I'll just say that I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately grabbed Matsumoto's A Quiet Place (also from Europa) off of my shelf to read just as soon as I'd finished Point Zero. I also watched the 1961 film based on this novel via the Criterion Channel, and I am rather impatiently awaiting the arrival of the 2009 version DVD as well.
Although Teiko Itane had received marriage proposals in the past, she'd turned them all down. Her situation changes when she receives a proposal from a certain Kenichi Uhara via a matchmaker. Uhara is the manager of the Hokuriku branch of a major advertising firm, spending twenty days a month at the office in Kanazawa City and ten days in Tokyo. That arrangement is of particular concern to Teiko's mother, but it seems that the company has been trying to get him to move to Tokyo for a while and he's finally agreed, using the opportunity to finally get married as well. Even though they hadn't spent any time alone together, Teiko decides to accept the proposal, and also believes that whatever life he'd had in the past should stay in the past. This decision will come back to bite her later, but for the moment, aside from some sort of unspoken "complexity" within Kenichi that she senses, the few early days of the marriage that they share aren't so bad for either of them. She's made friends with Kenichi's brother's family (who live in the Aoyama neighborhood of Tokyo) and after the honeymoon, the plan is for Kenichi to make his final trip to Kanazawa to hand over the job to his successor, a certain Yoshio Honda, who will be accompanying him on the train journey. As she watches the train pull out of the station, she has no clue that this will be "the last time Teiko ever saw her husband." What follows is her search for her now-missing husband, and after the first bit of information comes as a shock to her, it is just the opening salvo of many more surprises to come, including a series of unexpected deaths and a ruthless killer who is determined not to be caught. The question that drives Teiko here is just how these deaths are connected. She also realizes that "Her husband had a secret. What was it?" Beginning her quest with only two photos of two different houses that might possibly be some sort of clue, finding the answers becomes for Teiko nearly a full-time occupation.
The novel is utterly twisty, full of betrayals and secrets which eventually are unraveled to take the reader to another time and place entirely. All of the above makes for a solid mystery at the core of this novel, and I seriously had trouble putting it down once I'd started. I have a great love for Japanese crime authors who use their writing to explore human nature and troubled psyches, and Point Zero certainly appeals on that level as well. What elevates it beyond ordinary is Matsumoto's ability to set the crime not only within historical context but in a changing social context as well. This one I can certainly and highly recommend, especially to readers of vintage Japanese crime fiction. I loved it. ...more
I really love these Kindaichi novels -- over the years I've become a huge, huge fangirl. According to Wikipedia, it looks as if this book first appeared as a serialization that ran from 1951 through 1953. It was later published in 1973 in book form, and now the good people at Pushkin Vertigo have published it in an English translation, thanks to Jim Rion. Going with that same article in Wikipedia (and despite what the goodreads blurb says about it), The Devil's Flute Murders is number fifteen in the series starring Yokomizo's detective Kosuke Kindaichi; it is the fifth of the Kindaichi books to have been published in English by Pushkin Vertigo. Just a heads up here: at the Wikipedia page for author Seishi Yokomizo, I noticed that there is another translation coming from Pushkin Vertigo in 2024, The Little Sparrow Murders . I will certainly be grabbing that one as well.
The novel is quite involved, with a level of complexity I haven't yet seen in this series; after having finished it, I can see why the serialization of this novel lasted so long. Yokomizo obviously took his time, allowing Kindaichi to unravel each and every strand (and there are many) of this perplexing case until the detective can get to the bottom of it all. It might be worth noting here that if you're someone who wants their mysteries solved quickly with a standard cut-and-dried, formulaic approach to a solution, you won't find that here. Another thing: the huge cast of characters is listed in the front in a sort of dramatis-personae type thing, but I became pretty frustrated at flipping back to that list time and again so I finally ended up just making a copy to leave nearby while reading. And speaking of characters, at one point I actually said to my spouse that I believe this is the first time in reading a book where there were only two people I liked, and that was Kindaichi and the dead Viscount. Reader beware -- if you're someone who has to like the people inhabiting your books, you might be a bit disappointed.
I am beyond happy to report that I did not guess the who until nearly the end when Yokomizo almost hands it to the reader (boo!) although I will say that I did sort of figure out the underlying why in a vague way a bit earlier. If I explain what it was that made me get that far, it wouldn't be fair to people who may decide to read this book, so we'll leave it there. Bottom line: when all is said and done, The Devil's Flute Murders is a solid and compelling mystery that regular readers of Japanese mysteries in translation or regular readers of the Pushkin Vertigo Kindaichi series novels should absolutely not miss, although it is very different in many ways from its predecessors.
I did want to mention that the best film adaptation of the two I watched was done by NHK Television in 2018, available on YouTube with subtitles; do consider reading the novel before watching the movie.
I love these mysteries from Pushkin-Vertigo and can't wait to read the next one, The Devil's Flute Murders coming early July. I've already bought the I love these mysteries from Pushkin-Vertigo and can't wait to read the next one, The Devil's Flute Murders coming early July. I've already bought the DVD for that one and I'm really looking forward to both.
The Mill House Murders is apparently the second of several books by this author in what Wikipedia refers to as the "Bizarre House/Mansion Murders" series. I've previously read his The Decagon House Murders (also published by Pushkin Vertigo), the first in the series and a really good mystery that cinched the deal when it came to preordering this book. And while I had the inklings of a solution to this mystery vaguely floating on the periphery of my brain, The Mill House Murders still managed to seriously stump me as I couldn't figure out either the who or more importantly, the how.
The novel begins at 5:50 a.m., September 29, 1985, within a prologue in which we learn that it is nearly dawn, and the group of people staying at the home of reclusive Fujinuma Kiichi have had a very bad September 28th night. While a typhoon raged outside, things inside Fujinuma's Mill House had taken a horrific turn -- a woman had fallen from the tower room, a painting had vanished, and one of the guests had simply disappeared. As if that's not bad enough, things are about to get worse, with the discovery of a dead man in the incinerator, "cut up in pieces and burnt." It was, to quote Fujinuma, "a blood-soaked night." Flash forward exactly one year later, and once again a major storm is making its way to the area, and once again guests are expected at the Mill House. The Mill House is named for its three water wheels that provide the house with its electricity; as one of the guests remarks about them, they
"... almost look like they are turning against the flow of time, keeping the house and everything in this valley frozen in a never-ending moment."
It seems as though this is precisely what Kiichi desires, but as idyllic as it sounds, it is evidently not meant to be.
Every year on September 28th, a small, set group of Kiichi's acquaintances make their way to his home to view his collection of his famous-artist father's paintings, which he kept only for himself and not for public consumption in an exhibition. It seems that these well-known paintings have often been known to produce strange reactions from the viewer, but there is one that Kiichi will allow no one to look at known as "The Phantom Cluster," making his guests want to see it all the more. This year there will be an extra, uninvited guest by the name of Shimada Kiyoshi who is not only interested in the events of September 28th of the previous year, but also a friend of the man who had disappeared at the time, who was also thought to have been responsible for the theft of the painting and most likely for the death of the incinerated man. As Shimada says to his host, "something about the case bothers me. There's something not right ..." And yes indeedy, there is something very wrong in this house, beginning with the first death, bringing back fresh memories of that night a year earlier, as well as the question of whether history might be repeating itself once again.
There is seriously nothing like reading a book that takes place during a major storm while in real life there's thunder and lightning at play all around you, making The Mill House Murders atmospheric and a bit creepy at the same time. This story begins in the past, moves into the present, and continues in this way throughout the novel. At most points both timelines are set as a mirror of the other, as Shimada's questioning goes on and he gains more information and more clues as to what had happened in 1985. That is not to say that 1986 doesn't have a few surprises in store; as I said earlier, I thought I had at least a sort of outline of the solution in my mind (I actually sort of did in a vague way guess a small part of it) but by the end, the various twists and turns taken throughout this story brought things to a level at which I would never have guessed. The truth is that I'm always so happy to end a book with a with a huge gasp when all is revealed; this is twice now that it's happened with this author.
I do hope that Pushkin Vertigo will go on to publish at least a few (if not all) of the remaining Bizarre House/Mansion Murders books by this author -- for me The Mill House Murders was very well done, highly satisfying and really quite ingenious. I happen to love these sort of mysteries; they aren't always for everyone but I thrive on puzzle solving of any sort and these books are definitely puzzlers, in a very good way.
Recommended to regular readers of Japanese crime fiction/mysteries. ...more
The reading dates are misleading ... I put this one down earlier to catch up on my group reads then came back to it, but it probably really took like 3-4 days of actual reading time to get through this one.
Completely overjoyed when I learned last year that this book was going to be published by Pushkin Vertigo, I hit the preorder button at lightning speed. At the same time, I bought a dvd of the 1977 film made from this novel, directed by Kon Ichikawa, which I watched after finishing Death on Gokumon Island.
It's September, 1946 and as the novel opens, a ferry is making its way to a few different islands in Japan's Seto Inland Sea. It drops its passengers until there are only three left, all heading for a small island, Gokumon-to, which translates to Hell's Gate Island. One of these people is Kosuke Kindaichi, who overhears a conversation between the other two -- a priest who had gone to pick up the once-confiscated, now-returned bell belonging to Senkoji Temple, and another man who informs the priest that someone named Hitoshi was "supposed to be coming home soon." He had heard the news from a soldier in Hitoshi's regiment who had come to the island a few days earlier, when the guy had turned up to tell the family that Hitoshi had sent him to let them know not only that he would be returning, but also that he hadn't been injured in the war. The priest then asks about someone named Chimata, which captures Kindaichi's attention, sparking a conversation among the three men. It turns out that Kindaichi, a friend of Chimata, had come to Gokumon-to let the Kito family know of his death aboard a transport ship just a month earlier.
Kindaichi, "like every other young man in Japan," had been drafted into the army, where he had spent two years in China before being deployed "between different islands to the south." His last stop had been in Wewak, New Guinea, where he had met and befriended Chimata Kito, helping him through his bouts of a very bad case of malaria and spending time together while the other soldiers "fell one after the other." While they eventually made it out okay when the war ended, each time Chimata fell ill Kindaichi noted that he suffered from "an extreme fear of death." All was well, it seemed, until Chimata fell ill on board the repatriation ship; before he died he had told Kindaichi that he didn't want to die, and that he had to go home. Otherwise, he said, his "three sisters will be murdered." Exactly why this might be is not explained until the end, but by then, it's too late -- it seems that Chimata had been right, and now our detective must try to discover who is behind these (quoting the back cover) "grotesquely staged" deaths that start not too long after he lands on the island.
The real payoff in reading Death on Gokumon Island must wait for the end. I was actually becoming a bit frustrated partway through because the story becomes more than a bit muddled and clunky at times; to be fair to the author, he does toss out clues here and there but they are on the impossible side of figuring out until all is revealed and things fall into place. Trust me -- even the most seasoned armchair detectives will not be able to figure this one out. Word to the wise: pay attention to the list of characters offered up front; I found myself returning to it several times.
According to Thrilling Detective, there are seventy-seven books featuring Kindaichi, so with any luck (crossing fingers) we may be seeing more in translation. As I've noted before, my favorite is The Inugami Curse apa The Inugami Clan, but with another seventy-three left, who knows what little gems are yet to be uncovered in this series! Despite my reading reservations at times, this novel ends up being not only clever, but the author injects more than a twisted sense of destiny as well as a sort of tragic irony into this story once all is said and done. Recommended for fans of the series and for Japanese crime fiction in general; it may be a bit slow in the telling but the reward is well worth waiting for....more
My Annihilation is yet another book I'm reluctant to label as simply crime fiction -- there are layers upon layers to unfold during the reading, and as the author himself notes in an afterword, in this novel he is exploring "questions about what it means to be human, and what it means to exist in the world," as well as the question "what is a self?"
It doesn't take too long to become completely immersed in this novel, which begins in "a cramped room in a rundown mountain lodge," where our narrator is considering the "various forms of identification" in his bag, all belonging to someone named Ryodai Kozuka. In a corner of the room is a white suitcase which he did not bring there, and on the desk is a manuscript, which he believes just might be Kozuka's life story. As he begins to read, he finds a warning:
"Turn this page, and you may give up your entire life,"
but the narrator reveals that he has "no intention" of giving up his "old life;" all he wants is Kozuka's identity. Noting that while Kozuka may have left some "unfinished business" behind, he assures himself that "it was no business of mine." It's at this point (and we're only on page four) that I realized that it may have been a smart thing to heed that warning, but no.
Without spoiling things for potential readers, what actually emerges here is a sinister plot for revenge, and I must say it's one of the creepiest I've encountered, with the actual mystery behind it all taking a number of surprising twists and turns before all is revealed. Underlying this novel is the answer to the question of "what is a self," to which the author responds that "Under a particular set of circumstances, it becomes impossible to tell." Using various forms of textual material throughout the novel, the author runs with this idea, revealing just how easy it is "to get inside a person's head," an idea at the very heart of this story. He raises questions of identity and memory, especially the ways in which they might be changed or in this case, even created. With that then comes the question of what happens to the original self that must somewhere continue to exist; this sort of philosophical/psychological underpinning is why I noted my reluctance at the outset to define My Annihilation as just another crime novel. At the same time, it moves this book well and deeply into the literary zone, and as the back-cover blurb notes, "into the darkest corners of human consciousness." In short, it's right up my alley.
I love to try to solve mysteries as I read them, but My Annihilation is one of those books where just when you think you have a handle on things, there's a shift and you realize you're completely off base. As quickly as things change here, for me it became a matter of just giving up, going with the flow and letting things reveal themselves. I'm not sure I'd recommend this one to all crime/mystery readers, but it's definitely for people who like their reading on the darker side....more
Village of Eight Graves will be the third book I've read that features the somewhat shaggy-looking detective Kosuke Kindaichi, whose creator Seishi Yokomizo wrote him into a grand total of 77 novels. Pushkin Vertigo has also published translations of his The Honjin Murders and The Inugami Clan (my favorite of the bunch so far), and there will be another one, Gokumon Island later this year. I've already preordered the last one, and I bought a dvd of that film as well. I tried to find a copy of Village of Eight Graves on dvd, but I'm not all that sure I really want to pay the $60 the one I actually found goes for. I did however, content myself with the trailer on YouTube (note: if you to and take a look at it you should know ahead of time that there are no English subtitles, but you'll get the drift).
One thing brought out very quickly which is extremely well done here is the effects of fear and superstition on the villagers, all stemming back to the sixteenth-century and the ongoing belief of these people that history tends to repeat itself, as well as what people are capable of when overcome by fear for their own lives. The mystery (and its solution) is beyond satisfying, and there are a number of suspects from which to choose to up the whodunit game. Like any good mystery writer, Yokomizo lays down any number of red herrings that tend to take readers down certain paths before realizing they've been had. Unexpected twists and turns abound right up until the very end, adding to the fun and continuing to add more to the mystery itself as well as ratcheting up the tension level for the reader. Two things: first, my advice would be to copy the cast of characters offered at the front of the book -- I ended up doing this not too long into the novel because I found myself constantly flipping back and forth. Second, the story takes a bit of a turn into the realm of adventure tale having to do with the samurai gold, which was a bit off-putting until I just let myself go with it, figuring we'd get to the solution at some point -- a good decision. And while it's not great literature, who cares? It's an incredibly fun book that will test any mystery reader's solving ability.
This one's like a 3.7 popped up to a 4 by the ending. Speaking of which, crikey! While not the best Japanese crime novel I've ever read, had I been eating something when the big reveal of this story came along, I probably would have choked because of the huge gasp that involuntarily came out of me. As soon as that cleared, the first words out of my mouth were "holy sh*t." I don't have that reaction very often; even though there have been many times I've been truly surprised at the unmasking of the who, this one absolutely takes the cake.
What begins as a week of fun and writing time for seven members of their university's Crime Club at an uninhabited island quickly turns into a nightmare. As the back-cover blurb reveals, they will all have to use their "murder-mystery expertise" to find out why and by whom they are being "picked off, one by one." While this is happening, back on the mainland another investigation has started, one that may hold clues to the mystery club's dilemma by delving into the past.
As I've always said about this particular genre that really stands on its own within the genre of crime/mystery fiction, these stories are less character oriented and more about how the deed was done. It's no surprise to me on reading several reader reviews of this book that noted the lack of character development, because that's pretty standard with this sort of thing, something I've come to expect after reading so many of them. Taking that aspect away, focusing on the who and the how, The Decagon Murders becomes an intense puzzle, the solution of which I would never have guessed. I will say that I'm a bit frustrated at not being able to share my experience with the identity of the who, but to do so would be giving away the show. I do think I would like to take a look at the original though, because I'm not sure I would have translated some things in this book the same way, for example, in having one character refer to the group as "y'all." I mean, come on.
I had great fun with this novel, and I certainly would recommend it to regular fans of this sort of puzzler, or to fans of Japanese crime fiction in general. The ending alone was worth the price I paid for the book....more
Generally I don't reread crime/mystery novels because I can only be surprised once, but this is no ordinary crime/mystery novel, and it affected me much more the second time through. After the original read I knew I had something great in my hands but things were still a bit murky; rereading brought clarity and I was flat out chilled.
The Aosawa Murders is not simply about discovering the who and the why behind the horrific deaths of seventeen people. Among other issues, the author so disturbingly reveals throughout this story that although these murders happened thirty years earlier, that day took its toll and had a lasting, often devastating impact on several people, and continues to do so in the present. She also asks the question of how to get to the real truth behind events, especially when it comes from so many different perspectives; there's also the ultimate question of responsibility.
The author should be commended on how she put this book together, ultimately leaving it to the reader to go through several perspectives using personal recollections, newspaper articles, diaries, excerpts from a book etc. to pick up a number of clues before arriving at the chilling truth of what actually happened that day and why. I discovered that there is nothing wasted here, that everything that everyone says is important, and the trick is in putting together things that may not at first seem to matter or to be connected. We are handed that clue at the outset by one of the characters who, as she is walking around the city, talks about a "synaptic experience...all connected but separate."
If you must have a linear, easy-to-follow plot, or you're not one to really sit and think about what you've just read, this book is likely not for you. This novel is brilliant; it is very different and quite cleverly constructed so as to provide a challenge to even the most seasoned of crime or mystery fiction readers. It zeroes in on human nature which moves it well into the literary zone, which is where I most enjoy being.
This book is not just Japanese crime fiction at its best; it is crime fiction at its very best.
Pushkin Vertigo has done it again, this time with the classic Japanese mystery, The Honjin Murders, the first book to feature Yokomizo's "scruffy-looking" sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi. Making his debut in 1946, he would go on to solve a further 76 cases over the next thirty-plus years before his creator's death in 1981.
As it turns out, the plot was particularly ingenious and actually downright heinous when all is said and done, offering more than one unexpected twist that kept things lively and kept me guessing. The first time through I was a bit annoyed when the narrator started pointing out various items of "significance" as if telling his readers that these are things to pay attention to, or at least to keep in the back of their our minds for later. And before the mystery is completely explained, he reveals the point in the case in which Kindaichi reaches his "aha" moment, which points the reader to a particular avenue of thought. Again, I found this a bit annoying, but the truth is that this bit of Kindaichi's later insight (without giving the show away, thank goodness) took the armchair detective in me in a direction I would never have considered. I was still wrong, but after the second read I was kicking myself for not having figured it out the first time.
It is important to keep in mind when and where this book was written. While there is not a lot of character development as you read along, there are cultural and social issues and anxieties that rise to the surface that will become important later down the road. There is also much to say about the locked-room/impossible crime genre within the story itself, which provides more than just a deft touch to the mysteries at hand, also reading as a bit of an homage to the genre. My standard practice when reading this sort of thing is to read it twice, the second time to block out the noise of red herrings, etc. and try to get to the point of my own "aha" moment. The story is so nicely plotted that I didn't, even after the second reading when I already knew what had happened.
I hope that The Honjin Murders will gain a following, prompting Pushkin Vertigo to publish more of Yokomizo Seishi's work in the future. Recommended, certainly for fans of the locked-room mystery, but for readers just testing the waters with this sort of thing, you couldn't go wrong by starting here....more
A few years ago I read and loved Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac Murders so it was a no-brainer as to whether or not to buy his newest, Murder in the Crooked House. As in The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, at one point in the action, everything comes to a full stop as the author throws out a challenge to his readers, letting us know that at this point in the game we have everything that we know to solve the mystery. The question is "Can you solve this case?" The answer: no, not I. I did manage to figure out the who but not the why and for sure not the how, and even that small victory came only after making my way through a wriggling school of red herrings thrown in throughout the story. To those of you who solved it by the time the "challenge to the reader" is thrown down, I would love to have your brains, because I was kept in the dark pretty much throughout. But actually, that's okay. I would rather be completely stumped and outwitted because I'm reading an author who knows his craft.
In the long run, this is a book where it is best to know next to nothing about the story before starting it. I loved the eerieness of the setting in this book, which added an atmospheric quality to the novel. Combining a bizarre, remote location, the winds that howl during a blizzard, and the greyness of the sea during the winter with the fact that the people in the house are all pretty much trapped there until the mystery is solved gives the story a claustrophobic feel that only heightens the strange events that take place.
In comparing Shimada's earlier book with the present one, I have to say that Murder in the Crooked House is much more reader friendly, moving much more quickly through to the solution than was the case in Tokyo Zodiac Murders; I also felt that this time around I had to keep myself in the state of suspension of disbelief a bit longer than while reading the first book. When all is said and done, I had a lot of fun with this novel and certainly recommend it, most especially to people who find pleasure in reading locked-room/impossible crime novels, which are in many ways a very different breed than your average crime/mystery novel and may take a bit of getting used to....more
The key word is patience with this novel; my own was sorely tested more than once but in the long run, once you get what's going on underneath all of the action here, it's definitely worth the read. I'm going to just spit this out -- I've enjoyed other books by this author much more than I did this one; for example, his The Thief is the novel that startd me buying books by this author; Evil and the Mask is just plain great, and Last Winter We Parted is both horrific and excellent. Then again, Cult X takes a decidedly different turn than Nakamura's other books, so it's sort of unfair to line it up with its predecessors.
Two very different groups make their appearance throughout this novel -- one led by a teacher (Matsuo) espousing more introspective, quiet-oriented bits of different philosophies and Cult X, which is its opposite. There were a number of things I liked very much about this book,which starts out as a missing persons case and ends up on the brink of madness. For one thing, there are the lectures given by Matsuo , which reflect how his approach to the philosophies he's teaching stem from an earlier period of his life. In contrast with the peaceful, soul-searching approach taken by his group, we also come to understand why the leader of Cult X has chosen his way, with stories also linked to his past. Contrasts also appear in the members of each group, which also lead to an understanding of why people would be so willing to join cults in the first place. All of that is wonderfully done, and weird person that I am (and it also might have something to do with the fact that I had a minor field of religious studies with an emphasis on Asian religions and philosophy), I actually enjoyed the backstories and the lectures much, much more than the elements that eventually turn this book into a thriller. But what I enjoyed most was the focus on religion and nationalism, and what Mr. Nakamura has to say about predatory capitalism, because he's totally spot on and these things need to be said. Reading what some other readers thought about this book though, I see I am somewhat of the lone stranger here in that sense.
On the other hand, parts of the book seriously infuriated me. My biggest issue is that while I understand sex is a commonly-used tool of submission in many cults, a point that is hammered home here again and again, do we seriously to be witness to a rape, or do we really need six and a half pages describing wet lady parts, finger sucking, etc. etc.? I mean, jeez, I'm not a prude and sex is part of most novels these days, but I found it all to be so unnecessary. One more thing: I'm not a huge fan of thrillers because usually some of the elements involved are pretty out there, and I found that to be the case in this book. While I could buy some of the thriller elements here, and I admit to getting somewhat caught up in the building suspense, there was one part of the plan in particular that was just too much, that made me do the internal eyeroll while thinking "yeah, like that could happen," with the sarcastic tone very loud in my head. However, I did think that the author made his point about why people are drawn to extremism, and did an excellent job of it.
I will recommend this book, but a) prepare to be in for the long haul and b) beware of the male-dominated mindset that permeates Cult X that is not at all pretty....more
**spoiler alert** Maybe like a 3.7, not because of the subject matter (although that could be pretty horrific at times) but because I wasn't in love w**spoiler alert** Maybe like a 3.7, not because of the subject matter (although that could be pretty horrific at times) but because I wasn't in love with the writing. Storywise, it's quite worth the time.
One day five little girls who formed a circle of friends went out to play, but only four returned home. According to the back-cover blurb, Emily ends up dead at the hands of an unknown assailant after the other girls are "tricked" into leaving her alone with him. Emily's case would go unsolved over the next fifteen years, which, coincidentally, as we learn from the translator's note at the beginning of the book, was the amount of time (before 2010) allotted for the statute of limitations in the case of murder.
One might guess from what I've just written that the focus of this book would be on finding the murderer and solving the old case before the fifteen years are up, but that's not quite how this story works. Three years after Emily was killed, her mother invites the other four girls -- Sae, Maki, Akiko, and Yuka (all now thirteen) to her home for cake, but it isn't a social occasion: she lets them know unequivocally that it is their fault her daughter is dead, that they are "all murderers," and gives them an ultimatum:
"I will never forgive you, unless you find the murderer before the statute of limitations is up. If you can't do that, then atone for what you've done, in a way I'll accept. If you don't do either one, I'm telling you here and now -- I will have revenge on each and every one of you. I have far more money and power than your parents, and I'll make you suffer far worse than Emily ever did. I'm her parent, and I'm the only one who has that right." (71)
Sheesh - it's a terrible enough burden to lay on four young girls, and it's one which has stayed with each of them for fifteen years, affecting each one differently as they grew into women. The novel is composed of five first-person accounts from all of the main characters, and examines how the murder and then the "curse" (so-called by the back-cover blurb) put on them by Emily's mother has followed them over the years. All I will say so as not to ruin the story that unfolds here is that what emerges from each narrative is dark moving to darker as the author delves deep into each person's troubled psyche.
The question to keep in mind (in my opinion) while reading is not exactly one of whodunit, but more to the point, it becomes a matter of who is actually responsible for Emily's death. In that sense there is a sort of tragic irony underpinning the novel which brings it back full circle to where it begins. I'll let others discover how this is so, but in the meantime, this book is deeply disturbing on many, many levels so reader beware.
Penance is neither for faint-hearted readers, nor is it a novel for those who prefer happy endings. It goes well beyond a standard crime novel, moving swiftly into psychological territory where some readers may not wish to find themselves. Trust me on that one....more
Let's just get this out of the way -- Six Four is not an average thriller, nor is it an average police procedural; there are no kick-ass heroines or sLet's just get this out of the way -- Six Four is not an average thriller, nor is it an average police procedural; there are no kick-ass heroines or scenes of over-the-top violence to be found anywhere in this book. I finished it in one go in a major overnight, insomnia-fueled reading session and my reaction was this: hooray (!) for something new, something delightfully different, and above all, for an intelligent mystery novel that goes well beyond the standard crime fiction fare -- in short, the sort of thing I crave but don't find much in modern mysteries and crime these days.
First, outside of the mysteries at the heart of this novel, Six Four tackles the issue of the relationship between the press and the police, which in my opinion is one of the best parts of this novel. Second, it takes a look at the Japanese police force itself, as Mikami finds himself having to try to navigate through, as author David Peace notes in the interview with Yokoyama at the end of the book (and do yourself a favor and save it for dead last), "their political machinations and rivalries, internal, local and national...", and deals with the naked ambition and the drive for power on the parts of some individuals. And finally, it looks at the human costs of crime from the points of view of both the victims and the police who work the cases.
(If you'd care to look at my nutshell briefing on the plot, you can do so at my reading journal. )
I've seen so many not-so-positive reviews of this book -- mostly by readers who were disappointed that it was less of a thriller than an insight into everything I've just mentioned above. Well, to each his/her own as I'm fond of saying. People looking for garden-variety thrillers or crime fiction should probably think twice about reading this one -- thrillers are a dime a dozen these days; books like this one are rarities and should be celebrated.
The first thing I'll say here is that this book is not really geared toward cozy mystery readers or people who enjoy action thrillers or whodunits. ItThe first thing I'll say here is that this book is not really geared toward cozy mystery readers or people who enjoy action thrillers or whodunits. It's much more complex, it's very dark and frankly, it's weird in a very pleasing aesthetic sort of way that appeals to me. The second thing I'll say is that I've decided to reread this book -- I'm positive there are a number of things I missed the first time around. Certainly a reread isn't a requirement for this book -- but it's just how I do things when I really want to get to get the most out of a novel. So I'm not really leaving a review for now -- that will come later.
For right now, I'll leave it at this: if you're into darkness in your fiction or books that explore the dark side of human nature, you will certainly be rewarded here. I can also vouch for the quality of Nakamura's writing now, having read all of three of his books that have been translated into English. When I have finished reading the novel again, I'll post my final thoughts.
As it so happens, I was given an ARC by Soho (for which I am grateful), but I bought a hardback copy of this book for my library, so if anyone is interested in the ARC and you live in the US, I will gladly pass it on - and pay postage. I certainly don't need two copies. Just leave a comment.
I never do this, but I have to confess to buying this book because of the ukiyo-e art on the cover. It is called "Ōtani Oniji IIlike a 3.8 rounded up
I never do this, but I have to confess to buying this book because of the ukiyo-e art on the cover. It is called "Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei in the Play "Koinyōbō Somewake Tazuna," a fact I picked up by visiting the website of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The artist's name is Tōshūsai Sharaku, and he produced this piece in 1794. As it just so happens, Sharaku plays a featured role in this book, although the story is set in modern times (well, at least in the 80s when it was written). The Case of the Sharaku Murders is a good book, although it's probably more appealing to people who have an interest in a) the history of Ukiyo-e or Japanese art in general, b) Japanese history, and c) murder mysteries anchored in the world of academia. Geeky me has a fascination with all three. Another thing I ought to mention before launching into this book: the dustjacket notes that it is "specially selected for the Japanese Literature Publishing Project, started in 2002 " to promote the awareness and popularization of modern Japanese literature to the world."
The Case of the Sharaku Murders begins on a dark and windy night with two men looking for someone along the cliffs on Japan's northeast coast near Tanohata. The man in question has a vacation cottage there, and a phone call made earlier in the day had led the two men to search for him. One of the searchers is the man's brother-in-law, Mizuno Keiji, who had filed a missing persons report when the search proved fruitless. A newspaper article four days later reveals that the missing man is Saga Atsushi, an award-winning calligrapher, chairman of the Tokyo Bibliophilic Society, scholar of ukiyo-e and a "central figure in the Ukiyo-e Connoissership Society," and that his body had been found floating in the ocean, picked up by a man on a squid fishing boat. The verdict is suicide. At Saga's funeral, two university friends, Ryohei and Yosuke, run into each other for the first time in over two years. Both had (at different times) been students at Musashino University, and both had studied under Professor Nishijima, who taught art history, who is a foremost authority on ukiyo-e, and an expert on the artist Sharaku. Ryohei became Nishijima's research assistant while Yosuke, who took a job in a trading company, had a falling out with another alum and Nishijima student Yoshimura Kentaro. Nishijima's powerful clout in the art world ensured that the students he favored would acquire great jobs in publishing, museums, and other forms of mass media. The action starts when Mizuno sells Ryohei a book from Saga's collection, a painting catalogue of Akita School paintings. Going through the preface, Ryohei discovers something interesting -- and teaming up with Yosuke and his sister Saeko, he begins a research project of his own that might possibly turn out to be the greatest find in the world of ukiyo-e. But, after people connected to Ryohei, Yosuke and their quest begin to die, a police inspector begins to wonder if the death of Saga was a suicide after all.
While there's so much more to this book, murder is at its heart, and there are a number of possible suspects to keep things interesting -- once the author leaves the history of ukiyo-e behind. I would estimate that about one third of the book is an exposition on the history of this art form, although since the story involves Ryohei's research, it seems justified here. On the other hand, he throws in so many names, places, and historical periods that I had to start keeping a list of who was who, where they were, yada yada. Once the writer gets back to the mystery, there is twist after twist, especially one really big one that I never saw coming, turning the story completely on its head. The point is that this is a book I had to take my time reading -- it got a little boggy with so much detail -- but the payoff was a good, solid whodunit. Along with the history of ukiyo-e and a smattering of Japanese history, it also explores the "dog-eat-dog world" of academia and the professional rivalries that exist within the art world.
The Case of the Sharaku Murders is only the first of a trio called the "Ukiyo-e Murder Trilogy," but the other two have not yet been translated. Although I would definitely read another book by this author based on this one, it's not a book for people who want a quick, slam-bam mystery so while I recommend it, it's definitely not for everyone. If you are into Japanese fiction, or Japanese art history, it might be right up your alley, but it's so specialized and detailed that I can understand people being less than awed. However, as I noted earlier, sticking with it brings a very nice and twisty payoff. ...more
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