First published 2011
In Tokyo's neon-lit entertainment districts, a wealthy Japanese real estate developer prowls hostess bars seeking young foreign women. He pays for their company, then lures his favorites on private dates where he drugs and rapes them while filming what he calls his "conquest play." His victims rarely remember the attacks. The man perfects his technique over years, but when he kills a 21-year-old British hostess with an overdose, burying her dismembered body in a cave with her head sealed in concrete, her father refuses to let the crime disappear. The investigation reveals an earlier victim, a young Australian woman who died eight years before from chloroform poisoning during an assault. As detectives piece together the predator's pattern, the foreign families confront Japan's labyrinthine legal system. The case drags on for a decade while prosecutors build their evidence against the man newspapers call "the beast with a human face."
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, investigation, predator-prey
Setting: Japan, Tokyo
Period: Contemporary
ebook · RosettaBooks
Content warnings: sexual-assault, violence