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Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight

Author(s): Riku Onda, Alison Watts (translator)

Location(s): Tokyo

Genre(s): In Translation, Fiction, Psychological Thriller

Era(s): Contemporary

Location

Content

The WSJ commented: “Part psychological thriller, part murder mystery-it is audacious in conception and brilliant in execution.” The Globe and Mail said the book was “emerging as one of the most praised novels of the year.” Set in a Tokyo flat over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro spend one last night together before going their separate ways. Each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who has been killed and why? Which one is the killer? In an intense battle of wills over the course of a night, the true nature of the pair’s relationship and the chain of events leading up to this night are gradually revealed in this gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.

The thriller–buried in a literary whodunit–explores the mysteries of romantic love, memory and attaining self-knowledge. Like the best Japanese crime writing, it is an unflinching foray into the darker recesses of the soul, quietly suspenseful and elegantly constructed.

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: Tina Hartas

This is a short volume, billed as a psychological thriller. I get why it has fallen into this genre but there is something quite different about this novel that really isn’t easy to categorise....

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