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One of Japan's great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura, makes her English-language debut with this two-volume publication of her magnum opus. Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; an ethnically Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his race; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously after the revelation of a family connection with the segregated buraku community, historically subjected to severe racial discrimination. Intent on revenge against a society that valued corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan's largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company's corrupt financiers. Inspired by the unsolved true-crime kidnapping case perpetrated by "the Monster with 21 Faces," Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone since its 1997 publication, acknowledged as the magnum opus by one of Japan's literary masters, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms.
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TIME Magazine's 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time
An Amazon Best of the Month Pick for April 2021
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2021
CrimeReads Best Books of the Year (So Far)
Praise for Lady Joker
Hinging on a kidnapping plot, Takamura s prismatic heist novel offers a broad indictment of capitalist society.
The New York Times
[Lady Joker] is a work you get immersed in, like a sprawling 19th century novel or a TV series like "The Wire." It reveals its world in rich polyphonic detail. Inspired by a real-life case, it takes us inside half a dozen main characters, follows scads of secondary ones and enters bars and boardrooms we could never otherwise go . . . Yet for all its digressions, Lady Joker casts a page-turning spell.
John Powers, NPR's Fresh Air
Like Ellroy s American Tabloid and Carr s The Alienist, the book uses crime as a prism to examine dynamic periods of social history . . . Takamura s blistering indictment of capitalism, corporate corruption and the alienation felt by characters on both sides of the law from institutions they once believed would protect them resonates surprisingly with American culture.
Paula Woods, Los Angeles Times
Hallelujah! Inspired by the real-life, still unsolved Glico-Morinaga kidnapping and extortion case that led to the nationwide hunt for 'The Monster with Twenty-one Faces,' Kaoru Takamura s Lady Joker is at last available in translation; epic in its scale and vision, yet gripping from first to last, this is one of the great masterpieces of Japanese crime fiction and one of the must-read books of this or any year.
David Peace, author of Tokyo Year Zero
Let's make one thing absolutely clear, Kaoru Takamura's Lady Joker is intimidating. First off, it's 576 pages big that's James Michener big, that's Gone with the Wind big, that's James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet big . . . So, I'm glad to report that the feeling of intimidation quickly wanes as Takamura proceeds to weave her epic, post-World War II tale of crime and social injustice . . . One which definitely rewards the effort.
Hank Wagner, Mystery Scene
For those wanting a page-turning thriller in the vein of Hideo Yokoyama s Six Four, there s plenty of police procedure, smoky backrooms, tense press conferences and angry superiors slamming things on desks. But there is also social commentary, history and a comprehensive account of how Japan s corporate, political and criminal worlds coexist in an uneasy, toxic relationship. Like all great fiction, Lady Joker informs and entertains.
The Japan Times
It is well worth the wait for anyone interested in a panoramic portrait of modern Japanese society, including its dark corners, as well as fans of intelligent mysteries.
The Nikkei
Mysterious and multilayered, [Lady Joker] gives readers extortion and kidnapping as it critiques the dark corners of Japanese society and the human experience.
Ms. Magazine
A novel that portrays with devastating immensity how those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts.
Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory Police
A swarm of characters, an unorthodox structure, and slow-moving, ultimately irresistible suspense distinguish Lady Joker . . . Like some novels by James Ellroy and Marlon James, Lady Joker is wildly ambitious in scope.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
An immense and extraordinary feat of writing and translation that has been long-awaited in English, Lady Joker is at once a thriller and a sweeping cultural history of Japan, a love story and a work of poignant social commentary.
BookRiot
Lady Joker reads like Don DeLillo s Underworld rewritten by James Ellroy, or perhaps LA Confidential rewritten by Don DeLillo? What I m trying to say here is, Lady Joker is EPIC.
CrimeReads
Impressive, very large-scale crime(-and-more) novel of post-war Japan . . . Lady Joker is anything but your usual mystery.
The Complete Review
Through the working class, and executives, the police force and media, author Kaoru Takamura brings to her readers a Japan which is complicated and often corrupt. The disenfranchised working class who commit a crime seem no better (or worse) than the corporate executives who commit crimes in their own, more subtle, ways.
Dolce Belleza
Excellent . . . Takamura shows why she s one of Japan s most prominent mystery novelists.
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Takamura s challenging, genre-confounding epic offers a sweeping view of contemporary Japan in all its complexity.
Kirkus Reviews
Centered around an extortion case involving a beer company, Lady Joker would ordinarily be categorized in the crime or mystery novel genre, yet the book deserves to be called an exemplary literary work that depicts contemporary society . . . A magnum opus . . . It requires extraordinary skill to fully depict the ambivalence of Japanese society, in all its detail. Reading Lady Joker together with James Ellroy s American Tabloid and the drama behind the Kennedy assassination serves as an intriguing comparison. Viewing a society through the lens of a crime is like examining a disease or a corpse to get at the person: it exposes the foundations of human existence.
Yomiuri Newspaper
Using the relationship between individuals and institutions as its axis, Lady Joker attempts to depict the contemporary era in its entirety. The effort is so reckless as to be almost quixotic, but with her formidable literary talents, Kaoru Takamura accomplishes her goal to a handsome degree . . . Lady Joker is a multilayered novel that allows for many interpretations, yet its structure places it firmly within the framework of a social-awareness mystery.
Shosetsu Subaru Literary Magazine
A superb suspense novel with depth.
Shukan Bunshun (The Literary Weekly)
Takamura s eye for detail and storytelling prowess are astonishing . . . It s possible to read Lady Joker in various ways as a mystery novel, a police procedural, or a cautionary tale of corporate risk management. I read it as an exploration of the original sin of human existence . . . The depth of empathy readers will feel for this book s characters directly corresponds with the author s insight on the intersections of human existence.
Ushio Magazine
An ambitious work of carefully plotted crime fiction with a deep social conscience.
Crime Fiction Lover
An Amazon Best of the Month Pick for April 2021
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2021
CrimeReads Best Books of the Year (So Far)
Praise for Lady Joker
Hinging on a kidnapping plot, Takamura s prismatic heist novel offers a broad indictment of capitalist society.
The New York Times
[Lady Joker] is a work you get immersed in, like a sprawling 19th century novel or a TV series like "The Wire." It reveals its world in rich polyphonic detail. Inspired by a real-life case, it takes us inside half a dozen main characters, follows scads of secondary ones and enters bars and boardrooms we could never otherwise go . . . Yet for all its digressions, Lady Joker casts a page-turning spell.
John Powers, NPR's Fresh Air
Like Ellroy s American Tabloid and Carr s The Alienist, the book uses crime as a prism to examine dynamic periods of social history . . . Takamura s blistering indictment of capitalism, corporate corruption and the alienation felt by characters on both sides of the law from institutions they once believed would protect them resonates surprisingly with American culture.
Paula Woods, Los Angeles Times
Hallelujah! Inspired by the real-life, still unsolved Glico-Morinaga kidnapping and extortion case that led to the nationwide hunt for 'The Monster with Twenty-one Faces,' Kaoru Takamura s Lady Joker is at last available in translation; epic in its scale and vision, yet gripping from first to last, this is one of the great masterpieces of Japanese crime fiction and one of the must-read books of this or any year.
David Peace, author of Tokyo Year Zero
Let's make one thing absolutely clear, Kaoru Takamura's Lady Joker is intimidating. First off, it's 576 pages big that's James Michener big, that's Gone with the Wind big, that's James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet big . . . So, I'm glad to report that the feeling of intimidation quickly wanes as Takamura proceeds to weave her epic, post-World War II tale of crime and social injustice . . . One which definitely rewards the effort.
Hank Wagner, Mystery Scene
For those wanting a page-turning thriller in the vein of Hideo Yokoyama s Six Four, there s plenty of police procedure, smoky backrooms, tense press conferences and angry superiors slamming things on desks. But there is also social commentary, history and a comprehensive account of how Japan s corporate, political and criminal worlds coexist in an uneasy, toxic relationship. Like all great fiction, Lady Joker informs and entertains.
The Japan Times
It is well worth the wait for anyone interested in a panoramic portrait of modern Japanese society, including its dark corners, as well as fans of intelligent mysteries.
The Nikkei
Mysterious and multilayered, [Lady Joker] gives readers extortion and kidnapping as it critiques the dark corners of Japanese society and the human experience.
Ms. Magazine
A novel that portrays with devastating immensity how those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts.
Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory Police
A swarm of characters, an unorthodox structure, and slow-moving, ultimately irresistible suspense distinguish Lady Joker . . . Like some novels by James Ellroy and Marlon James, Lady Joker is wildly ambitious in scope.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
An immense and extraordinary feat of writing and translation that has been long-awaited in English, Lady Joker is at once a thriller and a sweeping cultural history of Japan, a love story and a work of poignant social commentary.
BookRiot
Lady Joker reads like Don DeLillo s Underworld rewritten by James Ellroy, or perhaps LA Confidential rewritten by Don DeLillo? What I m trying to say here is, Lady Joker is EPIC.
CrimeReads
Impressive, very large-scale crime(-and-more) novel of post-war Japan . . . Lady Joker is anything but your usual mystery.
The Complete Review
Through the working class, and executives, the police force and media, author Kaoru Takamura brings to her readers a Japan which is complicated and often corrupt. The disenfranchised working class who commit a crime seem no better (or worse) than the corporate executives who commit crimes in their own, more subtle, ways.
Dolce Belleza
Excellent . . . Takamura shows why she s one of Japan s most prominent mystery novelists.
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Takamura s challenging, genre-confounding epic offers a sweeping view of contemporary Japan in all its complexity.
Kirkus Reviews
Centered around an extortion case involving a beer company, Lady Joker would ordinarily be categorized in the crime or mystery novel genre, yet the book deserves to be called an exemplary literary work that depicts contemporary society . . . A magnum opus . . . It requires extraordinary skill to fully depict the ambivalence of Japanese society, in all its detail. Reading Lady Joker together with James Ellroy s American Tabloid and the drama behind the Kennedy assassination serves as an intriguing comparison. Viewing a society through the lens of a crime is like examining a disease or a corpse to get at the person: it exposes the foundations of human existence.
Yomiuri Newspaper
Using the relationship between individuals and institutions as its axis, Lady Joker attempts to depict the contemporary era in its entirety. The effort is so reckless as to be almost quixotic, but with her formidable literary talents, Kaoru Takamura accomplishes her goal to a handsome degree . . . Lady Joker is a multilayered novel that allows for many interpretations, yet its structure places it firmly within the framework of a social-awareness mystery.
Shosetsu Subaru Literary Magazine
A superb suspense novel with depth.
Shukan Bunshun (The Literary Weekly)
Takamura s eye for detail and storytelling prowess are astonishing . . . It s possible to read Lady Joker in various ways as a mystery novel, a police procedural, or a cautionary tale of corporate risk management. I read it as an exploration of the original sin of human existence . . . The depth of empathy readers will feel for this book s characters directly corresponds with the author s insight on the intersections of human existence.
Ushio Magazine
An ambitious work of carefully plotted crime fiction with a deep social conscience.
Crime Fiction Lover