LoveReading Says
December 2017 Debut of the Month
A beautifully plotted police procedural set in Japan by a new British author, this wonderfully crafted suspense sees a pair of police investigators with highly troubled pasts of their own brought on board to examine a series of strange murders which had defeated a previous, talented cop, only to find the case opposed in house and growing layers of suspicion clouding their dogged efforts. Intricate but rewarding and with just the right touch of the exotic alongside some horrific murders and a story that develops from the far past into the activities of modern cults, religion, contemporary politics and more to keep you in its fierce vice of a ritually-paced story. Evocative and serpentine, this marks the debut of a fresh new voice and a remarkable maverick detective with a difference. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Maxim Jakubowski
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Blue Light Yokohama Synopsis
Inspired by the still unsolved murder of a Japanese family in 2000, Blue Light Yokohama is 2017's most original and gripping crime debut ...Setagaya ward, Tokyo Inspector Kosuke Iwata, newly transferred to Tokyo's homicide department, is assigned a new partner and a secondhand case. Blunt, hard as nails and shunned by her colleagues, Assistant Inspector Noriko Sakai is a partner Iwata decides it would be unwise to cross. A case that's complicated - a family of four murdered in their own home by a killer who then ate ice cream, surfed the web and painted a hideous black sun on the bedroom ceiling before he left in broad daylight. A case that so haunted the original investigator that he threw himself off the city's famous Rainbow Bridge. Carrying his own secret torment, Iwata is no stranger to pain. He senses the trauma behind the killer's brutal actions. Yet his progress is thwarted in the unlikeliest of places. Fearing corruption among his fellow officers, tracking a killer he's sure is only just beginning and trying to put his own shattered life back together, Iwata knows time is running out before he's taken off the case or there are more killings ...Blue Light Yokohama is crime fiction at its very best - gripping, haunting, atmospheric and utterly captivating. 'Outstanding' Sunday Express 'Taut and atmospheric with twists galore' Woman & Home 'Tantalising. An intricately constructed whodunit' Publisher's Weekly 'Obregon is a bright, sophisticated new voice in crime fiction: his writing sings at you, reverberates, makes you consider more than just the urgent clamour of his novel's well-hewn murder plot. In Inspector Iwata, he has created a quiet, troubled hero whom readers will be sure to follow from one disturbing, atmospheric story to the next' Benjamin Wood, author of The Ecliptic
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Nicolas Obregon Press Reviews
'Taut and atmospheric with twists galore' Woman & Home
'A twisty, highly entertaining thriller that pulls us into the heart of an unconventional hero as he fights corruption in the gritty, glittering world of Tokyo' -- Julia Heaberlin, author of Sunday Times bestseller Black-Eyed Susans
'Poetic, chilling and mesmerizing storytelling' -- Ragnar Jonasson, internationally bestselling author of Snowblind
'An outstanding debut' -- The most awaited books of 2017, Sunday Express
With its Japanese setting and characters, Blue Light Yokohama offers up a bold and refreshingly different take on the serial killer tale' Simon Beckett
'Obregon is a bright, sophisticated new voice in crime fiction: his writing sings at you, reverberates, makes you consider more than just the urgent clamour of his novel's well-hewn murder plot. In Inspector Iwata, he has created a quiet, troubled hero whom readers will be sure to follow from one disturbing, atmospheric story to the next' -- Benjamin Wood, author of The Ecliptic
'Obregon's full-bodied prose is by turns gritty and poetic, and it's consistently energetic. Given the terrific chemistry between the two lead detectives, here's hoping this debut novel kicks off a new series' Kirkus Review
About Nicolas Obregon
British born of a Spanish father and a French mother, Nicolas Obregon grew up between London and Madrid. As a travel writer, Nicolas has had an extensive experience of Japan but the beginning of his fascination with the country came from watching Japanese cartoons as a young boy. The inspiration for Blue Light Yokohama is easy to mark. During his first trip to Japan, Nicolas came across an article about a real-life crime which was to haunt him. Sixteen years after this atrocity, the case remains unsolved. Nicolas Obregon is a graduate of the acclaimed Birkbeck Creative Writing Masters course and a former bookseller for Waterstones.
Author photo © Bill Waters
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