| Author: | Charles Pringle | ISBN: | 9781301504909 |
| Publisher: | Charles Pringle | Publication: | October 12, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | Charles Pringle |
| ISBN: | 9781301504909 |
| Publisher: | Charles Pringle |
| Publication: | October 12, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
Akira Toyoda, a detective in the International Criminal Investigation Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who grew up in the north of England, is in a bar in Roppongi with his girlfriend when he is called a murder scene in northeast Tokyo. The victim is a young foreign woman who has been brutally raped and murdered and dumped on a plot of waste ground. When Toyoda arrives he finds that Hideki Watanabe, his worst enemy, is the detective in charge of the crime scene.
One week later the second victim is found. She is also a young foreign woman, and is similar in appearance to the first victim. Toyoda realizes that they have a serial killer on their hands. Identifying the victims is a problem because nobody has reported them missing, so he assumes that they are working illegally in the night trade.
In the following weeks as more victims turn up, Toyoda starts digging deep into the dark side of Roppongi, but nobody will cooperate with the police. When a member of the Russian mafia who is involved in a stolen car and smuggling racket is arrested, he offers to give the name of one of the murdered girls in exchange for a lighter sentence. This is the first break in the case.
As the hunt for the killer intensifies, a Japanese girl is found murdered along with a man presumed to have committed suicide. Although the latest victim is not a foreign hostess, all other characteristics of the crime are similar to those of the previous crimes. The police then consider the case solved. Toyoda, however, does not hold with this and continues the investigation. Will he be proved right? Or will he waste his time and damage is reputation?
Much of the action takes place in parts of Tokyo not on the normal tourist itinerary. Consequently, the reader is taken on a tour of the underbelly of the city, to some of the more insalubrious areas unfamiliar to the average visitor. The reader will also learn some startling facts about Tokyo, the culture of Japan, and the Japanese people.
Akira Toyoda, a detective in the International Criminal Investigation Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who grew up in the north of England, is in a bar in Roppongi with his girlfriend when he is called a murder scene in northeast Tokyo. The victim is a young foreign woman who has been brutally raped and murdered and dumped on a plot of waste ground. When Toyoda arrives he finds that Hideki Watanabe, his worst enemy, is the detective in charge of the crime scene.
One week later the second victim is found. She is also a young foreign woman, and is similar in appearance to the first victim. Toyoda realizes that they have a serial killer on their hands. Identifying the victims is a problem because nobody has reported them missing, so he assumes that they are working illegally in the night trade.
In the following weeks as more victims turn up, Toyoda starts digging deep into the dark side of Roppongi, but nobody will cooperate with the police. When a member of the Russian mafia who is involved in a stolen car and smuggling racket is arrested, he offers to give the name of one of the murdered girls in exchange for a lighter sentence. This is the first break in the case.
As the hunt for the killer intensifies, a Japanese girl is found murdered along with a man presumed to have committed suicide. Although the latest victim is not a foreign hostess, all other characteristics of the crime are similar to those of the previous crimes. The police then consider the case solved. Toyoda, however, does not hold with this and continues the investigation. Will he be proved right? Or will he waste his time and damage is reputation?
Much of the action takes place in parts of Tokyo not on the normal tourist itinerary. Consequently, the reader is taken on a tour of the underbelly of the city, to some of the more insalubrious areas unfamiliar to the average visitor. The reader will also learn some startling facts about Tokyo, the culture of Japan, and the Japanese people.
