A quick summary can’t do justice to the scope of The Tides of March, a novel fascinated by the history and culture of Japan, by the processes of detectives, fishermen, samurai, serial killers, and more, and by the ways that each major character’s convictions on law, justice, and other heady topics reflect Japan itself. That richness of ambition, combined with Price’s wordiness and eagerness to examine every moment in the detail, means the text is often dense, especially in opening chapters, which tend toward the discursive—especially for a novel with pulpy beheadings, corruption, and a serial killer to come. Readers who persevere will find excitement and many surprises, spanning history and worlds, plus international intrigue, wild murders, and an overall spirit of gusto that’s rare in such a thoughtful novel.
Scenes of confrontation, disaster, and otherworldly presences are vivid and unpredictable, while the pained camaraderie between the Kurosawa siblings, cursed by their grandfather’s actions, is affecting. The detectives’ pointedly tasteless banter, meanwhile, can prove exhausting, but readers on Price’s wavelength may relish it.
Takeaway: Genre-bending but wordy epic of cops, contemporary Samurai, and corruption in Japan.
Comparable Titles: Steve Bein, Peter Tieryas’s United States of Japan series.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: C+
Marketing copy: B-