One of the rare hardboiled novels that I enjoyed reading, 背いて故郷 starts with an engrossing investigation which turns into more action in the second half.
Book review:『チョコレートゲーム』by Futari Okajima
チョコレートゲーム is an engrossing mystery with a fast pace. Recommended!
Book review:『渇きの街』by Kenzo Kitakata
Even though 渇きの街 won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award and has overall good reviews, it was not a book that I enjoyed reading, mainly because I disliked the protagonist, the repetitive pattern of the story, and the dry writing style of the author.
Book review: 『天山を越えて』by Koshi Kurumizawa
Though 天山を越えて won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award, it belongs more to the adventure genre than the mystery genre, and it was a bit of a disappointment to me.
Book review: 『Wの悲劇』by Shizuko Natsuki
『Wの悲劇』, whose title is an homage to Ellery Queen, is certainly one of the most famous works by Shizuko Natsuki, but I did not enjoy it as much as I expected.
Book review: 『蒸発』by Shizuko Natsuki
『蒸発』won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1973 and belongs to Shizuko Natsuki’s most famous novels.
Book review: 『アリスの国の殺人』by Masaki Tsuji
A murder mystery that both takes place in reality and in a dream inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Even though I enjoyed some aspects of this book, the dream parts were a bit too absurd and fantastical to me, with references and humour that were hard to understand as a language learner.
Book review: 『終着駅殺人事件』by Kyotaro Nishimura
An engrossing murder mystery revolving around the sleeper train linking Aomori and Ueno stations. Also one of my favourite winners of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award.
Book review: 『白ゆき姫殺人事件』by Kanae Minato
白ゆき姫殺人事件 belongs to my favourite books by Kanae Minato. An engrossing mystery with a unique structure that shows how different persons can have completely different perceptions of past events.
Book review: 『乱れからくり』by Tsumao Awasaka
Several elements prevented me from really enjoying this mystery novel centred around mechanical devices and toys manufacturing.
Book review: 『華麗なる醜聞』by Yo Sano
I had a hard time going through this book, and although it is quite short (under 300 pages), it took me a whole month to read. The story follows two threads: on the one hand a couple of journalists are trying to learn more about the concept of ”high hostess” that they heard in the..
Book review: 『オレたちバブル入行組』by Jun Ikeido
This is the 4th Jun Ikeido I read and one of my favourite so far! I discovered that the author entered the bank in 1988, the same year than Naoki Hanzawa, the protagonist. Jun Ikeido also belonged to the バブル入行組, so the feeling of disenchantment that experience Hanzawa and his friends has certainly been witnessed,..