From the military history perspective, this is a well-researched novel about prisoners of war, from both the Japanese and Australian perspectives. We are all aware of how appallingly the Japanese soldiers treated their prisoners, compared to the more seemingly civilised behaviour of the Allied prison camp staff. This book goes some way into explaining the reasons behind the inhumane treatment by the Japanese military. In their culture, being a prisoner of war was considered cowardice and the lowest form of life. It is better to commit suicide than be captured.
The plot is based on an injured Japanese soldier escapee, being cared for by a sympathetic Australian nurse, whose husband is a POW in Japan. She convinces the escapee to return to Japan, from Australia, to attempt a rescue of her husband.
They have many adventures to enable this to happen. Sadly this is where the book falls down. I am a bit of an aviation geek and spotted a few technical flaws in the plot. The B29 bomber, where one of the protagonists stows away in, has two pressurised areas for the crew. These are situated in the front and back of the aircraft, connected by a tube over the bomb bay. It would have been impossible to attempt to stow away without being seen, there are 12 crew members on board. It is almost impossible to gain access to the bomb bay whilst in flight due to it being non-pressurised. To parachute out, at the height the bomber stream was operating, would have taken many months of special forces training. A Japanese soldier, dressed only in tropical uniform with no breathing apparatus, certainly would not have survived the parachute jump.
On the positive side, the characters are well rounded and are believable. The author shows that there are kind and humane people on all sides of a conflict. The book was a good read and will probably appeal to a cross-section of readers

I love historical fiction, and this book was perfect I loved the main characters and the mystery in the book. This was a great read.