A review by mg_in_md_
The Ruined Map by Kōbō Abe

3.0

On the surface, this is a story about a private investigator who is hired to track down a husband who went missing several months prior. In many ways, it reminded me of a noir novel. It was a gritty tale that took the unnamed investigator to seedy sites as he tried to track down the missing husband. He came across many Illicit activities and underworld criminals, causing him to imagine a variety of possible scenarios. However, the story took on surreal, psychological twists and challenged the reader as the story progressed. For that reason, this book didn't quite fit into a classic crime genre. Instead, the reader was taken on a journey in which reality and fantasy became one and the reader was left wondering how the transformation they'd just witnessed occurred. I ended up reading a few reviews of this book and the author's wider body of work after I finished reading this book, which helped clarify some of the plot points and let me know I was not alone in being mystified by others.