I heard that a letter demanding six hundred million was delivered to the Kyoto factory yesterday morning.” One of Japan’s great modern writers, this second half of Lady Joker brings Kaoru Takamura’s breathtaking masterpiece to a gripping conclusion. The assistant inspector repeated the English words. “Lady as in first lady. Then joker as in the trump card. Lady Joker. That’s what the crime group is calling themselves.”

Lady Joker, Volume Two by Kaoru Takamura | Goodreads

It means I cannot speak about a situation that hasn’t produced an outcome. How about we call your press nook after midnight and say whether or not it’s O.K.? That’ll be all for tonight.” These last four days of the Golden Week holiday, the chief of First Investigation had received reporters for the regular evening interview sessions seemingly out of stubbornness, and again tonight he had returned to his official residence, feigning nonchalance to deflect the media’s attention. Yet by the time Kubo rushed up to join the reporters, the line that normally assembled by company along the alley in front of the official residence after 10 p.m. had already dispersed, save for the reporters from two commercial broadcasting companies.The second half of Takamura’s compelling crime epic—following Lady Joker, Volume 1 (2021)—plumbs the connections between corporate malfeasance and social immorality. Twelve minutes left until the time specified by the perpetrators. At this time of night, it would take less than ten minutes to drive straight through Koto district. Where was the station wagon headed? Kubo’s hired car had just turned into a sidestreet off Meguro-Dori Avenue, but before making his way toward the official residence, Kubo at least wanted to figure out the station wagon’s destination, so he remained inside the car, awaiting word.

Lady Joker: Volume 2 (Paperback) - Waterstones Lady Joker: Volume 2 (Paperback) - Waterstones

Inspired by the real-life Glico-Morinaga kidnapping, an unsolved case that terrorized Japan for two years, Lady Joker reimagines this watershed episode in modern Japanese history. There would be no obstruction if I wrote about it after the money exchange took place. Both consumers and investors have a right to know the facts as soon as possible. I’m putting it in the morning edition.” A novel that portrays with devastating immensity how those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts’Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory PoliceFeeling his blood pressure creeping up, Kubo told the chief, “I’ve got to see Kanzaki now, so I’ll leave you to it,” and dashed out of his hired car. My only gripe is that the female characters were relegated to minor roles as “the wife” or “the secretary”. This however may be a reflection of corporate life in Japan in the 90s where women did not have roles in executive. One of my gripes about the Japanese fiction we read is it is often simply weird – little plot in favour of portrayals of outsiders. Yes, there are outsiders in Lady Joker but their outsider status and their being apart from the corporate world is not the whole plot. I hope to read more Japanese fiction where this is the case. My thanks to John Murray Press U.K. Baskerville for an eARC and to John Murray Press U.K. Audio for a review copy of the unabridged audiobook edition, both via NetGalley, of ‘Lady Joker Volume 2’ by Kaoru Takamura. The audiobook is narrated by Brian Nishii.

Lady Joker: Volume 2: The Million Copy Bestselling

I wanted to love this book and I think if I had read Volume 1 before it I would have. However, I found it slower than what I typically love. A novel that portrays withdevastating immensityhow those on the dark fringes of society can be consumed by the darkness of their own hearts.”

Thus, in the moments before the deadline for the final morning edition, the MPD press nook was suddenly galvanized. Even as they spread the road map of Koto district and began to determine stakeout positions near Hinode’s main office and branch offices, they fixated on the peculiarity of that name, Lady Joker. This is the most complete crime story I have read in years. Greed, extortion, murder, disappearances, corruption and criminal gangs are all part of this vast epic that forms around one main crime – the kidnapping of the president and CEO of Hinode Beer by five societal outsiders whose only connection is a shared love of horse racing. In Lady Joker volume 1, we read of the development and unfolding of the plot and the immediate aftermath. Lady Joker volume 2 follows the investigation into the kidnapping over the course of the following year. My car got into a fender bender,” Kubo replied with forced sulkiness as he stood in the alley darkness. He had to keep his head down to hide the excitement that was no doubt evident on his face. Kaoru Takamura was born in Osaka in 1953 and is the author of thirteen novels. Her debut, Grab the Money and Run, won the 1990 Japan Mystery and Suspense Grand Prize, and since then her work has been recognized with many of Japan’s most prestigious awards for literary fiction as well as for crime fiction: the Naoki Prize, the Noma Literary Award, the Yomiuri Prize, the Shinran Prize, the Jiro Osaragi Prize, the Mystery Writers of Japan Award, and the Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize. Lady Joker, her first novel to be translated into English, received the Mainichi Arts Award and has been adapted into both a film and a television series.

Lady Joker: Volume 1: The Million Copy Bestselling Lady Joker: Volume 1: The Million Copy Bestselling

This second half of Lady Joker, by Kaoru Takamura, the Grand Dame of Japanese crime fiction, concludes the breathtaking saga introduced in Volume One. Like all literature, readers will take what they want from Takamura’s critique of Japanese society, but at the heart of the epic novel is a gripping crime story where the actual crime itself is almost secondary to the psychological ripples it sends through the boardrooms, police stations, press offices and homes of anyone connected. This is much more of a whydunit than a whodunit — and one that was well worth the wait.” They want six hundred million in used bills. The handoff will take place at eleven p.m. on the ninth. A white station wagon will be used to transport the money. Only one person in the car. Location will be somewhere in Koto district. That’s all I can tell you.”As far as the police force is concerned, to print such things in a newspaper would amount to a malicious obstruction of our investigation. Besides, no matter how you were to write about it, there would be no way to avoid its having a negative impact on Hinode’s business activities. Freedom of the press only reaches so far.” This is second volume in the story—and a long story it is, but good, too. The action has gone on to include more than just Lady Joker’s crimes, and all the characters have different problems to deal with.