The Silent Dead
A Mystery
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestselling Japanese author Honda's engrossing U.S. debut introduces Lt. Reiko Himekawa, a 29-year-old homicide detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who frequently contends with misogyny and age discrimination from the public and her peers. Reiko and her fellow officers investigate the gruesome murder of a man found wrapped in a tarp, bound with cord, and dumped in the bushes near a park on the outskirts of town. The case is at a standstill until Reiko follows a hunch that leads to the discovery of 10 additional tarped-and-tied corpses. Efforts to link the victims and catch their killer take Reiko and her team from the seedy back alleys of Tokyo to the darkest corners of the deep Web. Evocative prose, a complex plot, and richly developed characters distinguish this inventive police procedural. Honda writes elegantly about violence and compassionately about its victims, seamlessly incorporating origin stories for both Reiko and her quarry that add texture, heft, and verisimilitude.
