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The Rope Artist Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Fuminori Nakamura (Author), Sam Bett - translator (Author), Brian Nishii (Narrator),
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 33 ratings
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Two detectives narrate the aftermath of the murder of a bondage teacher and provide an intimate look into the darkest corners of the human mind in this chilling new mystery from the master of Japanese literary noir.

Two detectives. Two identical women. One dead body—rapidly becoming two, then three, then four. All knotted up in Japan’s underground BDSM scene and kinbaku, a form of rope bondage which bears a complex cultural history of spirituality, torture, cleansing, and sacrifice.

As Togashi, a junior member of the police force, investigates the murder of a kinbaku instructor, he finds himself unable to resist his own private transgressive desires. In contrast, Togashi’s colleague Hayama is morally upright to a fault, with a stalwart commitment to the truth. A Sherlock Holmesian detective with nearly superhuman powers of deduction, Hayama notices a dangerous measure of darkness within Togashi and embarks on his own parallel investigation, which soon spirals out of control.

Unflinching in its flayed-raw treatment of identity, violence, sexuality, power, the occult, and the divine, Fuminori Nakamura’s explosive, complex new mystery is both viscerally painful and unexpectedly hopeful—plus, intriguingly pulpy. As is the case with all Nakamura’s work, The Rope Artist has a twisted, tangled plot, and functions as a profoundly philosophical treatise on the most tantalizing, most dangerous elements of the human psyche.

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  1. Listening Length
    6 hours and 15 minutes
  2. Author
    Fuminori Nakamura, see all
  3. Narrator
    Brian Nishii, see all
  4. Audible release date
    May 2, 2023
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Recorded Books
  7. ASIN
    B0BVDK339G
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 15 minutes
Author Fuminori Nakamura, Sam Bett - translator
Narrator Brian Nishii, Kurt Kanazawa
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date May 02, 2023
Publisher Recorded Books
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0BVDK339G
Best Sellers Rank #257,838 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#474 in Noir Fiction
#54,851 in Crime Thrillers (Books)
#87,435 in Literature & Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
33 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jenny Zhang
4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the pearl-clutchers, this dark thriller features extensive explicit sex
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2024
This is a murder mystery about obsession, about the destruction of ego, the loss of a personality and the finding of one, interwoven with unexpected philosophical and religious themes in Japanese bondage. To be honest, this was not my typical book - I do not seek out explicit books at all but rather I have been reading through all books of this author. The themes of this book are somewhat similar to my Annihilation, the sex is much much more graphic than The Kingdom. As far as a mystery and crime goes, it is very 2-3 star, but the strength of this book like all the author’s works is the dark psychological underpinnings. You always feel like his protagonists are spiraling down some dark psychological hellhole and this book is no different. The writing has his characteristic mesmerizing style.

I feel like most adults can definitely read this but if you are at all uncomfortable with sex, it is a skip. There is very frequent and very graphic depictions of explicit sadomaschism and bondage but for me, at least, that’s just the context/background for the urban noir psychological thriller
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C. Nauer
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put It Down
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2024
I was drawn in by the summary alone, and the book was much the same. I just couldn't put it down. The slow unfolding of mystery, intrigue, corruption, and the meaning of rope artistry...I was hooked! Excellently and interestingly written book.
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