Scan barcode
technomage's review
3.0
I was expecting a Japanese version of a detective story about a kidnap which is what I got in spades the only thing being Japanese police procedure seems so radically different from the western stories/series I've read/seen. It took a far bit of reading and concentration to get into this book but it paid off in the end with the result I found this a rewarding and quite moving read. I would recommend it but be prepared to work a bit at it.
gwithiantowans's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Very nicely written book which holds the reader, and has some very fine emotional observations amid the drama. It was long though - I thought the office politics could have been trimmed a bit in order to hold to the criminal narrative more. Speeds up nicely towards the end! Despite the character list at the front I got a bit lost who everyone was, so it might be worth keeping your own list.
grubrednuf's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Mystery. Thriller. The plot was magical, amazing how it all came together. Truly some twists and turns. Who knew office politics could be so intriguing. But what's truly holding this story back is honestly the translation. I regularly read translated texts so I'm comfortable with it but the word choices and turn of phrase throughout took me out of the story sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Stalking
lmasood's review
1.0
Very hard to read. Even when paying close attention, all the characters names are so similar I could not keep the characters straight. The "action" is extremely slow-moving and in the end, after reading over 200 pages, I gave up.
hooliaquoolia's review
4.0
I'm hesitant to label this a mystery novel, even though there are several mysteries in the plot. It vaguely aligns with what the Anglophone world has termed a "literary mystery" although there may not be a corollary in Japanese. It's more concerned with the systems in which these mysteries occur than solely with the mysteries themselves, and is more of an atmospheric read than a solved puzzle. That being said, this is mostly certainly a Japanese novel, and doesn't follow plot rhythms that are most familiar to readers of Anglophone mysteries. Maybe if I had grown up on Japanese novels like this, I wouldn't have minded the sheer amount of time spent on things like three bureaucrats preparing for a press conference, but as it was, there was a bit of a drag in the middle for me. As much as I enjoyed some of the plodding bits where the protagonist muses on the culture around him, Anglophone readers used to constant crime, corruption, and violence will not understand why the author spends hundreds of pages on a missing memo.
staticdisplay's review
4.0
Mikami, a detective who's recently been made director of Media Affairs (a shameful position in administration), has been looking for his runaway daughter. meanwhile, the media is going ballistic about police reports that conceal identities. AND, the commander is about to visit from Tokyo to review an old, unsolved case: the abduction and murder of a seven year old girl.
I read reviews in advance, so I went into this prepared to read something that was more about bureaucracy than solving crime. the beginning dragged, and there were moments when I found Mikami's heartfelt speeches kind of bizarre. at some point, the over-the-top drama won me over. Mikami runs through the police station, pushing people into walls, lurking in bathrooms for 3 hours waiting to ambush a high-ranking detective, screaming, kicking people, etc. I ended up reading the last 40% of the book in one day, and this is a LONG book.
there were some interesting and touching interactions. there were also a lot of moments where eyes did all kinds of secret communication. I appreciated the various women in the story and the acknowledgment of their strengths and the challenges they face.
I read reviews in advance, so I went into this prepared to read something that was more about bureaucracy than solving crime. the beginning dragged, and there were moments when I found Mikami's heartfelt speeches kind of bizarre. at some point, the over-the-top drama won me over. Mikami runs through the police station, pushing people into walls, lurking in bathrooms for 3 hours waiting to ambush a high-ranking detective, screaming, kicking people, etc. I ended up reading the last 40% of the book in one day, and this is a LONG book.
there were some interesting and touching interactions. there were also a lot of moments where eyes did all kinds of secret communication. I appreciated the various women in the story and the acknowledgment of their strengths and the challenges they face.
laurakatarooma's review against another edition
5.0
Olipas mahtava tiiliskivi tää kirja! Vaikka päähenkilö oli välillä ärsyttävä kaikessa kaikkitietävyydessään, tykästyin kirjan tunnelmaan, jopa organisaatiokaavion kuvauksiin, juonen etenemiseen välillä menneessä käyden, jopa niin paljo että toivon tälle olevan jatkoa olemassa. Menen tästä googlaan.
joha_010's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
apurpleyuan's review
3.0
I was told that this book was a mystery book. I suppose it is, in the strictest sense. But it'd be like saying that Harry Potter is a mystery book; there's a mystery, yes, but it's far from the main focus of the novel. Rather, the entire focus of the novel is on the politics of the police between the different departments.
I think that a rough understanding of Japanese culture is an absolute requirement before reading this novel. I barely have an understanding from other Japanese works of literature / manga, and there were areas in the book that frustrated me. Why would the main character act a certain way? The only way that I can feasibly understand these actions and behaviors is that it is a cultural expectation. (I was further convinced by this after I read the author blurb, which, I sh*t you not, says: "His exhaustive and relentless work ethic is known to mirror the intense and obsessive behavior of his characters, and in January 2003 he was hospitalized following a heart attack brought about by working nonstop for seventy-two hours."
It's hard to think what kind of person I would recommend this book to. The writing (translation) is fantastic in the sense that it conveys the main character's feelings (bleakness and a strange helplessness) very well. The characters are easy to follow, despite how many of them there are. And yet there was a bit of a slog reading through the middle, where the politics gets heaviest. As mentioned above, I get the feeling that a lot of the politics is cultural, and I had a difficult time sympathizing with, well, any of the characters. But once the plot picks up, it actually gets pretty exciting, and not only because of the mystery. Since everything is so depressing in the first half of the book, when everything starts to come together and look up for the protagonist, it actually feels really good.
In conclusion, if you're into inter-office drama, (and you're at least a little familiar with Japanese culture,) this book is for you. The plot is slow to take off, but incredibly rewarding.
I think that a rough understanding of Japanese culture is an absolute requirement before reading this novel. I barely have an understanding from other Japanese works of literature / manga, and there were areas in the book that frustrated me. Why would the main character act a certain way? The only way that I can feasibly understand these actions and behaviors is that it is a cultural expectation. (I was further convinced by this after I read the author blurb, which, I sh*t you not, says: "His exhaustive and relentless work ethic is known to mirror the intense and obsessive behavior of his characters, and in January 2003 he was hospitalized following a heart attack brought about by working nonstop for seventy-two hours."
It's hard to think what kind of person I would recommend this book to. The writing (translation) is fantastic in the sense that it conveys the main character's feelings (bleakness and a strange helplessness) very well. The characters are easy to follow, despite how many of them there are. And yet there was a bit of a slog reading through the middle, where the politics gets heaviest. As mentioned above, I get the feeling that a lot of the politics is cultural, and I had a difficult time sympathizing with, well, any of the characters. But once the plot picks up, it actually gets pretty exciting, and not only because of the mystery. Since everything is so depressing in the first half of the book, when everything starts to come together and look up for the protagonist, it actually feels really good.
In conclusion, if you're into inter-office drama, (and you're at least a little familiar with Japanese culture,) this book is for you. The plot is slow to take off, but incredibly rewarding.