"Fall into a fascinating slice of history as you play armchair detective in this absorbing translated crime novel set in Japan during 1958. "
If you appreciate plunging yourself into a time and place when you read, then step this way. This rewarding murder mystery was first published in Japan in 1959 and is set just a year before. On the recommendation of a go-between Teiko marries an advertising man, when he disappears after their four day honeymoon she determines to find answers. I love the older Japanese novels that are only now being translated into English, the sense of being totally immersed in the location and period can be extraordinary and that is certainly the case here. Award-winning author Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1992) is one of Japan’s celebrated mystery writers. There is a meticulous intricacy to the layers of his writing. The observations of human emotion and responses took me to that precise moment. The social history of the time and inclusion of the ‘pan-pan girls’ is fascinating. I want to ask translator Louise Heal Kawai what it was like to read and then translate a novel written sixty years ago as the translation is wonderful, I felt my senses come alive and appreciated where the words had taken them. There is a dual reading joy on offer with Point Zero, the wonderment of where and when, followed by the satisfaction of unravelling the how, what, and why of the mystery.
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
Tokyo, 1958. Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by a go-between. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance. When Kenichi's brother comes to help her, he is murdered, poisoned in his hotel room.
Soon, Teiko discovers that her husband's disappearance is tied up with the so-called "pan-pan girls", women who worked as prostitutes catering to American GIs after the war. Now, ten years later, as the country is recovering, there are those who are willing to take extreme measures to hide that past.
Point Zero features in the following genres: Crime and Mystery, Fiction, Thriller and Suspense, Fiction in translation, eBooks of the Month, Recommendations, Crime and mystery: women sleuths, Japanese, c 1950 to c 1959, Narrative theme: Sense of place, Narrative theme: Social issues, Fiction: special features, East and Southeast Asian languages, Language qualifiers, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, c 1500 onwards to present day, Time period qualifiers, Fiction: narrative themes, Political / Legal Thrillers
Point Zero is available in Paperback, Ebook (Epub)
Point Zero was written by Seicho Matsumoto and published by Bitter Lemon Press
£7.99
