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suzannnn 's review for:
Tokyo Tapes Nr. 6-4
by Hideo Yokoyama
It is my second time reading Six Four, this time I read the Dutch translation. Although it took me some time to get into it, I really enjoyed it the first time I read it. It’s been a while since that time, so I didn’t remember too much of the story.
In 1989, a ransom case ends in disaster, with the young girl who was kidnapped found dead, and the culprit getting away with the money. 14 years later the case is still unsolved, something that haunts prefecture D’s police department. Mikami, who worked on the ransom case all those years back, is now press officer. The relationship between the police and the press is becoming more and more strained, and he finds his own colleagues increasingly challenging to communicate with. People are keeping secrets, and Mikami is determined to find out what is going on beneath the surface.
Once again, I really enjoyed Six Four. It takes some time for the story to really get going, but once it gets going I was hooked. The story is quite lengthy, it really goes into depth when it comes to the work structure of the Japanese police, as well as the communication between the police and the press. The book balances between Mikami trying to get information from his colleagues (and failing most of the time), as well as trying to salvage his department’s relationship with the press, as well as his daughter running away. I personally thought it was really interesting to see all these different dynamics, and seeing how all these people deal with the difficult situations they have to face.
The cold case itself was put together very well, I thought the way it was set up and solved was very clever. Especially the reveal that
I also thought that Mikami was a compelling main character to follow. We get to know him very well through his work, the decisions he makes, his mistakes, etc. Life keeps throwing him curveballs, putting him into some very difficult situations, but he keeps going. It is interesting to see how he deals with different situations, not everything goes well for him, it gets rather stressful at times. Throughout the book, we get see him grow both as an officer, as well as a person. We see him learn from him mistakes, and take other people’s feedback into consideration which was great to see. The ending of the book, in which he I thought it was a perfect way to end the book.
One thing that would have been helpful for me throughout the story, would have been a character list. There are many characters, some with similar names, at times I found it hard to keep track of them. It got a little confusing at times.
I really enjoyed reading this one again, I think it’s a great mystery book. This time I changed my previous rating of 4 stars to 5 stars. I’m also really looking forward to reading Yokoyama’s newest book [b:The North Light|102226076|The North Light|Hideo Yokoyama|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1675683772l/102226076._SY75_.jpg|87353919], hopefully I can read that one soon!
In 1989, a ransom case ends in disaster, with the young girl who was kidnapped found dead, and the culprit getting away with the money. 14 years later the case is still unsolved, something that haunts prefecture D’s police department. Mikami, who worked on the ransom case all those years back, is now press officer. The relationship between the police and the press is becoming more and more strained, and he finds his own colleagues increasingly challenging to communicate with. People are keeping secrets, and Mikami is determined to find out what is going on beneath the surface.
Once again, I really enjoyed Six Four. It takes some time for the story to really get going, but once it gets going I was hooked. The story is quite lengthy, it really goes into depth when it comes to the work structure of the Japanese police, as well as the communication between the police and the press. The book balances between Mikami trying to get information from his colleagues (and failing most of the time), as well as trying to salvage his department’s relationship with the press, as well as his daughter running away. I personally thought it was really interesting to see all these different dynamics, and seeing how all these people deal with the difficult situations they have to face.
The cold case itself was put together very well, I thought the way it was set up and solved was very clever. Especially the reveal that
Spoiler
the silent phone calls had been Amamiya, who had been calling every phone number in the prefecture in hopes of identifying the kidnapper’s voice, was very good, it surprised me again.I also thought that Mikami was a compelling main character to follow. We get to know him very well through his work, the decisions he makes, his mistakes, etc. Life keeps throwing him curveballs, putting him into some very difficult situations, but he keeps going. It is interesting to see how he deals with different situations, not everything goes well for him, it gets rather stressful at times. Throughout the book, we get see him grow both as an officer, as well as a person. We see him learn from him mistakes, and take other people’s feedback into consideration which was great to see. The ending of the book, in which he
Spoiler
greatly improves his relationship with the press and his team, sees the breakthrough in the Six Four case, and finally resolves the tension between him and his wife, felt very cathartic.One thing that would have been helpful for me throughout the story, would have been a character list. There are many characters, some with similar names, at times I found it hard to keep track of them. It got a little confusing at times.
I really enjoyed reading this one again, I think it’s a great mystery book. This time I changed my previous rating of 4 stars to 5 stars. I’m also really looking forward to reading Yokoyama’s newest book [b:The North Light|102226076|The North Light|Hideo Yokoyama|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1675683772l/102226076._SY75_.jpg|87353919], hopefully I can read that one soon!