Book Review: 『誓約』by Gaku Yakumaru

誓約 (せいやく)
Title: 誓約 (せいやく)
Genre:
First published: 2015
Published: 2017
Format: Bunko
Page Count: 405
家庭も仕事も順風満帆な日々を過ごしていた向井聡の元に、一通の手紙が届く。「あの男たちは刑務所から出ています」。便箋には、ただそれだけが書かれていた。送り主は誰なのか、その目的とは。ある理由から警察にも家族にも相談できない向井は、姿見せぬ脅迫者に一人立ち向かうが。故郷、家族、犯した罪……。葬ったはずの過去による復讐が、いま始まる。

Gaku Yakumaru is a well-known author of thrillers and mystery novels in Japan. The Korean translation of『誓約』is a huge hit, it was the top-selling novel of the biggest online and offline bookshops of the country.

Setting

Satoshi MUKAI lives with his wife and daughter and works in the same bar for 15 years. One day, he receives a letter that will bring back an undesired past into his present life…

Why I liked it

『誓約』 was a suspenseful page-turner, and if you buy mystery novels or thrillers to get entertained, this novel completely does its job.

While I liked the book, I cannot help but feel a little disappointed. I think that I had big expectations due to the novel’s success in Korea, but I found that it was just good, not revolutionary good. First of all, there is nothing really new in this novel, it is a classic story of a man whose life is turned apart by a triggering event.

I also found the plot to be a little hard to take in, but this does not prevent the story from being suspenseful and engrossing. To sum up, I found it was a classic thriller, well constructed and efficient, event though it was not very credible.

『誓約』was the first book I read by Gaku YAKUMARU, and I will definitely read his other novels.

Note: I’m going to Japan tomorrow! So this will be my first and last post of the week! See you next week!


I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read detective novels in these languages. I post about my reading progress and language study here. Best way to get in touch is on Mastodon 🙂

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