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A review by deepakchecks
Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura
4.0
The first thing you notice is the detail. As part of the plot, Takamura gives in-depth details on banking, horse racing, company balance sheets, beer manufacturing, new room antics, working of the police, exploring even the minutest details. The plot kicks off with a 1947 letter to the famous Hinode Beer company, sent by a former employee, complaining about the discrimination that he had experienced at the company, especially the treatment meted out to the untouchable burakumin employees. This will become a core component of the plot.
We are then cut to a racetrack, where the other main characters unfold. There's Katsumi Koh, a Korean living in Japan who usually faces discrimination; Junichi Nunokawa, the ex-soldier turned single father of a daughter with a disability; Shuhei Handa, a recently-demoted detective; an injured laborer; a nihilistic banker; and Seizo Monoi, the struggling pharmacist from the burakumin community. The men come together to exact revenge on Hinode, by kidnapping Hinode's president, Kyosuke Shiroyama. The entire first half of the book is dedicated to introducing them and watching them mastermind their plan. They name their group Lady Joker, after the intellectually disabled daughter who is referred to as Lady.
A character says, The amount of time it will take to carry out the crime is actually quite short. In contrast, the anticipation leading up to and the excitement after the fact will be more than enough and true to this, around the midpoint of the novel, there is a change of perspective - the actual kidnapping is not described, the perpetrators disappear, their points-of-view replaced by those of Shiroyama and his corporate circle, cops and reporters of various levels who are befuddled by developments and chasing the story. This half of the book felt a bit overlong, especially because nothing quite appears to happen, with everyone - the police, the press and the corporates - searching in the dark for clues.
This isn't the book for readers looking for quick action or immediate gratification. Takamura builds up something huge and meticulous, but takes her time doing it. It deserved a five star, except that the second half the book felt meandering and could have been easily tightened.
We are then cut to a racetrack, where the other main characters unfold. There's Katsumi Koh, a Korean living in Japan who usually faces discrimination; Junichi Nunokawa, the ex-soldier turned single father of a daughter with a disability; Shuhei Handa, a recently-demoted detective; an injured laborer; a nihilistic banker; and Seizo Monoi, the struggling pharmacist from the burakumin community. The men come together to exact revenge on Hinode, by kidnapping Hinode's president, Kyosuke Shiroyama. The entire first half of the book is dedicated to introducing them and watching them mastermind their plan. They name their group Lady Joker, after the intellectually disabled daughter who is referred to as Lady.
A character says, The amount of time it will take to carry out the crime is actually quite short. In contrast, the anticipation leading up to and the excitement after the fact will be more than enough and true to this, around the midpoint of the novel, there is a change of perspective - the actual kidnapping is not described, the perpetrators disappear, their points-of-view replaced by those of Shiroyama and his corporate circle, cops and reporters of various levels who are befuddled by developments and chasing the story. This half of the book felt a bit overlong, especially because nothing quite appears to happen, with everyone - the police, the press and the corporates - searching in the dark for clues.
This isn't the book for readers looking for quick action or immediate gratification. Takamura builds up something huge and meticulous, but takes her time doing it. It deserved a five star, except that the second half the book felt meandering and could have been easily tightened.