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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This was quite a difficult book to read with names that are very similar. Also, the cultural differences mean that some aspects are quite difficult to understand.
The story-line is good though and I'm glad I persevered.
The story-line is good though and I'm glad I persevered.
It does a disservice to this book to categorize it as a mystery. Those going into this with an expectation of mystery or a whodunnit will be disappointed. It's a shame that at least American publishers have chosen to market it in such a way.
The story is about the failure of police to save a ransom victim and catch the perpetrator. The case is called Six Four and even 14 years later the failure looms large over the police force, but especially the officers that were assigned to the ransom detail. That's where our story picks up.
In a way the mystery of who murdered and ransomed a little girl is the setting of the book. It's a ghost that haunts our main character Mikami and a failure that forced him to be transferred to a job he doesn't want: Press Director.
Mikami must face a daughter that ran away, a wife that may resent him, a boss (well, multiple bosses) that seem to all have their own secret agendas and wish to hide information from him, a press club that hates the police, and the failure of Six Four.
What follows is a labyrinthine character study about a man having to navigate the world of press and policing, considering the wants of all parties and trying to satisfy them.
This was one of those few books for me in which I wouldn't have minded if it didn't end. I found Mikami to be written incredibly well and was there with him in each failure and victory.
The story is about the failure of police to save a ransom victim and catch the perpetrator. The case is called Six Four and even 14 years later the failure looms large over the police force, but especially the officers that were assigned to the ransom detail. That's where our story picks up.
In a way the mystery of who murdered and ransomed a little girl is the setting of the book. It's a ghost that haunts our main character Mikami and a failure that forced him to be transferred to a job he doesn't want: Press Director.
Mikami must face a daughter that ran away, a wife that may resent him, a boss (well, multiple bosses) that seem to all have their own secret agendas and wish to hide information from him, a press club that hates the police, and the failure of Six Four.
What follows is a labyrinthine character study about a man having to navigate the world of press and policing, considering the wants of all parties and trying to satisfy them.
This was one of those few books for me in which I wouldn't have minded if it didn't end. I found Mikami to be written incredibly well and was there with him in each failure and victory.
Difficult to get into at first, mostly because of the speed with which we are introduced to new characters, but ultimately very captivating. My edition also had a list of characters near the front which I heavily relied on for the first half of the book!
SIX FOUR is one of those books that demands considerable commitment from readers. At a whopping 656 pages, it's a considerable weight to be holding onto for a long period of time, which you will be, as it's a very detailed, dense and potentially frustrating read.
A form of police procedural crime novel, set within the confines of a police station and a stalled investigation, SIX FOUR, is, in the beginning, a study in police / media relationships. The central protagonist, Mikami, a career police officer now seconded to the media office, has a brief to improve co-operation between the media and the police. The media have their own press office within the police station with ongoing access to information about cases. A large part of this novel is devoted to the building, unravelling and reconstructing of this relationship with the demands from the media particularly startling. Aside from the fact that this ongoing temper tantrum from them distracts constantly from Mikami's concerns about a 14 year old open case of the kidnap and murder of a seven-year-old girl, the media's behaviour is breathtakingly over the top, and drawn out. Oh so very very drawn out.
Readers may therefore find themselves drawing considerably on reserves of patience, unless of course, this ongoing sort of quasi-political / power battle is of particular interest. For fans of more traditional crime fiction, when aspects of the cold case manage to work their way into the narrative there is much to reward. It's hard not to be struck by the coincidence of patience required by the reader and the patience that Mikami shows in doggedly wanting to solve this old case, perhaps for the sake of a still grieving father more than anything else. He has though, a very personal reason for reacting that way, and the trials of Mikami and his wife Minako, the constant wonder he feels over his beautiful wife choosing him, his downplaying of his intelligence and his compassion, these aspects of SIX FOUR are part of what also rewards that patient reader. And a word of warning - you may also find that a tendency for names to be very similar will have you backtracking to check who is who, or resorting to a handy character / job description list to keep track.
Lacking, as it does, a form of "procedural arc", instead SIX FOUR relies on Mikami's chasing down of loose ends, some of them particularly odd to his acute investigative eye. Towards the end of the novel, once the obsession with media relationships has been sated, and the real possibility of solving a fourteen year old case starts to burn more brightly, there is an unexpected sense of tension and expectation. There's also a lot of descriptive elements, and a hefty dose of distractions and seemingly inconsequential elements built in, even at this stage of the book.
SIX FOUR isn't going to be to everyone's taste, no doubt whatever about that. There will be readers that will want to run screaming from the media pack and their unfettered grab for power (and for that matter their astounding laziness), and there will be readers that want to slap each and very boss / higher-up that Mikami has to deal with. There will also be readers that are absolutely enthralled by the detailed manner in which so many aspects of this community, it's police station and their media work. For them, the 656 pages may not feel like such a hefty level of commitment.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-six-four-hideo-yokoyama
A form of police procedural crime novel, set within the confines of a police station and a stalled investigation, SIX FOUR, is, in the beginning, a study in police / media relationships. The central protagonist, Mikami, a career police officer now seconded to the media office, has a brief to improve co-operation between the media and the police. The media have their own press office within the police station with ongoing access to information about cases. A large part of this novel is devoted to the building, unravelling and reconstructing of this relationship with the demands from the media particularly startling. Aside from the fact that this ongoing temper tantrum from them distracts constantly from Mikami's concerns about a 14 year old open case of the kidnap and murder of a seven-year-old girl, the media's behaviour is breathtakingly over the top, and drawn out. Oh so very very drawn out.
Readers may therefore find themselves drawing considerably on reserves of patience, unless of course, this ongoing sort of quasi-political / power battle is of particular interest. For fans of more traditional crime fiction, when aspects of the cold case manage to work their way into the narrative there is much to reward. It's hard not to be struck by the coincidence of patience required by the reader and the patience that Mikami shows in doggedly wanting to solve this old case, perhaps for the sake of a still grieving father more than anything else. He has though, a very personal reason for reacting that way, and the trials of Mikami and his wife Minako, the constant wonder he feels over his beautiful wife choosing him, his downplaying of his intelligence and his compassion, these aspects of SIX FOUR are part of what also rewards that patient reader. And a word of warning - you may also find that a tendency for names to be very similar will have you backtracking to check who is who, or resorting to a handy character / job description list to keep track.
Lacking, as it does, a form of "procedural arc", instead SIX FOUR relies on Mikami's chasing down of loose ends, some of them particularly odd to his acute investigative eye. Towards the end of the novel, once the obsession with media relationships has been sated, and the real possibility of solving a fourteen year old case starts to burn more brightly, there is an unexpected sense of tension and expectation. There's also a lot of descriptive elements, and a hefty dose of distractions and seemingly inconsequential elements built in, even at this stage of the book.
SIX FOUR isn't going to be to everyone's taste, no doubt whatever about that. There will be readers that will want to run screaming from the media pack and their unfettered grab for power (and for that matter their astounding laziness), and there will be readers that want to slap each and very boss / higher-up that Mikami has to deal with. There will also be readers that are absolutely enthralled by the detailed manner in which so many aspects of this community, it's police station and their media work. For them, the 656 pages may not feel like such a hefty level of commitment.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-six-four-hideo-yokoyama
‘Six Four’ is a challenging book.
First, it is a literary read which has been translated into English from Japanese.
Second, written by a Japanese author and set in 2002 Japan, the novel is, apparently, extremely Japanese - heirarchical culture, buried volcanic emotions of shame, male character dominance expectations and relationships. The Japanese cultural world of executive or enterprise-level management struggles is closer to what the story is actually about, only it focuses on characters who are police department directors and managers. (Strangely, I was reminded of a major University's School of Medicine where I worked as a secretary for world-class scientists and medical department directors.) Some characters had been fieldwork police officers who have been promoted, but many only ever worked at a desk.
Third, the synopsis describing the story is misleading - for a modern detective mystery that we American noir- or cozy-mystery readers may expect from the plot summary, this book is kind of a dull wordy overlong read. An old case, a kidnapping for ransom and ultimately murder of a seven-year-old, Shoko Amamiya, went unsolved fourteen years ago. It disturbed the peace of mind of many police employees who worked on the case, given the name "Six Four", but horizontal departmental sniping and siloed interdepartmental pissing contests are the order of the day in the present (and for at least 600 pages).
Press director Yoshinobu Mikami, forty-six years old, was assistant chief of Second Division in Criminal Investigations in Prefecture D Police Headquarters, until he was transferred into Administrative Affairs, Media Relations. His days are now spent managing section chiefs and subchiefs under him, and controlling the release of information to local and powerful newspapers and the thirteen members of the Prefectural HQ Press Club regarding local police incidents, accidents, crimes and Prefecture D promotions, demotions and executive moves. He also arranges PR stunts for visits from the upper-level Tokyo police, especially for executives from the National Police Agency.
Mikami has a personal crisis at home. His sixteen-year-old daughter, Ayumi, has run away from home. She has been diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder by a therapist. Mikami and his wife, Minako, were unable to assure their daughter her appearance was normal. Minako is beautiful, but Ayumi looks more like her father, whose face is now craggy. Ayumi literally feels her face is deformed. She was seriously unbalanced and depressed, hiding her face at all times, and now she has disappeared. The precipitating event before her disappearance was her father's refusal to allow her to have plastic surgery. Minako stays home near the telephone and she is cutting all calls short. The couple have already been to the morgue several times in the last three months to look at recovered bodies of young girls. Neither discusses the situation much with each other.
Mikami never talks about his missing daughter at work. Whenever anyone seems to know about it he becomes seriously ashamed, turning red, but so far, these conversations have been false alarms, although his supervisors are aware of it.
Mikami has decided to reform Media Relations since he has been assigned its Press Director, but he secretly is in despair he was given the position. None of the other police officers, including himself, considered Media Relations personnel as fellow officers. The department has the reputation of being "a pawn of the press" and "guard dog for Administrative Affairs." Mikami was told by Akama, the director of Administrative Affairs, that Media Relations needed a fierce tough press director, someone who would put the press in their place. Mikami doesn't believe it. He thinks there is something else going on - very likely another behind-the-scenes scrum for departmental promotions and/or power plays between Administrative Affairs and Criminal Investigations (he is correct, of course, gentle reader). In the meantime, Mikami schemes to return to Criminal Investigations. He is a police detective at heart.
A clue something underground is happening is the presence of Inspector Shinji Futawatari. They are not friends, although they have known each other since they were boys in a local martial arts class. Futawatari, since joining the force, has climbed the ladder of promotions much quicker than Mikami. Now, he is hanging about, turning up everywhere.
There actually are criminal investigations going on. Second Division has arrested several important people for bid-rigging in the proposed building of a Prefectural art museum. Six mid-tier construction companies were raided and eight executives were brought into custody. Then there is a car accident involving a woman driver who is pregnant, who seriously hurt an elderly pedestrian. The press has gone rabid, demanding information. Mikami has been told to refuse giving out any information because the woman is pregnant and she might lose the baby if she is disturbed by the press. No one believes this story. The press is ready to end all cooperation with the police station at this point. Akama is demanding Mikami control these reporters by his fierce stone face alone.
But worse is yet to come. Akama informs Mikami that Kozuka, the commissioner general from the National Police Agency, is coming from Tokyo next week. He wants to meet publically with the father of the dead kidnap victim Shoko, Yoshio Amamiya, in front of reporters to appeal to the public for any information about the old case, called Six Four by the police. The statute of limitations has only one more year. However, it becomes clear as time goes on the announced reason for the visit and the supposed PR occasion IS a lie - there is something political going on between the bosses in Tokyo and the leadership of Prefecture D. One clue is this should be a Criminal Investigations responsibility, not Administrative Affairs. Also, Mikami is ordered to keep the visit confidential for now, only known to Administrative Affairs.
Six Four was the worst failure of Prefectural HQ. A small group of detectives were still assigned to the case, but it is a downgraded case to Investigative Team. It cannot be the real reason for the NPA visit, but Mikami must do the job as if it were real. So he assigns work, meets the Press, and hopes to set up the meeting between the grieving Amamiya family and the commissioner general.
Slowly, Mikami discovers many many secrets while trying to arrange this PR visit from the Tokyo boss. He has been told almost nothing at all at the start of these various mysteries, and what he has been told is all lies. What is really happening at work? And where is his daughter? His wife Minako is anxious and there is an increasing distance between them. Eventually he learns she has been talking to a network of police wives he knew nothing about. Is she revealing too much? He has never talked to her about his police work. He has rarely talked to her, period.
Mikami is isolated and going a little crazy, gentle reader. Will he figure out the secret and underhanded politics before he gets fired? Can he somehow muscle his way into the new case, which is being handled by Criminal Investigations, completely cutting out Administrative Affairs? Will the Six Four case ever be closed?
Wow. 'Six Four' is very complex. I thought it interesting, but maybe too wordy. But I have never read a book written by a foreign author (to me) about his native country which brings the current interpersonal social culture of it so vividly to life. Heirarchical shaming, ritual apologizing and saving face apparently rule the workplace and politics in Japan, which handcuffs job performance because of its excessiveness, in my opinion. It was remarkable to me how much formal heirarchical rituals rule social interactions in this book. I have worked as a secretary in three American companies in my life where on the executive floors artificial heirarchy also was heavy-handed. Enforced ritualized deference, hushed obedience and saving face was rigidly demanded in those offices, and I never was so unhappy as an employee as I was working for upper-level executives.
How do the Japanese live like this all of their lives? No wonder they sometimes drop dead from overwork we Americans would never permit. Well. Video gamers excepted.
First, it is a literary read which has been translated into English from Japanese.
Second, written by a Japanese author and set in 2002 Japan, the novel is, apparently, extremely Japanese - heirarchical culture, buried volcanic emotions of shame, male character dominance expectations and relationships. The Japanese cultural world of executive or enterprise-level management struggles is closer to what the story is actually about, only it focuses on characters who are police department directors and managers. (Strangely, I was reminded of a major University's School of Medicine where I worked as a secretary for world-class scientists and medical department directors.) Some characters had been fieldwork police officers who have been promoted, but many only ever worked at a desk.
Third, the synopsis describing the story is misleading - for a modern detective mystery that we American noir- or cozy-mystery readers may expect from the plot summary, this book is kind of a dull wordy overlong read. An old case, a kidnapping for ransom and ultimately murder of a seven-year-old, Shoko Amamiya, went unsolved fourteen years ago. It disturbed the peace of mind of many police employees who worked on the case, given the name "Six Four", but horizontal departmental sniping and siloed interdepartmental pissing contests are the order of the day in the present (and for at least 600 pages).
Press director Yoshinobu Mikami, forty-six years old, was assistant chief of Second Division in Criminal Investigations in Prefecture D Police Headquarters, until he was transferred into Administrative Affairs, Media Relations. His days are now spent managing section chiefs and subchiefs under him, and controlling the release of information to local and powerful newspapers and the thirteen members of the Prefectural HQ Press Club regarding local police incidents, accidents, crimes and Prefecture D promotions, demotions and executive moves. He also arranges PR stunts for visits from the upper-level Tokyo police, especially for executives from the National Police Agency.
Mikami has a personal crisis at home. His sixteen-year-old daughter, Ayumi, has run away from home. She has been diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder by a therapist. Mikami and his wife, Minako, were unable to assure their daughter her appearance was normal. Minako is beautiful, but Ayumi looks more like her father, whose face is now craggy. Ayumi literally feels her face is deformed. She was seriously unbalanced and depressed, hiding her face at all times, and now she has disappeared. The precipitating event before her disappearance was her father's refusal to allow her to have plastic surgery. Minako stays home near the telephone and she is cutting all calls short. The couple have already been to the morgue several times in the last three months to look at recovered bodies of young girls. Neither discusses the situation much with each other.
Mikami never talks about his missing daughter at work. Whenever anyone seems to know about it he becomes seriously ashamed, turning red, but so far, these conversations have been false alarms, although his supervisors are aware of it.
Mikami has decided to reform Media Relations since he has been assigned its Press Director, but he secretly is in despair he was given the position. None of the other police officers, including himself, considered Media Relations personnel as fellow officers. The department has the reputation of being "a pawn of the press" and "guard dog for Administrative Affairs." Mikami was told by Akama, the director of Administrative Affairs, that Media Relations needed a fierce tough press director, someone who would put the press in their place. Mikami doesn't believe it. He thinks there is something else going on - very likely another behind-the-scenes scrum for departmental promotions and/or power plays between Administrative Affairs and Criminal Investigations (he is correct, of course, gentle reader). In the meantime, Mikami schemes to return to Criminal Investigations. He is a police detective at heart.
A clue something underground is happening is the presence of Inspector Shinji Futawatari. They are not friends, although they have known each other since they were boys in a local martial arts class. Futawatari, since joining the force, has climbed the ladder of promotions much quicker than Mikami. Now, he is hanging about, turning up everywhere.
There actually are criminal investigations going on. Second Division has arrested several important people for bid-rigging in the proposed building of a Prefectural art museum. Six mid-tier construction companies were raided and eight executives were brought into custody. Then there is a car accident involving a woman driver who is pregnant, who seriously hurt an elderly pedestrian. The press has gone rabid, demanding information. Mikami has been told to refuse giving out any information because the woman is pregnant and she might lose the baby if she is disturbed by the press. No one believes this story. The press is ready to end all cooperation with the police station at this point. Akama is demanding Mikami control these reporters by his fierce stone face alone.
But worse is yet to come. Akama informs Mikami that Kozuka, the commissioner general from the National Police Agency, is coming from Tokyo next week. He wants to meet publically with the father of the dead kidnap victim Shoko, Yoshio Amamiya, in front of reporters to appeal to the public for any information about the old case, called Six Four by the police. The statute of limitations has only one more year. However, it becomes clear as time goes on the announced reason for the visit and the supposed PR occasion IS a lie - there is something political going on between the bosses in Tokyo and the leadership of Prefecture D. One clue is this should be a Criminal Investigations responsibility, not Administrative Affairs. Also, Mikami is ordered to keep the visit confidential for now, only known to Administrative Affairs.
Six Four was the worst failure of Prefectural HQ. A small group of detectives were still assigned to the case, but it is a downgraded case to Investigative Team. It cannot be the real reason for the NPA visit, but Mikami must do the job as if it were real. So he assigns work, meets the Press, and hopes to set up the meeting between the grieving Amamiya family and the commissioner general.
Slowly, Mikami discovers many many secrets while trying to arrange this PR visit from the Tokyo boss. He has been told almost nothing at all at the start of these various mysteries, and what he has been told is all lies. What is really happening at work? And where is his daughter? His wife Minako is anxious and there is an increasing distance between them. Eventually he learns she has been talking to a network of police wives he knew nothing about. Is she revealing too much? He has never talked to her about his police work. He has rarely talked to her, period.
Spoiler
Then, another kidnapping case is called into the Prefecture. Eerily, it seems to be being playing out exactly like the Six Four case. How is that possible - unless it is the same kidnapper?Mikami is isolated and going a little crazy, gentle reader. Will he figure out the secret and underhanded politics before he gets fired? Can he somehow muscle his way into the new case, which is being handled by Criminal Investigations, completely cutting out Administrative Affairs? Will the Six Four case ever be closed?
Wow. 'Six Four' is very complex. I thought it interesting, but maybe too wordy. But I have never read a book written by a foreign author (to me) about his native country which brings the current interpersonal social culture of it so vividly to life. Heirarchical shaming, ritual apologizing and saving face apparently rule the workplace and politics in Japan, which handcuffs job performance because of its excessiveness, in my opinion. It was remarkable to me how much formal heirarchical rituals rule social interactions in this book. I have worked as a secretary in three American companies in my life where on the executive floors artificial heirarchy also was heavy-handed. Enforced ritualized deference, hushed obedience and saving face was rigidly demanded in those offices, and I never was so unhappy as an employee as I was working for upper-level executives.
How do the Japanese live like this all of their lives? No wonder they sometimes drop dead from overwork we Americans would never permit. Well. Video gamers excepted.
Took a while to get into it, and it wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. However, the second half is really clever and speeds up. That said, it was a bit of a mission and at times I got lost.
I shouldn't even try mysteries. Plus this was way too much about media relations and I hate media relations. I had to give up on the book.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
long, arduous and too politically focused
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes