In the Miso Soup (Ryu Murakami)
A tense, suspenseful work that sheds light on the depravity of the underground sex culture in Japan, In the Miso Soup horrifies, scares and ultimately enthrals the reader. Parts of it are like watching a train wreck – you’re horrified but you can’t look away. Some parts are sickening. But what the book most definitely is, is compelling. If you can swallow a particulary violent portion in the middle of the tale you won’t be sorry for finishing this riveting read.
The tale follows Kenji, a ‘nightlife guide’ as he takes his latest customer, the American Frank through the red light area of Kabuki-cho in Tokyo. He finds Frank interesting enough at first but is soon suspicious and ultimately convinced that Frank is the serial killer behind the latest series of murders of teenage prostitutes. By the second night Kenji’s life has descended into a hell that is equal parts horror and fascination – all centred on Frank.
Murakami creates compelling characters in both Kenji and Frank, one the increasingly bewildered and frightened young man and the other a hunter who preys upon the most sidelined in society with little to no conscience. But the most compelling characters are the area and the air of suspense and impending doom that Murakami manages to create to draw the reader in and hold him there.
A. Sochi