"In the Miso Soup", by Ryu Murakami (1997)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

In the Miso Soup is a short thriller set in Tokyo's red light district. It's mostly psychological: when the gore does arrive, it's plentiful, but rather than releasing the building tension it actually manages to make it worse. Inevitably, there's sexualised violence, although not nearly as much as I expected; Murakami will set up horrible scenarios, then twist off in another direction. I was compelled by the story, but also fascinated by Murakami's brooding observations of Japanese culture.