A review by welshbookfairy
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

3.0

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Firstly, if you plan on reading this book, set aside plenty of time for it, it took me so long to battle through it. At a huge 635 pages, this novel isn't for the faint hearted. 

This novel is an insightful reflection of Japanese culture, with an in depth description of the police system and how authority works in Japan. It is a window into the terse relationship their police have with their press, and vice versa. No side is left untold. 

Our main character is Mikamo, who is a member of the police force. Although he spends fifteen years, or so, as a detective, he is transferred to become Press Director of Media Relations in the Administrative Affairs department, who have a tense relationship with the Criminal Investigations department. 

His daughter has run away from home, he is haunted by a kidnapping - code named Six Four - that took place fourteen years ago, and he is determined to uncover the police organisations secrets. 

Sounds exciting, right? Don't hold your breath. The synopsis alludes to an anomaly that Mikamo discovers in the case of the kidnapping, which to me, was slightly misleading to how the storyline actually enacted. I excepted investigative work, and got journalism at best. I am a veteran of detective novels, and was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into this enormous entity, however the narrative was so much more different than those I had experienced before. In fact, I was surprised at how unconventional this detective novel was written to the ordinary crime fiction I've come to know and love. Not that the reading experience was unpleasant, only that I went into it with such a firm idea in my head that I spent a lot of the novel waiting for what I expected to happen. 

The storyline was a bit complexing to me at first as I came to grips with how the Japanese system worked. I will admit that I learned a hell of a lot about Japan, which is great as I've been looking to broaden my horizons. But unfortunately, it made it that much harder to get into an already gruelling storyline. 

The narrative is tense from the beginning, with peaks scattered through the pages, and pretty much no equilibrium to speak of. The story is so well written and detailed that it made the experience that much more realistic. And my blood pressure felt consistently raised a touch.

The main character, Mimako, was a hard character to like, or relate to, the only emotional reaction I had to him was of sympathy. I found him sexist and bullish, which, I imagine is an authentic reflection of the police force in Japan, unfortunately. Although I didn't like the protagonist of this novel, I was still pretty invested in his story.

The pace is slow, but the writing is compelling. The need to discover other peoples secrets is just part of our human nature; we find it almost physically impossible to mind our own business, even if you say otherwise, the author uses this to their advantage and keeps the readers guessing with each chapter (and there are many of them).

I persevered with this novel because the synopsis had stated there was a twist that no reader could predict, and although the author delivers on that, there is no closure to speak of, with any of the impactful events that occur during the progression of the story. However, I do believe that this book is part of a series, although it's only this novel that has been translated into English. Which might imply why the readers have no true closure on any of the main subject matters in the story.

If you read this, I recommend you don't go into it with your usual crime fiction head on, instead, be open minded, and interested in the Japanese culture, there are secrets and twists that will keep the reader entertained even if you are ashamedly uncultured like myself. Although this is not my cup of tea, I did enjoy learning about Japan, and Hideo Yokoyama; consider my horizons broadened.