Shadow Family

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Overview

Shadow Family is a compelling murder mystery focusing on the murky world of Internet chat room populated by people from all walks of life attracted by the possibility of being whoever they want to be.

Police investigating the double murder of a middle-aged salary man and his college-aged girlfriend discover email correspondence linking the victim with members of an online fantasy family, in which he plays the part of “Dad.” Meanwhile, his real-life teenage daughter is assigned police protection after complaining of being stalked. The investigation focuses increasingly on the Shadow family, as there is evidence that the member emerged from the chat room ...

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More About This Book

Overview

Shadow Family is a compelling murder mystery focusing on the murky world of Internet chat room populated by people from all walks of life attracted by the possibility of being whoever they want to be.

Police investigating the double murder of a middle-aged salary man and his college-aged girlfriend discover email correspondence linking the victim with members of an online fantasy family, in which he plays the part of “Dad.” Meanwhile, his real-life teenage daughter is assigned police protection after complaining of being stalked. The investigation focuses increasingly on the Shadow family, as there is evidence that the member emerged from the chat room and started meeting up offline.

Veteran Desk Sergeant Takegami finds himself unexpectedly in center stage of the investigation after his colleague is hospitalized. Adding to his surprise, he is partnered with his old friend Detective Chikako Ishizu after a break of fifteen years. Working on a hunch, they collaborate to unravel the fine line between fantasy and the harsh reality of Murder.

Shadow Family is excellent detective fiction that keeps you guessing until the end. Within a skillful web of intrigue, Miyabe sensitively explores the meaning of family and relationships, and the devastating effect of betrayal.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Shadow Family by Miyuki Miyabe -- one of Japan's foremost mystery writers -- is the second novel by the bestselling Japanese author to be translated into English (after the critically acclaimed All She Was Worth).

When a married businessman is found dead with 24 stab wounds in a new housing development and his college-age mistress is strangled to death near the karaoke club she worked at, members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department find evidence at the crime scenes that link the murders. After further investigation, the police discover that the businessman, Ryosuke Tokoroda --unhappily married, with an ill-tempered 16-year-old daughter -- has been spending much of his time in cyberspace participating as the father in an Internet family that interacts through chat rooms and message boards. But in the murky world of cyberspace, where anyone can pretend to be whoever they want to be, what happened when Tokoroda met his shadow family in real life?

While novels that have been translated from a foreign language often give readers that "lost in translation" feel, Shadow Family is a fluid, understated read that not only brings contemporary Japanese culture vividly to life but also explores the world of cyberspace, where millions of lonely people search for some kind of meaning in their lives. Mystery fans looking for something new should pick up this surprisingly compelling novel, which deals with culturally transcendent themes like betrayal, abandonment, and redemption. With a plot complexity comparable to Agatha Christie and the police procedural proficiency of an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel, absolutely nothing about Miyabe's Shadow Family is lost is translation. Paul Goat Allen
New York Times Book Review
A trim translation from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter . . . the theatrically constructed plot is soon swirling with the naked emotions of unattached, deeply unhappy people eager to express their yearnings for an idealized family life no longer possible in the fractured social structure of modern-day Japan . . . Miyabe is a sympathetic observer, but also a sly one; and we're not surprised when one of the cops points out that the loving cyberfamily was drawn together through mutual admiration for a movie, "American Beauty," about an ideal family that sustains itself on illusions that bring it to a crashing, violent end.
More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews
Richard Lipez
… patience pays off, for Shadow Family blossoms into both a suspenseful murder mystery and an astute running commentary on the parallel cyberworld inside which millions of people now spend so much of their time. She makes this escape into manufactured reality especially understandable for people like Ryosoke, Karue and Kazumi Tokorada, whose unhappiness "had at its core a hard fact, one never spoken aloud: parents and children are not always compatible, and where differences are irreconcilable, ties of blood can end up turning into heavy chains."
— The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
What starts as a dry police procedural intensifies into an Agatha Christie-style closed-room puzzle in this intriguing look at contemporary Japanese family life from Miyabe (All She Was Worth). Sergeant Takegami, an accomplished desk jockey, winds up taking an active role in investigating two separate murders, one of a bland company man, Ryosuke Tokoroda, and the other of a woman who proves to be the first victim's college-age girlfriend. Takegami learns that Tokoroda participated in Internet chat rooms and established a cyber "family" where he played the "Dad." The faux family, which included a wife, a son and a daughter, seemed to be an idealized unit, supportive and loving. This paternal perfection contrasted to the frosty relations Tokoroda had with his actual wife and daughter. Tokoroda's history of extramarital affairs complicates the inquiry, as do reports of a stalker plaguing his real-life daughter. Miyabe expertly manipulates mood and pace as the action builds to a house-of-mirrors-like interview that slowly reveals the killer's surprising identity. The clean, crisp translation is the perfect vehicle for this satisfying read. (Feb. 1) FYI: The prolific author has won many honors, including the Naoki Prize, Japan's most prestigious award for popular literature. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A task force from the Tokyo Metro Police Department finds that family ties can be murder, even if they've been forged online. Ryosuke Tokoroda's wife has always known he's had a roving eye. His dalliances-most recently schoolgirl Naoko Imai, who worked part-time for his company reporting on a food-supplement project before she was strangled-have been no secret. But no one could have predicted Tokoroda's latest experiment in extramural relationships. Responding to the chatroom sorrows of a lonely young woman signing herself "Kazumi," the same name as his own daughter, he's offered her consolation as "Dad." Soon the family has sprouted a son, "Minoru," and a shadow mom, who keep each other posted about feelings too private to share with their real families and even meet in 3-D. When Dad is stabbed to death, their perfect surface shatters in distrust and recriminations-an atmosphere a second shadow family is only too happy to exploit. Uniting once more with Det. Chikako Ishizu, an old friend he hasn't seen since she was tossed off the arson squad, Etsuro Takegami, a desk sergeant pressed into service by an unexpected hospitalization, plays a key role in an elaborate sting to catch the killer. Less resonant than All She Was Worth (1997), but still a clever puzzle whose commentary on the fragility and reinvention of families gives it a special edge.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9784770030047
  • Publisher: Kodansha USA
  • Publication date: 12/9/2005
  • Edition description: Translatio
  • Pages: 208
  • Sales rank: 983,539
  • Lexile: 750L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 8.20 (w) x 5.40 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Meet the Author

MIYUKI MIYABE was born in downtown Tokyo in 1960, and worked in a law office before becoming a full-time writer. She is one of Japan's most popular authors, having written a number of best-selling mysteries and suspense novels, as well as some historical fiction. Her first work translated into English, All She Was Worth, won the Shugo Yamamoto Prize in Japan. Shadow Family is her second novel to be published in English.

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