What if there were three atomic bombs destined to Japan during the end of WWII? What is the first bomb failed and fell into the hands of the Japanese?
I often tire of reading WWII books, but this story if very different. I got to learn so much about Japanese and the technology of building bombs. Some of these facts were a lot to absorb for me. There was extensive research that went into this book. The authors notes at the end of the book were very interesting.
Keizo Kan has a lost everything. His young daughter was killed I. The Great Tokyo Air Raid. His wife Noriko is imprisoned by Thought Police.
The Imperial Army dispatch him to examine a device found in a plane crash. If he helps his wife will be released from prison.
This was a very compelling story. It is a story of resilience and love. I really enjoyed it. I just felt the technology was overwhelming at times. I just wanted to get to the story.
If you love history you will enjoy this what if story.
I received this advanced readers copy from Simon Schuster and NetGalley.

An unexpected, unexploded bomb was buried in the sand in Yemen, on April 24, 2025. This is fact. The Houthis have access to our technology. I could not believe that I had just finished reading Daikon, a new novel by Samuel Hawley. Daikon is about a plane crash in Japan, housing the ‘first” atomic bomb, the one that should have exploded days before Hiroshima. This bomb too, was fully intact. Is this art imitating life or visa versa?

Once the plane crashed, people are sent to investigate. The Army want control over the plane although the Navy got there first. Japan is at the point of surrender and the Army Colonel will do anything not to let that happen. He enlisted the only scientist available who worked on a failed project to create nuclear fission and the bomb. Never having been able to make fissionable uranium, Keizo Kan could not believe that the Americans could have done it. That much uranium was problematic.

Kan’s wife, American born, had been detained by the powers that be. Kan, with the help of a Japanese naval seaman, Korean by birth, were to disassemble, figure out how the bomb worked and reassemble the bomb to be used in a secret mission. Kan bartered his wife’s freedom for his help.There is a lot of political intrigue between the branches of the services and the factions wanting to overthrow the government to ensure a Japanese victory and to never surrender.

The story was very intriguing and the book was well written and researched. The only reason I gave the book 4 instead of 5 stars is because I felt the book needed editing when it came to the technical details describing the workings of the bomb and the deinstallation and installation in the plane. I just wanted to skip over that part and get back to the story. Don’t let that stop you from reading. In retrospect, this book is a scary reminder of what can be!

Thank you NetGalley and Avid reader Press for this advance copy.

Keizo Kan’s daughter was killed in a Tokyo Air Raid and then his Japanese American wife was imprisoned. After an American plane is downed over Japan, he is called to examine the bomb recovered from the wreckage. Keizo immediately realizes the bomb contains uranium.

I’m not entirely sure what to think about this book. It seemed like a satire, but I wasn’t really sure. The character seemed stereotypical and caricatures of real people. I thought the book was well written and paced. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

Daikon is an alternative history take on WWII, ruminating on the idea that Japan managed to get a hold of an atomic bomb after a failed bomb run by the USA crashes on Japanese soil. Keizo Kan is a scientist who worked on Japan's own failed atomic bomb project and is enlisted by a Japanese army leader to investigate the bomb, reassemble it and assist in a mission to use the bomb against the United States, a last-ditch effort to avoid surrendering in the last days of the war. Kan is persuaded to work on the bomb in exchange for receiving assistance getting his wife Noriko released from prison under the control of the Japanese Thought Police.
This is a well-researched and clearly well thought out supposition on how the Japanese would handle having an atomic bomb in their possession, clearly taking into account the Japanese culture of death before defeat of the time period. The descriptions of the bomb veered into very technical territory, and I admittedly had difficulty staying focused on these passages, but again this was well researched, and the author did their best to educate the reader on the process and execution behind the atomic bomb of WWII. The writing itself was well done but overall lacked something for me on the emotional connection side. I never felt all that connected to Keiko or his wife Noriko or their lives prior to the main timeframe of the novel, and as a result, this book was a bit of a drag for me to read. The premise was intriguing, but I am rounding down from 3.5 stars to 3 stars due to that criticism.
Thank you to Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster & NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

Interesting take on a blended sci fi historical fiction thriller . It was ok but not my favorite genre or type of story
Thanks to Netgalley for sharing this story with me

Daikon by Samuel Hawley

My interest in history/historical fiction concerning WWI and WWII has grown the more I read about both periods of time. With this interest and my readings, I've been paying attention to history in ways I wish I had begun long ago, when I was still in school. At least I'm still learning now and wanting to learn more every day.

Samuel Hawley gives us a reimagining of a critical time in history. What if instead of two atomic bombs, there had been three missions to drop atomic bombs on Japanese cities? What if this third bomb dropped without detonating and was now in the hands of the Japanese? In this scenario, while Japan is in the midst of hammering out a surrender agreement to the Allies, there are those in Japan would would rather sacrifice more millions of Japanese people in order to keep the war going, people who would see all those additional deaths as a worthy sacrifice to avoid surrender.

As this undetonated atomic bomb falls into the hands of a madman who believes millions more deaths are not too high a price to pay for his egomaniacal desires, physicist Keizo Kan is thrown at the task of understanding this bomb and making it work. It's because Keizo's wife is in the prison of the Thought Police that Keizo feels he has no choice but to follow orders that go against the welfare of all humanity. We learn of the love between Keizo and his wife and along the way Keizo bonds with a young soldier who has always been an outsider where ever he goes.

Through this story I learned more about Japan, the Japanese people and the obstacles they were up against, many put there by their own leaders. Keizo is up against the impossible, at his fingertips he has the ability to see millions more die and all will be lost for the future. Or he can say no now and lose everything in the present. When all is almost lost anyway where does a weary and brokenhearted man go to get the strength to keep on and to do what is really right in his heart.?

I enjoyed the author's note at the end of the book. Do not miss this last part of the story, there are so many interesting things to learn from the notes, and after I finished this story I was off to look up a certain famous Japanese actor who has a character based on him in this story. I'm so glad the author was able to get this book published and I hope others who are interested in this type of history will enjoy the book, too.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc of Daikon by Samuel Hawley. This is a historical fiction, sci-fi book based in Japan during the last days of World War II. A guy by the name of Keizo Kan has lost everything. His wife is in prison and his daughter has been killed. Him being a scientist works with an American bomber to disassemble a bomb. This story was very good, I really enjoyed it.