Summary:
It is just before New Year's.
Frank, an overweight American tourist, has hired Kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo's sleazy nightlife on three successive evenings. But Frank's behavior is so strange that Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion: that his new client is in fact the serial killer currently terrorizing the city. It isn't until the second night, however, in a scene that will shock you and make you laugh and make you hate yourself for laughing, that Kenji learns exactly how much he has to fear and how irrevocably his encounter with this great white whale of an American will change his life.
Kenji's intimate knowledge of Tokyo's sex industry, his thoughtful observations and wisecracks about the emptiness and hypocrisy of contemporary Japan, and his insights into the shockingly widespread phenomena of "compensated dating" and "selling it" among Japanese schoolgirls, give us plenty to think about on every page. Kenji is our likable, if far from innocent, guide to the inferno of violence and evil into which he unwillingly descends - and from which only Jun, his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, can possibly save him...
My Thoughts:
This is such a wonderfully written novel. The style of writing is so different to what I am used to, but makes me intrigued.
Kenji, while not relatable in the job/life experience area, is definitely relatable once he starts to suspect Frank of murder. Being utterly convinced that he's a killer and being scared of him while at the same time having seen or heard any actual evidence.
He does end up being right though. While I didn't really laugh at the scene alluded to in the summary, I did quite enjoy reading it.
Frank's character is very interesting. You want to believe that he's innocent, but there's too many coincidences and contradictions that make you suspect him. Even by the end of the novel, you don't end up hating him despite the horrible things he has done.
Kenji's refusal to go to the police about it, while annoying, is also kind of understandable.
All in all, I definitely enjoyed reading this and would recommend others do the same.
My Rating: 5 stars
