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Blue Light Yokohama
As seen:
By Nicolás Obregón
avg rating
1 review
‘An outstanding debut’ The most awaited books of 2017, Sunday Express
Inspired by a real-life murder Blue Light Yokohama is set among Tokyo’s glitteringly busy streets, where a family of four were killed in their own home. The first detective died trying to solve it. Now it is up to Inspector Iwata to unravel the truth . . .
Recently transferred to Tokyo’s homicide department, Inspector Kosuke Iwata is assigned a new partner and a secondhand case – a family of four murdered in their own home by a killer who painted a hideous black sun on the bedroom ceiling before leaving in broad daylight. The original investigator was said to have killed himself by leaping from the city’s famous rainbow bridge.
Iwata and his partner Sakai must track a murderer he’s sure is only just getting started. Impeded by corrupt fellow officers and haunted by a past he can’t escape, Iwata knows time is running out. Before he’s taken off the case, or, far worse, the killer strikes again.
Because Iwata doesn’t know exactly what the symbol means, but he knows what the killer is trying to say: I am here. I am not finished.
‘A twisty thriller that pulls us into the heart of the gritty, glittering world of Tokyo’ Julia Heaberlin, author of Sunday Times bestseller Black-Eyed Susans
‘Taut and atmospheric with twists galore’ Woman & Home
‘Strong . . . promises to be an excellent series’ Guardian
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Blue Light Yokohama by Nicholas Obregon
The main comment about this book was the difficulty with the Japanese names. It was felt that a list of characters and possibly a map of the area would have been a welcome addition .
We did learn quite a lot about the Japanese way of life, particularly the pecking order in the police service but were surprised that the seemingly ultra-respectful language and behaviour masked an underlying cynicism and misogynism.
Most of us found the detective’s childhood interesting, but the fact that we did not link the child to the adult until it was clearly spelled out was confusing. The time frame went back and forth without warning and it was disjointed and made for difficult reading at times.
Most of our group were engaged immediately but less so as the book continued. Some found that the book lacked substance and therefore interest but others though that the plot was interesting for the most part.
The main character was complicated and quite difficult to understand and we felt that there were deliberate and unnecessary complications included in the story with characters and storylines that went nowhere.
The main theme, the cult of the black sun, was again confusing but the plot twists were unexpected and interesting for most.
We found the novel was atmospheric and we learned a little about life in Japan.
Our score out of ten was 6 out of 10
