A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe is a story of
suspense, revenge and power. The story opens in November 1933 as American
Jessie Lesage is heading to the train station in Hanoi, Indochina with her
husband, Victor Lesage, heir to the Michelin fortune, and their daughter,
Lucie. Events quickly led to Jessie to doubt her own memories, but she knew “I
wasn’t unwell. I wasn’t forgetting anything. My family had disappeared.” Rewind
to September 1933 as the Lesages arrive in Hanoi from Paris as Victor is taking
over management of the Michelin families rubber plantations in the French
colony. Their first night in Hanoi, they take the customary trip to a club
where she meets Marcelle de Fabry, the wife of the president of the chamber of
commerce, Arnaud de Fabry. The two women quickly strike up a friendship. As
Jessie begins to learn the area and adjust to life in the colony, strange
things begin to happen, events that Jessie remembers but others claim never
did. What is going on? Is Jessie slowly losing her mind? Or is someone playing
a cruel trick on her?
A Hundred Suns is the type of book that you think you
have figured out and with a turn of a page, you discover you had it all wrong.
Ms. Tanabe slowly sets the scene and goes into great deal for the description
of the locations as well as the political and social attitudes of the time. And
just as you get a feel for the type of story it will be, the real action starts
and once you’re on that train, its nonstop until the last page and you let out
a breath! What a story! It was very intense with no clear character to cheer
for or who to vilify as everyone has their reasons and arguments to justify
their actions. There is so much more I wish I could discuss about book, but it
would give away too many plot points. I highly recommend A Hundred Suns!
A Hundred Suns
is available in
hardcover, eBook and audiobook
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