Shadow Family (Hardcover)

by Miyuki Miyabe (Author), Juliet Winters Carpenter (Translator) "A light rap sounded, and the meeting room door swung open..." (more)
Key Phrases: shadow family, police box, blue parka, Naoko Imai, Ryosuke Tokoroda, Kazumi Tokoroda (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
What starts as a dry police procedural intensifies into an Agatha Christie–style closed-room puzzle in this intriguing look at contemporary Japanese family life from Miyabe (All She Was Worth). Sergeant Takegami, an accomplished desk jockey, winds up taking an active role in investigating two separate murders, one of a bland company man, Ryosuke Tokoroda, and the other of a woman who proves to be the first victim's college-age girlfriend. Takegami learns that Tokoroda participated in Internet chat rooms and established a cyber "family" where he played the "Dad." The faux family, which included a wife, a son and a daughter, seemed to be an idealized unit, supportive and loving. This paternal perfection contrasted to the frosty relations Tokoroda had with his actual wife and daughter. Tokoroda's history of extramarital affairs complicates the inquiry, as do reports of a stalker plaguing his real-life daughter. Miyabe expertly manipulates mood and pace as the action builds to a house-of-mirrors-like interview that slowly reveals the killer's surprising identity. The clean, crisp translation is the perfect vehicle for this satisfying read. (Feb. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Though Miyabe's thriller is set in the electric city of Tokyo, almost all of the action takes place in the small interrogation room of a police station. A middle-aged "salaryman" and his young mistress have been murdered. A colleague's illness propels Desk Sergeant Takegami into leading the investigation, with his former partner Detective Chikako Ishizu brought in to help. They soon learn that the murdered man, married with a daughter, had an online "family" for whom he played the role of "Dad." As police attempt to track down the fantasy family, the real-life daughter of the murdered man complains that she is being stalked. Most of the story recounts the interrogation of the fantasy family members--"Mom," son "Minoru," and daughter "Kazumi"--as the real daughter watches from behind a two-way mirror. Although the English translation of this Japanese original sounds a bit stilted, almost like a dubbed movie, the novel offers a fascinating look at the dark side of the Internet. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (February 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770030029
• ISBN-13: 978-4770030023
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,043,595 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Its all make-believe, June 9, 2005

By	Zack Davisson "All Good Things" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In her native Japan, Miyuki Miyabe is as much a household name as John Grisham or Stephen King. While not the avante guard genius of Haruki Murakami, she is a respected and popular author of crime fiction, with quite a few books to her credit, and some movie adaptations as well. "Shadow Family" (original Japanese title "R.P.G." ) is her second book to be translated into English, following the excellent "All She was Worth."

"Shadow Family" covers the murders of middle-aged husband and father Ryosuke Tokoroda and his college-age lover Naoko Imai. Through the course of the investigation, it is uncovered that Tokoroda had an online "family," where he role-played the loving father to a make-believe wife, daughter and son. In real life he was a cold and selfish philanderer, but online he became the loving, supportive father that every child dreams of.

Aside from a few expositionary chapters, it is a "single-room" mystery, not unlike "12 Angry Men," where all the tension takes place in a police interrogation chamber. The investigators and the suspects engage in a battle of wills, each trying to get the other to slip up and make a mistake, in a fencing match of "Who knows what." One by one Tokoroda's online "family" is called in, while his real-life daughter Kazumi watches from behind the 2-way mirror, peeling away the layers of mystery that were her father.

"Shadow Family" is not as strong a book as "All She was Worth," but is still an engrossing read and a real page-turner. The opening expositionary chapters are slow, and it takes awhile to get into the pace of the book. Once all the players are assembled in the interrogation room, however, the story takes off and the psychological fencing begins.

It is no real challenge to identify the killer, and the "Whodunnit?" joy of the book comes about 2/3 of the way in. From there, it is a pleasure to watch the pieces of the well-laid trap fall into place. Some of the characters are very interesting sketches, and I would love to see them explored in another book, where they are allowed more depth to develop. Unfortunately, at under 200 pages, "Shadow Family" does not allow for deep characters, but is more an exercise of an interesting trap.

Very enjoyable over all, and I will definitely be keeping up with future Miyabe books as they are translated.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enthralling....but alittle light in content, April 28, 2006

By	Christopher L. Brunner (fort bragg, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shadow Family (Paperback)

First, I'd like to correct a previous viewer. Ms. Miyabi did not write "OUT". This was written by an equally amazing author Natsuo Kirino. Funny story: I made the same mistake in purchasing Miyabi's book "All She was Worth" thinking it was by Kirino; and was pleasantly rewarding with a new favorite.

Anyway, "Shadow Family" was a great read. Equally as rewarding as her other two novels. The characters were people I could easily sympathize with, and paced to a degree that I looked forward to every page turned. While it's true, that the book could have been just as long as "Crossfire" and "All She Was Worth", as some of the characters had a history with each other that was never fully fleshed out, the roller coaster ride that was the interrogation made up for it.

Also, while it's true that the identity of the killer was revealed quite early on, I don't think that it was the point of the story. It was the revelations surrounding the online family that became slowly fleshed out....and the "super-surprise" revelation about this family at the end (I won't give it away) that was the real kicker.

All in all, I got my money's worth, and look forward to many more translations from Miyabi. They're really taking their sweet time aren't they?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ingeniouly clever mystery, December 22, 2007

By	Jacob Feldman (Alexandria, Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shadow Family (Paperback)

Miyuki Miyabe's "shadow Family" is an ingeniously clever police procedural. Unlike "All She was Worth" another mystery by Miyabe which I thoroughly enjoyed, the novel was less Japanese and more universal. I liked both the concept given the enormous increase in computer chat sites and the manner in which the characters were developed. It was a difficult book to put down and I rhought that the ending was satisfying.