Noir Novel: The Kingdom by Fuminori Nakamura, a review

The Kingdom: a Novel by Fuminori Nakamura was an excellent, shorter read. A noir novel with a young woman in dangerous circumstances who nevertheless has you rooting for her. I read it over a month ago and plan to read it again in the future. It was published July 12, 2016 by Soho Press.

Book description: Yurika is a freelancer in the Tokyo underworld. She poses as a prostitute, targeting powerful and high-profile men whom she drugs and takes incriminating photos to sell for blackmail purposes. She knows very little about the organization she’s working for, operates alone and lives a private, solitary life.

But when a figure from Yurika’s past emerges, she realizes there is someone out there who knows all her secrets. Yurika finds herself trapped in a game of cat and mouse. Is she wily enough to escape one of the most sadistic men in Tokyo?  (publisher)

First paragraphs:

When did I realize I would never get what I wanted most? 

Maybe I was in my twenties. Or maybe I was a child, just old enough to make sense of the world. Back when I did nothing but glare at everyone around me, what I wanted most was far away. It was not something tangible.It made my skin burn. It ignored all the rules. It went beyond morals and reason. It was something that could overturn the foundations of everything I thought my life would become. I wonder if I still want it. What would I do if I get it?

My comments: Yurika is a sympathetic character in spite of her job entrapping well-known or wealthy men in sexual situations for blackmail purposes. Though she is not directly involved in the blackmail per se, she makes her living by following orders as a free lance character working for a criminal underworld.

When things begin to catch up with her and her life becomes dangerous because of Kizaki, who comes into her life, we easily root for Yurika to save herself and get out of danger, to even thrive and come out on top of the underworld that wants to keep her in.

An excellent read, a likeable character, and an intriguing plot. I've also enjoyed Nakamura's other noir novels, The Thief and Evil and the Mask. 

New Release: Last Winter We Parted by Fuminori Nakamura

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Last Winter We Parted

Title: The Last Winter We Parted by Fuminori Nakamura
To be released October 21, 2014; Soho Press
Genre: thriller, suspense, mystery

Publisher's description:

A young writer arrives at a prison to interview a man arrested for homicide. He has been commissioned to write a full account of the case, from its bizarre and grisly details to the nature of the man behind the crime.  

The suspect, while world-renowned as a photographer, has a deeply unsettling portfolio—lurking beneath the surface of each photograph is an acutely obsessive fascination with his subject. He stands accused of murdering two women—both burned alive—and will likely face the death penalty. But something isn't quite right, and as the young writer probes further, his doubts about this man as a killer intensify. He soon discovers the desperate, twisted nature of all who are connected to the case, struggling to maintain his sense of reason and justice. What could possibly have motivated this man to use fire as a torturous murder weapon? Is he truly guilty, or will he die to protect someone else? 

The suspect has a secret—it may involve his sister, who willfully leads men to their destruction, or the "puppeteer," an enigmatic figure who draws in those who have suffered the loss of someone close to them. As the madness at the heart of the case spins out of control, the confusion surrounding it only deepens.  

What terrifying secrets will this impromptu investigator unearth as he seeks the truth behind these murders?

I enjoyed and reviewed his previous books, The Thief, and Evil and the Mask, both of which had intriguing and unexpected twists at the end. I'm looking forward to similar surprises in this book. If you like noir in your mystery, go for it.

What new release are you waiting for? 

Book Review: Gaijin Cowgirl by Jame DiBiasio

Gaijin Cowgirl

Title: Gaijin Cowgirl by Jame DiBiasio
Published March 8, 2013; Crime Wave Press
Genre: adventure, mystery, international crime fiction

My comments: I enjoyed the daredevil actions of this "cowgirl" working in Tokyo as a bar hostess. Though the daughter of a U.S. Congressman, Val Benson is avoiding her father from whom she is estranged and has fled to Tokyo, where she meets a strange but powerful Japanese man who wants to paint her for an enormous amount of money, which she finds hard to refuse. A shootout at the man's home leads to Val finding and keeping an old map that leads to treasure stolen by the Japanese man in Southeast Asia during the war.

The story of Val's treasure hunt is exciting and interesting as it has the Japanese occupation of Burma and Thailand during WWII as its historical background. The book weaves cultural traditions into the plot, such as Thai kickboxing, the songkran festival (the Thai New Year), the Buddhist religion and its statues and relics, with atmospheric descriptions of the locations.

Expect this noir novel to be tough in violence and sex, in parts.  A book for those who love adventure and mystery.

Book description: Working Tokyo nightclubs is easy money for troubled American Val Benson – until a client with a rather unusual hobby – painting the private parts of his female liaisons – reluctantly gives up a map that leads Val on a treasure hunt for Japanese war loot hidden  along the Thai-Burmese border. The Congressman’s daughter is not the only one interested in the map: yakuza, bent cops, human traffickers, rogue CIA agents and her father are hot on her trail.

So begins the dark, epic journey of a new anti-hero of Asian Noir, a protagonist both ambiguous and courageous, and utterly unreliable. Together with her best friend, the equally unreliable nightclub hostess Suki, Val travels through Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok to the Thai-Burmese borderlands for a dramatic showdown with her pursuers. (publisher)

For other reviews of the book, visit the tour schedule by Premier Virtual Author Book Tours

Author info: Jame DiBiasio is an award-winning financial journalist and editor. He is author of the non-fiction The Story of Angkor. He lives in Hong Kong. Twitter: https://twitter.com/JameDiBiasio
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamedibiasio.author

Thanks to Premier Virtual Author Book Tours and the author/publisher for a review copy of the book. 

Book Review: The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams

Title: The Stranger You Seek: A Novel by Amanda Kyle Williams Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Bantam (August 30, 2011)
Genre: thriller

Comments: I consider this thriller part of the noir genre because of the nature of the crimes and the graphic descriptions. The book gave me hints along the way re the type of criminal that might be involved and even though the ending was meant to be a surprise twist, I was kind of expecting it. It was a little bit gratifying to guess the type of culprit, if not the actual person.

From the publisher's book description: In Atlanta, a killer is preying on the unsuspecting, writing taunting letters to the media, promising more death. Desperate to stop the Wishbone Killer, A.P.D. lieutenant Aaron Rauser turns to the one person he knows can penetrate a deranged mind: ex–FBI profiler, Keye Street, a rising young star at the Bureau....In an unexpected turn of events, the hunter becomes the hunted—and the stranger Keye seeks is closer than she ever imagined.

About the author: The Stranger You Seek is Amanda Kyle Williams' suspense debut. There are two more Keye Street thrillers planned. She lives and writes in Georgia.

An ARC of this book was sent to me by the publisher.

Snow Angels by James Thompson, a review

Snow Angels by James Thompson, an Inspector Kari Vaara thriller #1, set in Finland.

Snow Angels

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very, very noir.

Definition of noir from the Free Dictionary online:
 1. Of or relating to the film noir genre.
 2. Of or relating to a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings.
3. Suggestive of danger or violence.

I gave it 4 stars for plot and characterization, plus setting. Read this thriller if you can keep in mind that it's fiction.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC of this novel.
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