This was my 58th book finished in 2025.

Ugh, this was a really bad book. Where do I begin? Firstly, this is simply an incredibly boring book with a dull plot. I can't pretend that I find business interesting, despite Crichton's usual clever and engaging writing style. He really dropped the ball here. I vaguely liked some elements in this book, but hardly anything.

The whole message from the book is pure boredom. Blah blah blah, Japan is doing better than America. Bloody get over it, rahhh. Boohoo, poor America.

The annoying thing about this book is that nothing really happened in it. The protagonists do things to no avail, just for things to right themselves in the end.

Oh no, the man we thought killed her, died, but actually didn't die... Luckily he turned up in your apartment to tell you he didn't die, and move the plot along!

Ultimately, if they hadn't done anything, everyone would likely be in the same situation.

No character in this book is likeable. They are all awful and insufferable. Peter is so slow at times and doesn't understand things when the reader has already worked it out. It's very frustrating! He's also incredibly sexist, but more on that later. Connor keeps "suspecting" things, but not bringing them up until it's later explained through narration. Why not? It's all tell and no show. His whole Japanese zen vibe became so annoying very quickly. Everyone is just an arsehole in this story.

The narrator and seemingly every character talks about Japanese people as if they're a different species! The pages leak xenophobia - borderline racism - and that makes it so hard to get through. Oh, but Crichton says the Japanese are the most racist people on the planet, so that makes it okay(?). Every single character is a xenophobe - even the Japanese-American hates Japanese people. Ugh. You know Michael, there are quicker and easier ways than writing a 400 page book, to say "I hate Japanese people".

There were also completely unnecessary uses of racial slurs. Connor just randomly drops the N-bomb in the last few pages of the book. He's not even talking about black people, I just don't understand. It really took me out of it. Why???

So the next elephant in the room is the way all characters refer to women. The only thing mentioned about them is how they look and how attractive they are, and that they have such good bodies. I hate the way Peter constantly comments on women's appearances - fuck offffff!

The book is also painfully sexist and misogynistic. Women are written in a strictly demonised way. If you read between the lines, the

deceased

woman likes sex with multiple men, and kinky sex, so she was troubled and deserved

to die

. There is never an ounce of sympathy, and so much victim blaming. Having this as the backbone of the plot is horrible and icky. She was potentially

raped

, and they can't tell for sure, but still refer to them as "lovers". But then it's never brought up again. Plus, the way Peter just sits in the lab and watches it over and over, getting turned on by it is so disgusting.

It had such an unsatisfying conclusion - essentially the two useless detectives

killed everyone involved

through their complete incompetence and heavy-handedness. Like, everyone is

dead

now, I don't care who did it. You're a corrupt cop anyway, so why do you even care about this and finding out the truth? And in the end it was all because of some business deal? Or something? Who knows?! IDGAF! 

Jesus, I used to like Crichton, but this was truly terrible. Ultimately, I've rated it higher than a 1 because the simplistic language saved it, versus flowery confusing language. But it's rated lower than I would have rated it because of it's problematic themes and uncomfortable racism