City of Refuge by Kenzo Kitakata

This is the first of Kitakata’s crime novels, originally published in Japanese in 1982, but the fourth (and to my knowledge final) one translated into English (in 2012).

Perhaps I would have liked it more if it had been my first, not fourth, Kitakata. Because while there is nothing wrong with it as a well-written piece of Japanese noir, it’s just that the elements present were perfected in later novels.  So, we have an interesting anti-hero, though not as complex as the one in The Cage; the cop on hIs tail is hard-ass but not as fleshed out as he becomes in The Cage; the exploration of motivation was good but not as interesting as in Winter Sleep; and the writing style was noir but not as noir as his masterpiece, Ashes.

Still, it’s worth reading on its own merits. I really enjoyed looking at the world through the perp’s eyes, not the detective’s, which seems to be a Kitakata trademark, and the femme fatale was well-done. That a few scenes seemed to drag a little and the presence of a kid perfect for kidnapping seemed to happen too fortuitously can be forgiven. It was his first noir and it’s no crime that it wasn’t quite his best.

No. 5 of 100 books I intend to read and review in 2019.

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Patrick Sherriff publishes a monthly newsletter highlighting good fiction published in English about Japan. He lives in Abiko with his wife and two daughters.