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Crossfire
Miyuki Miyabe
Translated by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi,
Anna Husson Isozaki
Hardcover 408 pages
226 x 152mm 730g
ISBN : 978-4-7700-2993-5 / 4-7700-2993-4
Publish : Mar, 2006
Price : $24.95 |
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[ About the Book ]
Excerpted from The Los Angeles Times, feature on Miyabe, Jan. 22,2006 "Japan Seen In a Dark Mirror":
IMAGINE possessing the paranormal ability to set someone on fire. Not just singe an eyebrow or scorch a finger but burn a person to a crisp.
Toast. Just by thinking about it.
Well, sorta-sexy single Junko Aoki has those pyrokinetic powers, and thank goodness it's all fiction, because she uses them to leave a trail of smoldering bodies across Tokyo.
Junko is the dark heroine of "Crossfire," the third novel from Japanese horror-mystery writer Miyuki Miyabe to be translated into English. It will be published in the U.S. next month.
... "Crossfire" dwells instead where most Japanese live: an anxious place where it seems that evil and amorality have breached the walls of social unity and conformism that once kept them at bay. The novel was published in Japan in 1998, and its theme of vigilante justice — and the cost it extracts in humanity from the avenger — struck a chord in a country where the legal system can move painfully slowly and those with connections often seem to skirt justice.
It's the targets of Junko's arson attacks, not her pyrotechnics, that really get readers' blood up: youth gangs who kill for pleasure (among them, kids who tell schoolgirl kidnap victims to make a break for it, then run them down in cars), without a flicker of conscience.
It is a society so morally bankrupt that Junko feels she must go "to war" to save it.
... "I introduce these two ways of thinking," says Miyabe, who hedges when asked which approach she favors. "Of course retaliation is a crime. And it's bad for Junko herself. But perceptions in Japan are changing since I wrote the book. With so many cruel crimes being committed every day, and with our legal system ... not perfect yet, there is a greater sense that society will support retaliation.
"Psychologically, I tend to support Junko's view. But that's the dangerous way of feeling." It is hard to picture this small, gentle woman as a vigilante. "Violence is hidden within me too," she says with a smile. "In my stories, the criminals are often female, and I can understand their psychology very well."
Young, pretty Junko Aoki has the extraordinary ability to start fires using just willpower. Furthermore, she believes it to be her duty to use her pyrokinetic powers to punish violent criminals who have evaded justice.
A chance encounter one night sends Junko on a mission to rescue a young woman abducted by a vicious gang of youths. The trail of bodies she leaves across Tokyo attracts the attention of two very different groups: a secretive vigilante group that tries to recruit her, and the arson squad of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Hardly able to keep up with Junko's killing spree, Detective Chikako Ishizu finds herself drawn deeper into a case that defies belief.
Although on opposite sides of the law, both Junko and Chikako are committed to fighting evil, and both find their deeply held beliefs challenged. While Junko is increasingly disturbed by the innocent lives lost in the crossfire, Chikako is gradually forced to accept the possible existence of paranormal powers.
Crossfire takes us on a hair-raising journey through the landscape of urban Tokyo—a journey that challenges us, along with Chikako, to consider what's right and what's wrong in the name of justice.
Reviews
"[Miyuki Miyabe's] true subject is the mystery of modern Japanese identity ... she is a master of small gestures, the precise geometry of meaning as it moves between people ... a subtle observer of a country on the cusp. Her American readers can only hope for more chances to see through her eyes."
—Los Angeles Times
"A powerful and satisfying mystery."
—Time, Asia Edition
"Crossfire will be a big hit with fans of Stephen King and John Connolly alike."
—Book Page
"This provocative paranormal police procedural from the prolific Miyabe, like her two previous crime novels translated into English (All She Was Worth and Shadow Family), examines the dark side of Japanese society. ...this startling genre mix keeps the reader turning the pages right up to the breathtaking climax."
—Publishers Weekly
"In this newest novel by awarding-winning mystery author Miyabe (All She Was Worth), the power of one woman is taken to new heights. ...As these two women draw closer together, a twisted plot unfolds that tests the limit of taking the law from the hands of the powerful and giving it to the powerless. This novel goes well beyond the concept of Stephen King's Firestarter (Miyabe herself has been called "the Stephen King of Japan") with beautiful subtlety and suspense. Recommended for all public libraries."
—Library Journal
About the Author
MIYUKI MIYABE was born in downtown Tokyo in 1960, and worked in a law office before becoming a full-time writer. She is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, including Japan's most prestigious award for popular literature, the Naoki Prize. Her third novel to be published in English, Crossfire was a major bestseller in Japan and has been adapted to film.
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