The thread all about good books

Out - Natsuo Kirino

[imgspoiler=Bookcover]http://sp5.fotolog.com/photo/37/14/64/jeremierda/1219992650914_f.jpg[/imgspoiler]

 Summary

A suburban Tokyo woman fed up with her loutish husband kills him in a fit of anger, then confesses her crime to a coworker on the night shift at the boxed-lunch factory. The coworker enlists the help of two other women at the factory to dismember and dispose of the body. Readers beware--Kirino's first mystery to be published in English (it was a best-seller in Japan) involves no madcap female bonding. The tenuous friendship between the four women, all with problems of their own even before becoming accessories to murder, begins to unravel almost immediately. Money changes hands. The body parts are discovered. The police begin asking questions, and a very bad man falsely accused of the crime is determined to find out who really deserves the punishment. The gritty neighborhoods, factories, and warehouses of Tokyo provide a perfect backdrop for this bleak tale of women who are victims of circumstance and intent on self-preservation at all costs.

I thought the book was excellent. Suspenseful writing, nice character development, extremely well-done dark atmospheres and some gore that even Stephen King would envy. Furthermore, how the dark side of the japanese culture is described in a way we don't see in anime, manga, pictures or travel magazines is clearly one of its best resources. However, if you can't stand blood and cold hearted people, this book is a no-no. I would recommend anyone interested in this culture or simply fond of suspense novels to read this, I'm sure you'll love it.

It's a shame Out is one the only books by Kirino translated to English (or Spanish in my case). Kirino is a respected suspense/thriller writer in Japan, and she has been awarded with the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction, one of the most important detective fiction awards in that country.