Today we’re going to talk about Michael Crichton’s novel “Rising Sun,” which isn’t his most memorable novel, and there’s a reason for that. But then again, it was also made into a thoroughly dull movie, too—so there’s that.
***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***
What I love about this book:
As a writer, I like Michael Crichton, even though I suspect we wouldn’t be aligned politically speaking after reading this novel. He’s one of those writers that is surprisingly everywhere, in books, shows, movies—and everything he touched creatively has a certain amount of charm and style. This book has those touches as well.
Crichton did not shrink from doing his research, which is commendable, and he always sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. Characters don’t just “talk” in Japanese, and we get in English what they said—some characters literally speak in Japanese. Helpfully there is always a bilingual character around explaining what was said to another character who doesn’t speak Japanese, keeping the audience clued in.
Also, in the vein of research, Crichton can pull out some genuinely arcane factoids and pieces of trade law, treaties, Japanese lore/custom, and technical specifications of what was high technology at the time. So, a lot of thought, planning, and organization clearly went into crafting this novel’s world—which, yes, is contemporary America in the 90s. Still, he renders it with incredibly high fidelity.
What I don’t love about this book:
All that excellent background information and world-building I talked about in the “what I love” section gets paired with a murder mystery plot that is genuinely uninspired. I figured out who the murderer was thirty seconds after meeting that character.
“Rising Sun” at best can be described as a wrong-headed view on the reality of the geopolitical struggles between the United States and Japan during the 1990s, two countries that were allies at the time and still are currently. At worst—it’s an anti-Japanese racist screed that barely has a murder mystery plot stretched over it as a canvas.
Characters with minimal prompting stop the flow of the narrative to launch into soliloquies about how the Japanese are taking over everything and will soon own the United States. Nobody is too terribly interested in the murder mystery, including the people investigating it, which is ostensibly the center of this book’s plot.
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***The Spoiler part of this review***
***Ye be warned to turn back now***
The quick and dirty synopsis:
LAPD Lieutenant, Peter Smith, who works as a newly appointed Japanese liaison officer in the LAPD, is at home at the novel’s beginning—studying the Japanese language. He gets a call about an incident at the Nakomoto Tower, owned by the Japanese company Nakomoto, which has a major presence in LA. There has been a murder of a young American model. It took place in the building while a big gala is being thrown this evening by Nakomoto—very embarrassing. Smith’s superiors suggest he take Captain John Connor with him, who, while not liked in the department, has a lot of experience with the Japanese.
