These four tales explore the satisfactions, frustrations, and base and noble emotions of those who devote their lives to a profession where saving face is a priority and ethical conundrums are a frequent challenge ... Mr. Yokoyama, a journalist-turned-author whose novel Six Four was published in America in 2017 to much acclaim, immerses us in an environment at once familiar and exotic; his stories’ mysteries are solved in a manner that surprises the mind and moves the heart.
Prefecture D is actually four novellas, each an intriguing story describing the complex relationships and bureaucratic tensions between individuals in the prefecture’s police force. This book is a perfect introduction to the political and social undercurrents that govern Japanese society. Like all good mysteries, each novella holds the reader in suspense until the surprising end ... Yokoyama’s storytelling is unusual, and his denouements contain twists. His psychological insights into his characters’ behavior – together with his succinct, descriptive prose – make for enjoyable reading ... Japanese can be a difficult language to translate and translators need to pay close attention to cultural nuances to ensure the correct context is represented. A shout-out needs to be given to the book’s translator, Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, born in Wales, who has done a yeoman’s job here ... Prefecture D may be missing the mayhem of the usual crime novel, but its page-turning narrative is not only captivating but also provides insight into Japanese society.
The author somehow manages to pack each approximately 80-page story with the same amount of intensity as his epic-scale fiction ... Relentless in their portrayal of karoshi at work, the stories can seem overwhelming, but they offer an intriguing look into Japanese police procedure and are certain to interest devoted readers of international crime fiction.
... mutual antipathy infuses the novellas in Prefecture D, which circle one another although they are not continuous in any direct way ... His characters are not lost but adrift, swept up in inner longing, dissatisfied with or even broken by many of the aspects of their lives ... We need to believe in something, Yokoyama insists, whether the order of institutions or the stability of family. And yet there is only so much we can do. For the characters in these novellas, caught up in their amorphous investigations, police work is perhaps most important for the structure it offers, a way of giving shape or meaning to their days. What makes them recognizable and human is that this is not enough, that it can never be enough.
The difficulty of putting your employer above your family and your own health, the need to save face and the conservative nature of the Japanese workforce may not sound like the most exciting basis for crime fiction, but Yokoyama’s strength is the way he highlights the motivations behind the individual police officers, and delves deep into the crimes they commit ... Fans of Japanese crime fiction, or any crime fiction that gives an insight into another country and the psyches of the people who spend their lives there, will find a lot to love in Prefecture D. It is both a slow burner and a quick, compact page-turner. It reads like an introduction to the Japanese workplace, a rather mundane theme that manages to turn into something much bigger and more poignant.
Prefecture D is comprised of four compelling, loosely interlinked novellas ... Each novella presents a mystery that exposes the labyrinthine relationships within Prefecture D's sprawling police department ... Yokoyama's dozen years' experience as an investigative journalist undoubtedly enhances his already sharp fiction with unexpected minutiae that proves essential. Beyond cleverly solving mysteries, he adroitly exposes gender inequity, career climbing, personal sacrifice, dysfunctional relationships, power imbalances and abuses. Who needs actual criminals when Prefecture D is already abuzz with lawbreakers?
The four novellas in Yokoyama’s disappointing collection all focus on members of the Japanese police ... None of the characters are memorable, and the answers to the questions driving them are largely anticlimactic. Yokoyama won’t win any new fans with this one.
Linked novellas from the dean of Japanese noir. There’s more politics than mayhem here, but fans of hard-boiled fiction will enjoy seeing how Japanese cop shops work.
