Tokyo Swindlers
ByPublisher Description
Now a major Netflix series!
"This is masterful"—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"...no one comes out unscathed."—Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice and Tokyo Noir
"An unflinching deep dive into the darkness of humanity."—The Japan Times
"Pulls back the curtain on the high-stakes world of land fraud in Japan."—Asian Review of Books
A contemporary Japanese crime thriller unravels an intricate web of deception and greed, inspired by recent land-fraud scandals.
Takumi, grieving the tragic loss of his family, is drawn into a real-estate swindle masterminded by fabled land scammer Harrison Yamanaka. The target is an unprecedented $70-million property. During his pursuit, Detective Tatsu, upright as ever but nearing retirement, discovers Harrison's strange connection to Takumi's past. As the high-stakes fraud unfolds, the convergence of motives leads to a shocking outcome in this intense game of deception versus truth.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities2 Reviews
regretfulpenguin
Created 4 months ago
“I'm trying to find some positive aspects about #TokyoSwindlers , though I don't know what I was expecting. The thing that I liked the most, probably, was the insights and flashbacks on Takumi's life before becoming a swindler, because they give the reader the opportunity to get to know his reasons on a deeper level. Despite this, it still felt thin. The reason why he becomes a con artist (no spoilers) are not strong enough for me (or maybe not presented properly? One time it seems he does that out of economical desperation, the other time to regain some...uh...dignity, for a lack of better term? Another time I'm lead to think he's doing it to fill the void he has within himself...I don't know, I'm confused. Maybe it doesn't matter.)
Aside from Takumi and Tatsu, the policeman, the other characters are unsufferable. And I don't mean merely unlikable or unrelatable. I wanted them to go die in a fire. I was sorry for Takumi, but other than that, I didn't care for any of them. I'd have appreciated more space for police investigation, in general more light shed on Tatsu, who is a mere tool to the plot and not much else. Ok, I know there's a sequel to this, so maybe he's dedicated more space in the second installment...just maybe.
Finally, the plot felt submerged in a myriad of other details that weren't necessary. The idea at the bottom is valid, but maybe it needed to be developed in another way. Also, I had the feeling that many things were a problem of translation, rather than writing.
I'll see if I can watch the series, perhaps it works better as a screenplay. 🥰
Thanks to NetGalley and Stone Bridge Press for making the ARC openly available!”Ashton Ahart
Created 6 months agoAbout Ko Shinjo
Author: Ko Shinjo
Ko Shinjo was born in Tokyo in 1983. He made his debut in 2012 with Narrow House, which won the 36th Subaru Literature Award. In 2020, Shinjo’s book Jimenshitachi--which has been adapted into Netflix’s live-action Tokyo Swindlers--was nominated for the 23rd Haruhiko Oyabu Prize.
Translator: Charles De Wolf
Charles De Wolf, a resident of Japan for more than 40 years, is an accomplished translator of fiction and nonfiction as well as scholarly works. His English-translated works include In Pursuit of Lavender by Akiko Itoyama, ME by Hoshino Tomiyuki, and Eclipse by Hirano Keiichiro. He is currently a professor emeritus at Keio University in Tokyo, where he held faculty positions for more than 20 years.
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