Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Welcome to our discussion of Out, by Natsuo Kirino, which is part of our Fall/Winter Collection Group Reads. Your discussion leader is Lisa.
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Summary

Natsuo Kirino's novel tells a story of random violence in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works a night shift making boxed lunches brutally strangles her deadbeat husband and then seeks the help of her co-workers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime.

The ringleader of this cover-up, Masako Katori, emerges as the emotional heart of Out and as one of the shrewdest, most clear-eyed creations in recent fiction. Masako's own search for a way out of the straitjacket of a dead-end life leads her, too, to take drastic action.

The complex yet riveting narrative seamlessly combines a convincing glimpse into the grimy world of Japan's yakuza with a brilliant portrayal of the psychology of a violent crime and the ensuing game of cat-and-mouse between seasoned detectives and a group of determined but inexperienced criminals. Kirino has mastered a Thelma and Louise kind of graveyard humor that illuminates her stunning evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds and the friendship that bolsters them in the aftermath.

Hi, all - I'm expecting this to be a good one. I really liked Grotesque, by this author, and I'm looking forward to reading Out. Please join me!

Not my thing Lisa but looking forward to your thoughts ☃️

This book was a total departure for me - but I enjoyed it - loved the atmosphere.

David wrote: "This book was a total departure for me - but I enjoyed it - loved the atmosphere."

Yes, really different, and I'm greatly enjoying it. I'm only about halfway through, but hoping to finish in the next couple of days. All of the characters are very well-drawn, with distinctive personalities. I love Masako, and I'm enjoying the way her past is slowly being revealed. This book addresses class and gender disparity, and there is a lot of focus on the imbalance of power between men and women in Japan. Many of the male characters are pretty crappy. Yet, Kirino shows her female characters as quite flawed as well, and devotes a lot of time to the complexity of Kazuo's character. I like that balance and depth.

I saw this thread but didn't start reading Out until March. It took me a while to become intrigued by it - around the 30% mark.

The story's setting in Tokyo in the late 1990s was pretty evocative. I've never been to Japan but I had a university anthropology course and I've watched plenty of travel shows and even NHK - the Japanese - sponsored station.

Spoilers about the ending are behind these tags -
(view spoiler)[Yowza, that ending! Masako who had been so suspicious and paranoid dropped her guard just when she was so close to fleeing. It was both surprising and unsurprising to have these two schemers go head to head. I could have done without the rape scene but that wouldn't have suited the author.

Some issues seemed to have just been dropped. I take it that the police detectives dropped the case because they couldn't pin it on an "innocent" Satake. And yet look at how quickly Jumonji figured the situation out even before he had paid for a confession.

I assumed before Masako had thought the same that Yoshie had burned down her house. Did she commit murder too then assuming her mother-in-law was home?

There was kind of a poetic circle then in this novel ... Yayoi didn't "profit" from her murder; Kuniko got "punished" for selling out her colleagues; Yayoi’s accomplice became murderers themselves; the known killer died. (hide spoiler)]

This was not my usual readng fare in the crime fiction genre but I don't regret it.

My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4608196408