The Internet has countless uses other than to surf for gambling sites or porn. For instance, murderers can use it to search for victims on the pretext of looking for “love.” Villain by Shuichi Yoshida is a page-turning mystery presented from several different points of view, and it’s a look at what can happen when young women sell their bodies for a quick bit of cash on the World Wide Web–they can end up very, very, dead. The version I have is ably translated by Philip Gabriel. Villain‘s plot and action is set in Japan, where it was first published in 2007. When I got the chance to read and review it for this site, I jumped at the chance, as I’d heard a lot of good things about the book. This year, a film based on this novel is due to be released in Japan, as Akunin.
From the very cool-looking cover on, I was not disappointed. The cover is one of the most unique and eye-catching ones I’ve ever seen, picturing a gun made of human bones. In the first chapter of the novel, “Who Did She Want To See,” the body of a strangled woman, Yoshino Ishibashi, is found abandoned “up at Mitsuse Pass,” at the base of a cliff. It’s a creepy place at nighttime, and it’s rumored that ghosts of the several people who died there haunt the area and are sometimes seen by those who travel that route.
The novel goes back and forth between when Yoshino was alive and the aftermath of her death, and presents the perspectives of her friends (if they can be called that truthfully), and various men whom she’d contacted on-line and later met up with for casual sex for pay. Yoshino tells her small circle of girlfriends that she has a steady boyfriend, and she uses him as an excuse for when she is really meeting up with other men.
You may have guessed by the title of the first chapter what the title of the second chapter might be: “Who Did He Want To See?” Who the “He,” is, is up for debate, for the chapter is about detectives working on the case going to the places of residence of as many of the men Yoshino contacted on-line as they can track down, and questioning them about the night when Yoshino died, to see if they have convincing alibis. A construction worker named Yuichi and his relationship with his family is most focused on, so the chapter’s title could be referring to him. If so, he knew, of course, he wanted to meet Yoshino so he could give her the money, but possibly the title refers to an idealized version of Yoshino he had built up in his imagination.
There are only three more chapters in the novel, somewhat long ones: “Who Did She Happen To Meet?”, “Who Did He Happen To Meet?”, and “The Villain I Met”. Each of the chapters is told in the third person, except for the final chapter, which is told in the first person. Suspense and mystery is carefully developed by the author’s depiction and development of the characters in the novel, but especially of the male characters. The way the author leaves open so many possibilities and doesn’t make his characters solidly black or white, good or evil, really adds to the mystery of who is Yoshino’s murderer.
But, some readers may not like being presented with so many possibilities as to who could have committed Yoshino’s murder. Also, there’s perhaps too much attention paid by the author to developing, for instance, Yuichi’s relationships with the rest of his family. It’s important in that it shows the type of person Yuichi is, not just with the prostitutes he meets, but in other circumstances. When we read about how he takes his ailing uncle to the hospital, it puts doubt in our minds as to whether such a person could also be a murderer. And, being presented with many suspects made me feel like what I imagine the detectives working on the case must have felt like, having to shift through many possibilities and red herrings until they arrive at what they feel is the truth.
Villain is a mystery novel that will make you think and will leave you guessing right up to the very end of the novel. It will also leave you thinking about what sorts of attributes make a person (in other respects just like you and me) become a villain, capable of murder. And, what if the so-called “villain” actually shows a sense of remorse for his/her victim(s), in comparison with a person who is a friend or acquaintance of the victim, who feels nothing at all? If you have a yen (please forgive my terrible pun) for page-turning mysteries that make you think, Villain is a novel you’ll love to read!
