full review can be found here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/book-review-red-chrysanthemum-by-henry-m...

full review can be found here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/book-review-red-chrysanthemum-by-henry-m...

Historical fiction, this is not. It's historical fantasy. And poorly written historical fantasy. It's not really worth spending too much time writing about it, but, in brief, here are the faults.
*There is no atmosphere. This novel neither feels like postwar Japan or even the US of the immediate postwar period. Henry Mazel, instead, tries to pepper his story with the names of 1940s era American politicians, entertainers, and sports figures. That actually works against creating an authentic atmosphere. It seems contrived and artificial. How much analysis of a Jack Benny joke can a reader stand?
*Mazel attempts to give us some sort of hybrid Sam Spade set in Japan. Unfortunately, Alex Rada, the naval investigator, is more like a cut-rate Mike Hammer. But that fits, because Mazel's writing is closer to Mickey Spillane's than Dashiell Hammett's.
*Mazel's writing per se is verbose, rambling. His syntax and slang does not match the era. And when he does drop in a word or phrase from the postwar years, it is jarring in its awkwardness alongside his usual cascade of dialogue.
*And the history there is is messy. Just one example: Kanchanaburi, location of the famous "Death Railway," was in Thailand, not Burma.

I did like the cover photo for the book. ( )

I am not really sure about this book. I am not sure if it’s the subject matter which I know little to none about, or whether it’s the main character/narrator who is a really unlikeable character; or whether it’s the authors loquacious writing style.

As already stated the main character is really unlikeable, imaginable, unintelligent, and mostly every other ‘un’; plus he is not good at his job, yet he is asked to investigate a mystery by his superiors probably in the hope that he would fail to resolve it. And yet again there is a love element, although not central to the main plot. (Why do authors feel that readers cannot read a male centred novel without having a love element? Guess what – we can!)

Very little is made of the setting which did not really do the books any favours and therefore the book lacked the atmosphere that such scene setting could provide. Instead it felt as though the main characters were running around in a vacuum.

The author writes loads but says very little and there is not much action and very little back story. What back story there is revealed slowly and painfully. In short this story that goes nowhere fast what ending there was, was a foregone conclusion. The narrator also talks to the reader, which I personally don’t like, but then again I dislike ‘Sam Spade’ type novels and films. I would rather have things left ambiguous than spelt out so that I can come to my own conclusions. For this reason I am unable to recommend this book as this reader thinks that, in short, it lacks readability.

Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review. ( )

This book was a 180 from what I was expecting. I was expecting a deep, dark, and sad story. There were times that I laughted and kept reading waiting to see what would befall the poor guy. Going to see if I can find more by Henry F. Mazel.

I received this e-book from NetGalley for free for an honest review. ( )