Villain
Published on 18. August 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-09-952665-0 (ISBN)
Description
A young woman is brutally murdered on a remote mountain road. A young construction worker, Yuichi, is on the run - but is he guilty?
This is the dark heart of Japan; a world of seedy sex hotels and decaying seaside towns; a world of loneliness, violence and desperation.
As the police close in on Yuichi and his new lover, the stories of the victim, the murderer and their families are uncovered. But these men and women are never what they appear to be...
This is the dark heart of Japan; a world of seedy sex hotels and decaying seaside towns; a world of loneliness, violence and desperation.
As the police close in on Yuichi and his new lover, the stories of the victim, the murderer and their families are uncovered. But these men and women are never what they appear to be...
Reviews / Votes
Yoshida has been compared to Stieg Larsson for his pairing of lurid crime and social critique, but his tone is less sensationalist, more melancholic...Yoshida exposes cruelty and alienation at all levels of Japanese society * New Yorker * A gripping psychological thriller which shows a very different Japan from the neon-lit Tokyo we are more used to * Financial Times * It isn't hard to see why it has caused a sensation among readers and critics in Japan. Villain is a superlative crime novel with intriguing twists * Sunday Times * A novelist of truly international stature * The Times * A complex and powerful exploration of the lives of a victim, killer and their families and friends... Villain is a moving and disturbing novel about loneliness, lies and the gap between expectation and reality. Highly recommended * Guardian * The interest for a British audience will lie in the chilly details it reveals about contemporary Japanese society...what comes across so forcefully is the rootlessness and alienation of the youth in Japan * Daily Mail *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
221 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-952665-0 (9780099526650)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Persons
Shuichi Yoshida was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1968. He is the author of numerous books and has won many Japanese literary awards, including the Akutayawa Prize for Park Life, and the prestigious Osaragi Jiro Prize and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award, both of which he received for Villain. Several of his stories have been adapted for Japanese television, and a film based on Villain was released in 2010 in Japan as Akunin. Yoshida lives in Tokyo.