Out - Natsuo Kirino

Out by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Stephen B. Snyder / ISBN 9780593311950 / 400-page paperback from Vintage Crime - Black Lizard 

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A special edition of Natsuo Kirino’s award-winning, tension-filled literary mystery Out. Featuring an introduction by James Ellroy.

This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot’s ringleader but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning, as it leads to a terrifying foray into the violent underbelly of Japanese society. At once a masterpiece of literary suspense and pitch-black comedy of gender warfare, Out is also a moving evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds, and the friendships that bolster them in the aftermath.

“A gutsy, unflinching foray into the darkest, most dangerous recesses of the human soul. . . . Riveting, hair-raising . . . definitely not for the faint-of-heart.” –Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Natsuo Kirino is a leading figure in Japanese crime fiction. A prolific writer, she is most famous for her 1998 novel Out, which received the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction, Japan's top mystery award, and was a finalist (in translation) for the 2004 Edgar Best Novel Award.