Abstract

A gruesome murder hits the news in a quiet town in rural Japan, and word spreads fast. Beautiful NORIKO MIKI has been stabbed to death and burned in a forest. Her colleague RISAKO KARINO calls her old high school friend YUJI AKAHOSHI, a freelance magazine writer, to share the gossip. Yuji posts his remarks on Man-malo, a social media platform, and as Risako talks about what a lovely person and mentor Noriko had been at Sunrise Cosmetics, a female colleague emerges as a suspect, and the bashing begins, showing how easily seemingly innocent rumors and negative media can make someone out to be a monster.

This story comprises monologues by various people sharing their views about the victim and the suspect with Yuji. Risako makes no effort to hide her excitement to talk about the killing, piquing his curiosity about the story’s potential, and he starts researching the case while putting up posts on social media as seen as appendices in the back of the book.

Everyone he interviews adds their insight to the mix. Based on their subjective opinions and Yuji’s posts, it takes no time for everyone to start pointing fingers at MIKI SHIRONO, last seen running to the train station shortly after Noriko’s death, who has since vanished.

The novel boasts sales exceeding a million copies in Japan and has been translated into five languages, and the film adaptation released in 2014 was a smash hit.

Author’s Information

Born in Hiroshima in 1973, Kanae Minato won the 29th Shosetsu Suiri New Writers Prize in 2007 for her novel The Saint, which was made into her 2008 debut novel, Confessions, ranked No. 1 in the Weekly Bunshun Mystery Best 10 2008 and won the 6th Japanese Booksellers Award. In 2014, the Wall Street Journal in the United States selected Confessions as one of the ten best mysteries 2014. In 2015, it won the American Library Association’s Alex Award. In 2012, Bokyo/Umi no Hoshi (Thoughts of Home containing Star of the Sea) won the 65th Japan Mystery Writers of Japan Award short story category. In 2016, Utopia won the 29th Shugoro Yamamoto Prize. In 2018, Penance was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best paperback original novel in the U.S. Her recent works include Rakujitsu (Falling Sun), Kakera (Fragments), and Document.