Six Four: the bestselling Japanese crime sensation - Hardcover

Hideo Yokoyama

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1848665253 ISBN 13: 9781848665255

Publisher: Quercus Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

For five days in January 1989, the parents of a seven-year-old Tokyo schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter's kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. They would never see their daughter again. For the 14 years that followed, the Japanese public listened to the police's apologies. They would never forget the botched investigation that became known as Six Four. They would never forgive the authorities their failure. For one week in late 2002, the press officer attached to the police department in question confronted an anomaly in the case. He could never imagine what he would uncover. He would never have looked if he'd known what he would find.

About this title

About the Author:

Hideo Yokoyama (Author) Born in 1957, Hideo Yokoyama worked for twelve years as an investigative reporter with a regional newspaper north of Tokyo, before becoming one of Japan's most acclaimed fiction writers. His exhaustive and relentless work ethic is known to mirror the intense and obsessive behaviour of his characters; and in January 2003 he was hospitalized following a heart attack brought about by working constantly for seventy-two hours. Six Four is his sixth novel, and his first to be published in the English language. Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (Translator) Jonathan Lloyd-Davies studied Japanese at Durham and Chinese at Oxford; he currently works as a translator of Japanese fiction. His translations include Edge by Koji Suzuki, with co-translator Camellia Nieh, the Demon Hunters trilogy by Baku Yumemakura, Gray Men by Tomotake Ishikawa, and Nan-Core by Mahokaru Numata. His translation of Edge received the Shirley Jackson award for best novel. Originally from Wales, he now resides in Tokyo. Holding biography until received by Jonathan.

Review:

In many ways Six Four is the literary equivalent of a good TV box set such as Danish TV series The Killing. It is totally fascinating, revealing as much about Japan and its people as about the mystery at its heart. Unable to put the book down, I read until 3am every night for a week, the shadows under my eyes growing darker with every hour. But I was rewarded with a shocking conclusion. Six Four is unique, remarkable and deserves to sell at least as well over here as it did in Japan. * Express * Epic in ambition, it unfurls like a flower in the spring sunlight, steadily increasing its grip as it does so. * Daily Mail * Slow building, meticulous in its insistence on unfolding all the procedural elements of a Japanese crime investigation and its political ramifications, this is a novel that insidiously grows on you until you are fully captive of its narrative flow and can't put it down. -- Maxim Jakubowski [A] well-written epic tale, which reads beautifully in Jonathan Lloyd-Davies's translation. Six Four is far more a monument to the idiosyncrasies of Japanese bureaucratic life than it is a simple detective story. -- Justin Warshaw * TLS * The plot would grip in any language . . . not just a police procedural but a guide book to Japan . . . There's much talk these days of binge viewing; here is a binge read. * Guardan * A huge hit in Japan and it's easy to see why . . . steadily gathers menace and power until it becomes addictive. * The Times * It's very different, in tone, narrative and style, from almost anything out there . . . the twist and the pay-off are worth the wait. * Observer * Crime fiction aficionados constantly search for the next big thing, and this remarkable epic may just fit the bill. It is like nothing you have ever read in the genre, told in a narrative voice that is truly unique. -- Barry Forshaw A classic plot about a decent cop painstakingly uncovering corruption suddenly turns into one of the most remarkable revenge dramas in modern detective fiction. * Sunday Times * Not only is Six Four an addictive read, it is an education about Japan, its police and its society, and simply one of the best crime novels I have ever read. -- David Peace

About this edition

• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1848665253
• ISBN 13: 9781848665255
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 656