This extraordinarily intimate and intense psychological thriller is brimming with suspense and unexpected moments. Aki and Hiro attempt to share one last night together, each believes the other is a murderer and want a confession before they leave. Award-winning author Riku Onda sets chapters swivelling between Aki and Hiro, they aren’t introduced, there is no need, their voices are clear and they can be felt each time. Within each short sharp chapter I spent time in Tokyo and then the memories of a mountain trek. The differences between and within the memories sit puddled in the room, slowly expanding and releasing information. And yet as the story expands, it also contracts and constricts, pulling tighter and tighter around this place, these people, and a photograph. Surprises ambush and startle, I could almost hear the whisper of them, yet was still caught unaware. Translator Alison Watts ensures you feel at home in the words while in an unknown place and devious plot. Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight is a novel that suggests, cajoles, and simmers as it begins its inevitable journey towards an ending and beginning.
From the author of The Aosawa Murders, one of the NYT Notable Books of 2020. The WSJ commented: “Part psychological thriller, part murder mystery—it is audacious in conception and brilliant in execution.” The Globe and Mail said the book was “emerging as one of the most praised novels of the year.”
Set in Tokyo over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro have decided to be together one last time in their shared flat before parting. Their relationship has broken down after a mountain trek during which their guide died inexplicably. Now each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who is the murderer and what really happened on the mountain?
In the battle of wills between them, the chain of events leading up to this night is gradually revealed in a gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.
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