Six Four
Hideo Yokoyama, 2012
64 (ロクヨン)
横山秀夫
576 pages
Read in 2026.08
Check the synopsis and details on amazon.com
🔽 Summary and quick note 🔽
✔ Unsolved case of kidnap and 14 years on
✔ Police and crime mystery with such tense details,
★★★★★ Be ready to stay awake until you reach the last page. It might start slow to set the stage as it's complicated but slowly everything will start to make sense; internal affairs, power struggles and revenge. Tense and entertaining.
🔽 Book review 🔽
Bestseller in Japan, both popular and critically acclaimed, and its film was also an instant blockbuster.
It might start slow to really understand the environment which is typically Japanese and the connections within the police, then your patience will pay off, because you will not be able to put down the book until you find out the truth.
In the first week of 1989, or year 64 of Japanese Showa era, a 7 year old girl was kidnapped and killed, and the police couldn't find any clue and the kidnapper ran away with the money.
The Showa emperor died on 7th January, and Japan welcomed the Heisei emperor soon after the kidnap.
14 years on, our protagonist Mikami, a former detective who was involved in the 64, now devotes his time in an admin post in the Media Relations, fighting with the journalists everyday, while worrying about his teenage daughter who ran away a few months ago.
It is a bit complicated at the start because there are many characters belonging to different departments, and it's important to understand who was involved in the 64 and how, and what they do now.
Separately there's the situation with the press club, which journalists are on Mikami's side and their relationship with the Media Relations.
Very complicated because you will also have to understand Japanese system and customs.
But, slowly you will start to see the connection, that the case Six Four was never swept under the carpet, on contrary it is the very active and decisive factor for the future of the police headquarter.
The internal affairs, their secrets, the unsolved mystery of the original case, Mikami's disoriented family, the power struggle between the local police and Tokyo, there's also the conflict Mikami faces with the Press Club, in top of the frail possibility to lead him to his daughter - everything slowly becomes clearer and you cannot put down the book any more, it's so gripping.
The author was once a police reporter, so the Japanese police culture is accurately depicted, so is the Japanese customs in general.
It took him over a decade to write, as he rewrote a few times while fighting with his physical conditions after suffering heart attack and temporary memory loss.
It might not be packed with action, but you can feel the powerful energy within.
Strongly recommend to read it when you have a few days to devote yourself. Gripping to say the least.
🔽 Related pages 🔽
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽
●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●
Six Four: A Novel
赤パンの本棚 akapan's bookshelf 