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A review by saltycorpse
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
4.0
If you want a book about a kidnapping/murder, the description is a bit misleading. The novel is far more about the internal politics of policing in Japan, with the "Six Four" case being the underlying driving force of splintering between Admin, Media, and Criminal Investigations units, all of which are attempting to act as their own fifedoms within the prefecture department, while heads from Tokyo want to use the failure to solve a high-profile, and now 14-year-old kidnapping-turned-homicide, to install their own figureheads at a small prefecture and essentially amalgamate.
Six Four is well-written and realistic to the politics that happen in policing, but people expecting a murder mystery will likely be disappointed. The "mystery" is actually uncovering botched aspects of the initial investigation, and navigating the politics and garbage leadership of the police department.
The synopsis also plays up the main character's "ugliness" as a huge character trait but it's actually not a huge point in the novel, it's mentioned he's not a super attractive guy but it really plays a minor role. It seems the synopsis was massaged to appeal to Western readers, but it is pretty misleading.
I really enjoyed the novel though, and anyone wanting to get a realistic look at police politics (which are apparently pretty universal) will enjoy the book. I'm hoping Yokoyama's other novels get translated to English as he's apparently a prolific writer in Japan.
Six Four is well-written and realistic to the politics that happen in policing, but people expecting a murder mystery will likely be disappointed. The "mystery" is actually uncovering botched aspects of the initial investigation, and navigating the politics and garbage leadership of the police department.
The synopsis also plays up the main character's "ugliness" as a huge character trait but it's actually not a huge point in the novel, it's mentioned he's not a super attractive guy but it really plays a minor role. It seems the synopsis was massaged to appeal to Western readers, but it is pretty misleading.
I really enjoyed the novel though, and anyone wanting to get a realistic look at police politics (which are apparently pretty universal) will enjoy the book. I'm hoping Yokoyama's other novels get translated to English as he's apparently a prolific writer in Japan.