The United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas

Imagine the if the USA had lost to Japan, and Europe had lost to Hitler. No, it’s not Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle but Peter Tieryas novel The United States of Japan.

Now also imagine an amime comic book put to words and you have the gist of what this novel is about.

It is gory and violent, but not over the top. It has two protagonists, the male Beniko, being your anti-hero and the female Akiko, being your strong silent type heroine.

Beniko is a sensor and Akiko is secret police. Together they are trying find out who or what is going on with the new game called United States of America where the Americans are portrayed as the victors of the second world war.

This story is complicated, with a couple of twists and a good ending. People die, for sure, but … Oh who am I kidding I struggled with this story. I did like the two protagonists but I didn’t understand or care about their cause.

And the end didn’t leave me with a good feeling. I like to feel good. I like to feel I have fought and won with my protagonist and this was a hollow victory, leaving me feeling betrayed.

Serious. I ask a lot of my protagonist and there was a false ending, that didn’t ring true to me. I didn’t get the moment when he went from anti hero to gung ho hero.

But hey ho, it’s a good read. Can see the film in my head.