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This was the first Robert Conroy book I read, and I still find it an enjoyable re-read. Conroy's strengthes were (he's passed away) interesting characters, action, and intriguing twists. And this book perhaps more than any sticks closer to hard reality than his more improbable ones.

But the book has one flaw that grates on me: the portrayal of Hirohito. By the time Conroy wrote this book, the myth of Hirohito as a peace-loving puppet of the Imperial Army had already been pretty decisively debunked. By the end of the war it was certainly in his interest and ours to portray him so, Hirohito to save his Imperial neck, and a war-weary United States to facilitate the capitulation of the remainder of the Japanese armed forces. Conroy could have done better by not making his Hirohito one of the viewpoint characters and adding a little doubt about his real character among the people who ultimately rescue him.