Black Wind ~ F Paul Wilson

Black Wind is possibly the best novel I have read by F Paul Wilson (author of The Keep). Thisis a story of friendship and love set against the backdrop of the events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Frank Slater and Matsuo Okumo are best friends growing up in San Fransisco. Matsuo’s father had sent him from Japan to live with his aunt and uncle, who are the housekeeper and gardener to Frank’s family. Their friendship is not acceptable by society’s standards and they face abuse and bullying from an Irish boy Mick Mcgarrigle and his gang. They swear an oath to their friendship, but after an ambush in an alley way which leaves Matsuo severely injured and Frank full of shame for abandoning his best friend, Matsuo returns to Japan. (Doesn’t this sound like the first part of Kite Runner? But, this book was written almost 20 years ago).

Hiroki is Matsuo’s older brother and a junior member of the Karuketo Kao, a sinister order of monks who are trying to locate lost scrolls relating to the conjuring of the Black Wind which seers have foretold will win them a war in the near future. Horoki and another student are charged with the task of finding these scrolls. Hiroki is engaged to the beautiful Meiko, who is sent to America to complete her schooling and as Matsuo has been asked to return to ‘spy’ on American businesses by his father he takes advantage of the situation to keep an eye on her for his older brother. Meiko meets Frank however and he becomes her best friend, while Matsuo keeps his distance, he trusts Frank although they are no longer friends and concentrates on his assignment.

When both Meiko and Matsuo return to Japan a series of events evolve whereby they are caught after an act of love and in doing so have betrayed their family’s trust. The ensuing shame and miscommunication causes each to believe that the other is dead. Meiko ends up in Hawaii and meets Frank again who is working in Naval Intelligence due to the fact he can speak fluent Japanese (thanks to his childhood friend). They eventually marry, however via Japanese Naval Intelligence Matsuo discovers that Meiko is still alive and travels to Hawaii to convince her to betray Frank and return to Japan with him. Her marriage to Frank is declared null and void by Japanese law and so they marry and Meiko has a child, but her son bears the ‘Slater Stain’ a port wine mark from the eyebrow to the hairline and Matsuo rejects both mother and child. Meiko names the child Nakanaori which means Reconciliation and as time goes by they are both accepted again.

The Karaketo Kao find part of the lost scrolls and kidnap children who they operate on to remove their senses so that their fear conjures up the Kuroikaze (Black Wind and which the Americans call the ‘Wilt’). It sucks the life from all living creatures and plants. The altered children are called Shotens, and are found around various islands housing Americans where the Black Wind has done its damage. Frank who has become a drunk after his betrayal survives the Black Wind by chance and this turns his life around and its mystery becomes his focus for the rest of the war.

However, when Hiroki successfully locates the rest of the missing scrolls and it is revealed that ‘mongrel’ children who drink an elixir were more successful Shotens than the altered children, Hiroki kidnaps Naka believing him to be the ultimate weapon against the Americans.

Matsuo is sent back to America to advise if they are successful in testing the atomic bomb, but he is captured on his way back to Japan and interrogated by Frank. Meiko is also captured in a boat she was sailing to meet with Matsuo. Franks finds out he has a son, and that he is being held by the monks in Hiroshima – the target city for the Atomic bomb. He decides to accompany Matsuo to Japan to save his son before the bomb is dropped. Frank has a chance to redeem the past and save Matsuo from slaughter by the the Karuketo Kao and confirm that despite what happened when they were children and the events during the war they are still best friends.

Writing this review makes the love story sound quite complicated, but it was in fact very well written. The passage whereby Matsuo realizes he his prepared to accept the son of his now rival brought me to tears. The characters are very well drawn and unforgettable, the history thoroughly research as well as the descriptions of Japan and its culture.

Interestingly enough, the first 100 pages of this novel read almost the same as Kite Runner – yet it had been written in 1988!!