The reader may find it difficult to put this book down! It is a story of a Japanese atheist who became a Christian. The principal character of this book, Takashi Nagai, is an incredible man who exemplifies being a Christian-total commitment and even martyrdom. He graduated with top honours from Nagasaki Medical University, but the scientific rationalism presented there destroyed his Shinto beliefs. As he searched for a meaning to his life, the reader is presented with fascinating vignettes of Japanese history, culture and religion. In the 1930s he fought in the war as an Army medic in the China fighting and received medals for outstanding valour. His war experience became an integral part of his search for God. Meeting Father Moriyama at the Catholic Cathedral in Nagasaki after the war was truly a God-sent. Nagai took instructions, was baptised a Catholic, married, and began a happy family life. Then the Nagasaki A-bomb! The finale of his short life is powerful and absorbing.