Out

I have just finished Out, a gory crime thriller set in Tokyo. This is Kirino's first novel to be translated into English, and apparently (according to the blurb on the back of the book) she has written many other highly acclaimed crime books in Japan.

In this book we know the crime and the perpetrator at the beginning. Yayoi Yamamoto kills her abusive, cheating, stealing husband Kenji and enlists the help of colleague Masako Kitori and two others to chop up and dispose of his remains. However, part of his body is found and a casino owner is arrested for the crime and upon his release attempts to track down Kenji Yamamoto's real killer and those that helped in losing his livelihood.

Whilst I query the ease in which Yayoi got her colleagues to help chop up and dispose of a body (with a small monetary offer), if you let that niggle go you do have a good crime book with strong (if not always likeable) women characters. The book is very gory in parts and is very graphic so not for the queasy, but you will be gripped and happy to go along to see what will befall this women.