Tetsuya Honda's series about Lieutenant Reiko Himekawa of
the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's Homicide Division are best
sellers in Japan. THE SILENT DEAD is the first to be
translated and introduced to a Western audience. Himekawa
oversees a squad of officers investigating a body wrapped
in plastic found near the edge of a park. Himekawa's
intelligence enables her to determine that the body is one
of many which makes the mystery even more complicated.
I may have read Japanese mystery stories in the past, but
I
don't remember anything that has immersed me in a Tokyo
police department and shown me the multitude of
differences
in how procedures differ.
At 29, Reiko is relatively young for her position, and
some
of her colleagues resent her rise. She is also unmarried
much to the consternation of her family and more than one
of her officers have crushes on her which make her
relationships challenging but also more in-depth. The
characters themselves have nice complexity, a perfect
balance of bad and good that demonstrates human frailty.
It would be seen as sexual harassment in the U.S. but
seems
to be expected practice in this varied culture. She banks
most on her instincts, ambition and a defiant attitude to
danger. Allusions are made to past events that may have
influenced this behavior. Honda uses flash backs to expose
her back story.
Solving the grisly murders—all of the bodies have been
mutilated by torture--take Himekawa and her team into dark
Tokyo and the horrors of a killing cult called Strawberry
Night. Honda moves the plot forward quickly and
efficiently, giving us details to help us envision Tokyo
as
well as some of its grim underpinnings.
There are many differences besides the way women are
treated in the police, and while bribes and bullying
likely
take place in other departments, it seems to be business
as
usual for this Tokyo department. I found it fascinating to
learn the ins and outs of a Japanese Homicide squad, much
as I enjoy learning the differences of police forces in
Britain and other European countries. I am so programmed
for the "heroine winning out in the end," that is the
traditional finale for Western crime fiction that the more
cathartic finish of this tale took me a while to process.
I
enjoyed the twists and turns of THE SILENT DEAD as much as
the
learning and hope the rest of the series will eventually
hit the American market.
When a body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp and tied up with
twine is discovered near the bushes near a quiet suburban
Tokyo neighborhood, Lt. Reiko Himekawa and her squad take
the case. The victim was slaughtered brutally---his wounds
are bizarre, and no one can figure out the "what" or the
"why" of this crime.
At age twenty-nine, Reiko
Himekawa of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's Homicide
Division is young to have been made lieutenant, particularly
because she lacks any kind of political or family
connections. Despite barriers created by age, gender, and
lack of connections, she is mentally tough, oblivious to
danger, and has an impressive ability to solve
crimes.
Reiko makes a discovery that leads the police
to uncover eleven other bodies, all wrapped in the same sort
of plastic. Few of the bodies are identifiable, but the ones
that are have no connection to each other. The only possible
clue is a long shot lead to a website spoken only in
whispers on the Internet, something on the dark web known as
"Strawberry Night."
But while she is hunting the
killer, the killer is hunting her... and she may very well
have been marked as the next victim.
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