Daikon: A Novel by Samuel Hawley - Historical Military Fiction

Experience a gripping tale of love, war, and intrigue set against the backdrop of World War II's final days in Daikon: A Novel. This suspenseful narrative explores a chilling alternate history where three atomic bombs were delivered to the Pacific theater, and one falls into Japanese hands, entangling the fate of a separated couple with a terrifying new weapon.

Follow physicist Keizo Kan as he navigates personal tragedy and immense pressure. His daughter lost to the Great Tokyo Air Raid and his Japanese American wife, Noriko, imprisoned by the Thought Police, Kan is presented with a desperate chance for salvation. Tasked by the Imperial Army to examine a recovered uranium bomb from a downed American aircraft, he must unlock its secrets to secure his wife's release.

Working in secret, Kan races against time to understand the bomb's components, even as his assistant falls ill from uranium exposure and his own symptoms are dismissed. The army's relentless pursuit of power to avert Japan's surrender drives them to order Kan to prepare the bomb for a perilous manual detonation.

Specifications:

• Author: Samuel Hawley
• Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
• Publication Date: September 10, 2026
• Language: English
• Print Length: 368 pages
• Binding: Paperback
• Dimensions: 13.97 x 2.29 x 21.27 cm
• Weight: 279 g
• ISBN-10: 166808306X
• ISBN-13: 978-1668083062
• EAN: 9781668083062
• Release Date: 10 Sep 2026

Daikon offers a meticulously detailed and cinematic narrative that builds tension, even as readers know the course of history. It's a story that blends duty, anger, sorrow, conscience, and hope into an unforgettable conclusion.