| From
the award-winning author of Ashes and Winter Sleep
comes another hardboiled page-turner. Kenzo Kitakata’s The
Cage is one of very few genre titles to have been chosen
by the Japanese Literature Publishing Project – an Agency
of Cultural Affairs of Japan program that underwrites the translation
and publication of contemporary fiction of social and artistic
importance.
“Manager Takino”
is just trying to live a quiet life running a suburban supermarket
when an old yakuza mate convinces him to help two lovers on the
run from the mob escape the country. On his tail is Detective
Takagi, a smooth noir fixture with a French cigarette always dangling
from his mouth. The beast within Takino will chafe against the
cage of domesticity in which he's locked himself, and once he
busts out there'll be no going back.
 Kenzo
Kitakata is the recipient of countless awards for his signature
brand of hardboiled yakuza fiction, including the Japan Adventure
Writing Association Award (1982), the Yoshikawa Eiji Award for
Fiction (1983), the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award (1983,
for The Cage), the Bungei Award (1985) and the Shiba
Ryotaro Award (2005). A perennial bestseller, Kitakata is also
a frequent commentator and panel judge for fiction awards.
| PRAISE
FOR WINTER SLEEP:
“The spirit of James
M. Cain's novels hovers over Winter Sleep, a bleak but
compelling slice of deadpan noir.”
– The Seattle Times
“(Winter
Sleep) gives new meaning to the term ‘splatter’.”
– Agony Column
“Kitakata
manages his nihilistic climax with consummate control...it's absolutely
compelling to read.”
– The
Japan Times
“Kitakata…[is]
part Spillane, part Dostoevsky, but always hard-boiled.”
– Hackwriters.com
PRAISE FOR ASHES:
“Brilliantly contradictory...a refreshing crime
novel from
a notable Japanese author.” – Las Vegas
Mercury
“A real gem.” – BookSense
“Best enjoyed in a dimly lit, smoky room with a
glass of whisky on the rocks close at hand…Kitakata has
crafted a complex and contradictory character in Tanaka.”
– Daily Yomiuri
“Male brutality suffuses Kenzo Kitakata’s
portrait of a middle-aged gangster in Ashes. Like Tony
Soprano…this man, whose name is Tanaka, attracts our interest
and sometimes our sympathy.” – The Globe
and Mail
“Superbly translated into English by Emi Shimokawa,
Ashes is a gritty, hard-boiled mystery…Ashes
depicts yakuza life with a unique understanding and edge-of-your
seat reality.” – Midwest Book Review
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