Akunin's longest Fandorin novel, it consists of two volumes that deal with the young and old Erast's interactions with Japan. This is a tricky book - I think the masterpiece of the collection - that works on multiple levels.

It can only be understood through a familiarity with traditional Japanese values. The Japanese theme infuses the whole piece, the first five chapters are each broken into five parts, each representative of a syllable in a haiku. Further still, each chapter ends with a haiku that in one way or another is connected to events in the chapter.

The novel provides the explanation to Fandorin's "eastern" ways, and the origin of his attachment to and relationship with Masa. The narrative is interesting, the first five chapters occur during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, with the remainder of the book set in Japan some thirty years earlier, just after the Meji Restoration.

The connection between the two stories is only made apparent on the last page of the book - which itself carries a kick in the guts worthy of a standing ovation.

Read it, you won't regret it!