in the air as target practice for the Japanese army’s swords and bayonets, which is factually true, that did happen, but it felt like shock factor confetti to emphasize what Grey went through. It bordered on torture porn. Hayden didn’t treat it as respectfully as she should have. Which is so fucked up and peak white feminist bullshit.

Another thing that didn’t sit right with me where the moments when Grey was straight-up picturing herself as some kind of WWII Japanese(ish) heroine, like when she imagines she’s in a “house” that “was a little raft in the dark, juggled on the waves, that outside my room the city was gone, blasted away in an atomic attack.” (An atomic WHAT now, Hayder? Do you know what words you’re using to describe Japan right now???) There were a handful of subtle references to the two atomic bombs and nuclear radiation throughout the book. I don’t know if they were intentional or examples of when Hayder was trying to be clever, but it was kind of in bad taste. Grey wanted to be a Japanese war victim so badly it was painful. I did feel for her pain, of course, but when it was revealed her entire character’s motivation was based on the fact that she, a British white woman, identified with the Nanjing massacre victims after reading about what the Japanese soldiers did to pregnant women … Yeah, that was Not It. Classic example of white women obsessing over grisly world history and appropriating others’ pain (usually women of color’s pain) for themselves. That’s what this entire book felt like, even down to the last line that literally focused more on a white woman’s personal tragedy with her own white baby than anything about Nanjing. Like yes lady your story is sad and I’m sorry, but this literally is not about you and it never will be.

Chongming also had almost no depth as a character until the very, very end. I guess that’s because for most of the book the version I interact with the most is his younger self, hence naïve and underdeveloped, but I found Hayder’s portrayal of him pretty superficial and inaccurate. For example, young Chongming’s dismissal of traditional Chinese superstitions in his youth, even for a liberal scholar who supported Chiang Kai-shek, was unrealistic and weakly conveyed. This is best shown with how easily Hayder makes him cave once the JIA come to Nanjing and he suddenly realizes the “Japanese are not civilized” and “[h]istory has shown me that, in spite of what I have long suspected, I am neither brave nor wise.” Yeah no shit. By default, he as a Chinese person would've known that. I simply can’t believe he was that stupid and ignorant, even though the major theme of the book is supposed to be about understanding the pitiful nature of human ignorance.

(Hayder claiming ignorance isn’t the same as evil is outrageously shallow by the way, considering her example is the fucking rape of Nanjing and how “not all” the Japanese soldiers were pure evil. Dear Lord, listen to yourself. It was infuriating how Hayder used “ignorance” as a conduit of so-called gray morality in her book. Because it wasn’t. It really, really wasn’t that complex ethically-wise).

Back to Chongming, yes, you simply couldn’t be a Chinese intellectual in 1937 Nanjing and not know or at least want to avoid the Japanese. Up until they invaded the city, he trusted them completely and made excuses for them, but never in my life have I ever heard a Chinese person say anything of the kind about Japan. Even before the 20th century, the Pacific War, Manchuria, and Nanjing, China and Japan absolutely hated each other. Hayder seems to just gloss over hundreds of years of history so she can make Chongming look surface-level progressive and idealistic. It was a silly pill to swallow, to say the least.

My final words: Grey was bone-dead stupid. She was really interesting, yes, but during the halfway point my fascination with her quickly turned to irritation because she was being such an everyday dumb white girl in Japan. When she got upset that Chongming “made” her do dangerous work “for his research,” I rolled my eyes. “i cOuLd’Ve dIeD!!!” No shit! Chongming literally warned her over and over again that dealing with the yakuza was a matter of life and death. Girl I get that you’re freaking out but how dense can you get. I’m supposed to believe this supposedly smart English college girl who’d been studying Nanjing for almost a decade didn’t know how fucked up the Japanese yakuza got? That didn’t pop up during your research? Into East Asia? Really?

Hayder had some other interesting characters, I’ll give her that. I don’t really like that Nurse Ogawa, who was portrayed as a sociopathic rapist, was trans-coded (the only one in the book who had queer undertones, which I find unbelievable considering most of the plot was set in red-light district Japan). Even so, I found myself growing more interested in the Nurse as the story went on. (That final chase scene between Grey and Ogawa at the house was really well written. I gorged down that entire section in so little time, it really was thrilling). I also really liked Strawberry. The Russian twins kind of felt unnecessary and never amounted to much in the end; I didn’t like them enough to genuinely wonder what happened to them after they left the narrative.

And, this is horrible to say, but Jason’s character only got interesting after he got raped and assaulted, and then promptly murdered. Until then I didn’t find his “perverted freak” persona all that compelling because guys like that aren’t as uncommon as Hayder wants me to think. He was super unpleasant, don’t get me wrong, but not exactly the freaky Big Bad that the book was trying to convince me he was. I think the best scene with him was when he was yelling at Grey to call his “mother” instead of a doctor to help him with his injuries. You really knew he was done for then. I liked that he was stubborn up until his last moments. Hayder portrayed his desperation and complete denial of what happened to him — because if he admitted the truth he’d also be confirming his own emasculation, which he clung to until the very end — in such a raw, believable way. Kudos to that part. And his screaming. That was the best and most haunting screaming scene in the book, in my opinion.

[duchessofostergotlands]

I've been watching this show called Wolf, based on a Mo Hayder novel. At first I thought it was a less good Funny Games rip off but I kept watching because the two psychopaths are played by Iwan Rheon and Sacha Dhawan who are two of my favourite weird little guys. Now I'm 4 episodes in and I have no idea what's going on but I'm loving it.

[gone2soon-rip]

CLARE DUNKEL,better known by her pen name,MO HAYDER (1962-Died July 27th 2021,at 59.Motor Neurone disease). British author of crime and thriller fiction. She authored more than ten novels under her pseudonym Mo Hayder and one under Theo Clare when her career began in 2000.She won an Edgar Award in 2012. Her best known work was Birdman, which was followed by a sequel The Treatment,creating the Detective Inspector Jack Cafferey,who was the main character in these novels., Her final book, The House of Sand, will be published in 2022, a year after her death.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Hayder

[jeanpascalmattei]

https://lemiroirdesfantomes.blogspot.com/2026/05/memoire-doutre-tombe.html

[mlle-teapot]

Book Review: Birdman by Mo Hayder ★★★★☆

The first book in the Jack Caffery Series is a banger, and it made me fall in love with both the character and the author.

The crime in itself is brutal and disgusting, and the author doesn't mince the details. I really liked the procedural aspects and the detailed descriptions of the forensic inquest, but it's not for everyone. Hayder doesn't fade to black, not during the autopsies, not during the murders, not when we are in the criminals' heads.

The pacing is addicting but not too fast that it feels rushed. And the criminal case is woven into the main character's life. And, in my opinion, that is the strongest point of the book: DI Jack Caffery.

Jack is a detective in his mid-thirties who, as expected, has a dark past full of trauma; he can't sustain a romantic relationship and is a borderline alcoholic. He refuses to leave his childhood home, from where his brother was abducted over 20 years ago by the pedophile neighbour. Jack keeps his and his brother's old room ("Ewan's room") filled with files and stuff he had scavenged from the neighbour's trash. He is obsessed.

He is also smart and dogged, a profiler who is attractive enough that all women in the story want him on some level. (Mo Hayder mentioned at the end of the third book that she was surprised and yet not that so many readers find Jack sexy, but that is the default mode for any heterosexual woman in the books, too.)

On paper, he sounds flat, but Hayder is talented enough to make him human, both in his flaws (and he has many) and in his virtues. Jack feels real, and I could not help but feel for him and empathise with him. He'll get worse as the series progresses, but I still couldn't look away from him.

The crimes of the Birdman will live rent-free in my head for a long time, but Jack will be there forever.

[mlle-teapot]