Water Lily

This book is one of psychological suspense, and the beginning chapters alternate between two characters, named Ralph and Runa. Ralph is an Englishman, who has come to Japan to find a wife. He is an odd fellow (to say the least), and what he is really looking for is a passive, attractive woman who will agree to be his wife in exchange for his taking care of them back in England. So far, all of the women from the agency he has selected have all turned him down, (he gives everyone the willies, including the reader,) and he is getting despondent, and anxious. He had been previously married to a woman named "Apple" from Thailand, whom he met and married under similar circumstances. We know from Ralph, that this woman is no longer around, and that he felt she became insolent and not the passive doll he met in Bangkok. The circumstances of her disappearance is ominous, to say the least. Runa is a young, attractive Japanese woman who worked as a teacher. She is fleeing Japan because she had an affair with a young student, and that affair had been exposed. She doesn't feel guilty, or feel any remorse, she is more concerned with not getting punished. She is trying to get to China to visit her friend, a woman she only knew for a few months when they were both teenagers. If she can't find this friend, she has no where else to go. And of course, we know Ralph and Runa are going to meet each other... Here's the thing, if you don't like books with disturbing or unlikeable characters, this book is not for you. Like the characters in a Patricia Highsmith novel, Runa and Ralph are arguably sociopaths, and disagreeable at the very least. There are no heroes to root for, and neither of these characters are particularly sympathetic. But I enjoyed the tension, and the writing, and I found this to be a page-turner. Again, highly recommended for those who enjoy Patricia Highsmith, and for those who like books of psychological suspense.

Runa Wong is a Japanese woman in her mid-twenties who teaches in a private high school English to fifth year male students. She is having an affair with one of her pupils until she receives a letter threatening her with death and accompanied by a photograph showing her and the student leaving a love motel. Rather than face the consequences, Runa flees to Shanghai where she hopes to meet a friend.Ralph is an Englishman who owns an art supply store, lives in Carlisle and owns a four-bedroom house. He once had a Thai wife but it didn't work out and she disappeared. However Ralph has not given up his quest for a docile Asian bride. He contacts an agency that specializes in fixing up Japanese women with English or American males but the females want nothing to do with him. He decides to see if an Internet woman in Shanghai would be acceptable to him as he takes the ferry over there. He meets Runa, fixates on her, and decides to marry her until she reveals her true colors. The explosive results turn tragic for both of them.Susanna Jones gives readers an interesting insight into the cultural aspects of Japan as she displays her talent as a fine storyteller. However neither of her protagonists feels likable and consequently fails to engage reader's empathy. Readers will feel that Ralph and Runa live too much inside their head and do not interact enough with other characters including one another. The plot moves passively slow until the action occurs in the last few pages.Harriet Klausner