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The Informer, The (Paperback)

by Akimitsu Takagi (Author), Sadako Mizuguchi (Translator)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Soho Press Inc; 1st U.S. Ed edition (10 Dec 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1569472432
  • ISBN-13: 978-1569472439
  • Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 12.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 639,195 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #3 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > T > Takagi, Akimitsu

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Product Description

Synopsis

Based on an actual incident, Shigeo Segawa, once a successful stock trader, is left jobless, his risky and manipulative trading activities having caught up with him. Out of luck and full of shame at his poverty, Segawa is taken in by a high-paying job offer, which leads him down the path of industrial espionage and towards the betrayal of a good friend and his old company. When his friend is murdered, Segawa becomes the logical suspect. But a sharp young prosecutor named Kirishima begins to think that perhaps the blame lies elsewhere - with the informer who told the dead friend what Segawa had done. With a typically rich and complex plot, layered with detailed and authentic settings, this novel rates among the highest of Takagi's eminently successful books.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening glimpses of Japanese culture in 1965., 26 Dec 2002
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Informer (Hardcover)
Almost 40 years old, this novel has no scenes of violence or sex--or humor! The language and style are very formal, and the characters, virtually all male, are generic, not individualized--not surprising in a culture in which "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down." Nearly all the characteristics one associates with the best modern mystery thrillers are absent here, yet Takagi's novel is fascinating and its plot intriguing, both for the inherent complexities and for the light shed on Japanese business and culture in 1965.

When Shigeo Segawa, a failed stocktrader, is offered a job at an outrageous salary, he finds himself working, not surprisingly, as an industrial spy, ferreting secrets from Shichiyo Chemical, a company in which a college friend is a high official. Segawa shows no qualms of conscience, despite the fact that Eiko, the love of his life, is now married to the friend. Manipulating the women in his life, all of whom are regarded throughout the novel as brainless ornaments or conveniences, he also fails, eventually, at his spy tasks, becoming the prime suspect when his friend turns up murdered. When two more deaths further implicate Segawa, Takagi shows his enormous skill at creating red herrings, using the intricacies of corporate Japan and the traditional restraint of police and prosecutors to keep the reader occupied and diverted.

Differences in legal procedures are stunning here. The police abandon the crime scene because "people were showing up to pay respects [to the widow]...and the atmosphere was no longer suitable." Police and prosecutors make appointments to speak to clients' lawyers and wait patiently till they can be seen. The police give details of confessions to people they are interviewing and seem to share information with whoever wants it. Industrial espionage by itself is not a crime. Careful readers may figure out early who is responsible for the murders, but this novel provides unusual glimpses of Japanese culture, enough to keep a curious reader fascinated and involved till the end. Mary Whipple

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