A high-school girl in Tokyo hears a noise from the house next door, where a boy nicknamed Worm has just killed his mother with a baseball bat. He takes her bicycle and her phone, and she keeps the secret. Natsuo Kirino tells the story in turn through four teenage girls, each with her own problems at school and at home, and through the boy himself. Their paths cross as they decide whether to help him or turn him in, and the novel looks at the distance between teenagers and the adult world.
It suits readers of Japanese crime fiction who prefer psychology to puzzles, and anyone interested in the pressures of exam culture and family life on young people. Expect an unsettling, cold-eyed novel with more interest in motives than in the chase.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2003
- Language
- EN
