Hideo Yokoyama (Seventeen) might not yet have a following in the U.S. like some of his compatriot mystery writers--Keigo Higashino and Natsuo Kirino, for example--but the acclaim he's earned in his native Japan will likely spread to English-language readers. With Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, a Welsh expat who lives in Tokyo, who agilely translated the internationally bestselling Six Four, Yokoyama returns with Prefecture D, comprised of four compelling, loosely interlinked novellas. Six Four and Prefecture D are companion titles; each could easily stand alone, but to read both offers enhancing insights.
Each novella presents a mystery that exposes the labyrinthine relationships within Prefecture D's sprawling police department. In "Cry of the Earth," Internal Affairs Officer Takayoshi Shindo is assigned to investigate an anonymous missive that accuses a division chief of improprieties. In "Black Lines"--the quartet's strongest--Section Chief Tomoko Nanao (the highest-ranking woman) grows increasingly alarmed when one of her younger charges, Sergeant Mizuho Hirano of Mobile Forensics, goes missing. In "Briefcase," Masaki Tsuge, who manages relations between the police and local government, is ordered to protect Prefectural HQ's reputation in an upcoming election debate.
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? --Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon