I need time to think about this one. Like, a LOT of time. This book falls somewhere between 4 and 5 stars but I would need that time to make a final decision. The story is long but most of it feels quite fast paced, especially the second half. This book starts off quite mundane but the intrigue keeps ramping itself up until you're overwhelmed with psychics, war stories, mysterious phone calls, faceless men, and a host of other bizarre happenings. I will say that much of this story seems to be a commentary on elements of the second world war and Japan's involvement in the mainland. The story criticizes violence and war as a whole but in interesting ways I haven't really seen done before. I would likely be able to interpret many more of the symbols in the book if I had more knowledge of Japanese history. A note- there are some scenes where an older man (30's maybe) makes comments about the body of a teenage girl (16-17) which most American readers would probably find distasteful. Of course, I believe the age of consent in Japan is 14 so this may be viewed differently by Japanese readers. It was still a little off putting to me but it's not much worse than what you'd find in a Stephen King novel. I would really recommend the audiobook- at least, the one I had was fabulous and the different voices performed by one single voice actor were amazing.