Book Review
Title: In the Miso Soup
Author: Ryu Murakami
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Rating: *****
Review: I didn’t know much about In the Miso Soup before I checked it out from my college’s library, but it is set in Japan and I love absolutely anything about the Land of the Rising Sun. The opening to the novel was interesting as it follows Kenji a tour guide who is hired by an American named Frank to show him around Tokyo’s underground nightlife, which was an interesting premise, to begin with, and I can’t wait to see what it has in store for me as it promises horrors similar to American Psycho. Frank is hiring Kenji for a three-night tour of Kabuki-cho, an infamous red-light district similar to Roppongi but probably more well known in Japan. From the first time, they meet Kenji feels something is off about Frank, from his appearance to his mannerisms but he doesn’t question it.
Things get interesting when they spend an hour in a lingerie bar with two young girls and when Frank pays the bill Kenji spots what he thinks is a bloodstain on one of the notes. This instantly reminds him of the murder in the paper that morning of a high school girl who had her hands, feet, and head removed. The reader instantly seems to make the connection between Frank and the murder, but we don’t know anything for sure yet. Frank’s constant strange behaviour and lies make Kenji think he is somehow involved in the murder of the young girl, but he doesn’t have any evidence, however, it doesn’t stop him from earning money from Frank. Kenji also notices something he refers to as the Face, which is where Frank’s face hardens, and the light leaves his eyes which is something dark and eerie that makes the hair on the back of Kenji’s neck stand up and mine too.
As the end of their first night draws to a close the pair end up at a batting cage where Kenji decides to hit some balls. Frank makes some shocking comments on the homeless man they find there, and he and Kenji have a discussion on why people dislike homeless people and even makes a comment about killing babies which puts Kenji on edge. However, the pair end up making a bet, they bet that is Kenji can hit a home run (marked by a small sign) Frank will pay him double for the night and if he doesn’t Frank pays nothing. Kenji doesn’t manage to hit a home run, but he convinces Frank for the bet to be fair he has to bat as well. Kenji makes the argument that they both apparently playing baseball as children, so Frank agrees even though Kenji is sure he is lying. After being in the cage only a few minutes Frank gets very angry and hunched down on the floor, which causes Kenji to become concerned for Frank’s wellbeing, but he soon collects himself, which only makes Kenji more suspicious of him.
The next day Kenji meets with his girlfriend Jun who is only 16 while Kenji is 20, this isn’t illegal in Japan as the age of consent is 13 but it would be frowned upon by many. He tells Jun he is suspicious about Frank but struggles to translate these feelings as he has far more experience with foreigners that Jun does, but she manages to get some of it. However, the find a small piece of skin tapped to Kenji’s door and he somehow knows it is from Frank, so he decides to take Jun out for coffee and gets a phone call from Frank and Kenji gets the feeling that Frank is watching him. Frank calls to tell him that he has moved hotel from the low budget place to the Hilton but refuses to meet Kenji there making me think that he didn’t move hotel at all but just wants Kenji to think he did. Kenji is already completely freaked out by now and is terrified that if he refuses Frank or doesn’t turn up he might come after him and Jun. This isn’t helped by the fact that a homeless man is found burned to death in a public toilet and Kenji has the sinking feeling that it was the same homeless man from the batting cage. When they agree to meet that night at the same time Frank asks Kenji to bring Jun with him and when Kenji flat out refuses Frank hangs up very abruptly almost like he wanted Jun to be there to find out how much Kenji had told her about him.
As they head to a club where one of Kenji’s friend works at they meet with a couple of women and begin chatting. Everything seems normal until one of the women; Yuko begins mocking Frank and Kenji can see he is getting mad and tries to prevent the woman from speaking further but she presses on and Frank asks Kenji to translate everything exactly which he does. In hindsight, this wasn’t the best thing for Kenji to do as Frank doesn’t understand much Japanese. When Kenji calls for the bill it is much higher than they expected, and Kenji realises that the club hid a lot of its fees which doesn’t help Frank’s mood. Suddenly, he tells Kenji to call his girlfriend after he took Kenji’s phone the last time he tried to call her. He does so, only to witness Frank brutally murder everyone in the club. When only Kenji and another male customer remain alive, he orders Kenji to tell the other man to have sex with one of the women’s dead body and he refuses, Frank then tell Kenji to do the deed and he refuses. Frank after killing the other man returns his attention to Kenji, but he has already managed to tell Jun to call the police if he doesn’t call her in the next hour.
The final section of the novel was a little confusing, but it was very satisfying to read. Kenji has the opportunity to go to the police but doesn’t as he feels that Frank might come out and kill him at any moment, and that’s exactly what Frank is doing, he is testing Kenji to see if he was truly a friend. Frank takes Kenji back to the place he has been staying and it is nothing more than a very cheap motel, here Frank tells Kenji his life story and how he killed for the first time, all his trips to the mental hospital and everything that has led to these three days. Kenji is tired and wants nothing more to do with Frank but can’t seem to leave him either. Frank expresses a desire to hear the New Year Bells and Kenji agrees to take him, but he asks Jun to come and make sure nothing happens but to do it from a distance so she doesn’t get hurt. In the final pages of the novel, Frank thanks Kenji for everything he has done, he has already given most of the money he had but he gives him one final envelope to Kenji before they part ways. Frank does say that he would have liked to have share miso soup with Kenji, but their time is at an end now. As Kenji joins Jun he opens to the envelope to find a swan feather and the pictures of Kenji and Frank together from the photo booth.
Overall, In the Miso Soup was interesting, the first half seems to be your generic thriller/slasher novel but very quickly turns into something far more profound and it chooses to focus more on the relationship between Frank and Kenji than what they have done. You have to remember by the end of this novel that Frank isn’t the only guilty party as Kenji witnessed these murders and knew who the killer was and yet does nothing about it even though he knows that Frank will go on killing unless he is stopped, and when I say stopped I mean killed as Frank has spent time in mental hospitals and prison which hasn’t changed in the slightest apart from making him even more resentful. I will definitely be checking out more of Ryu Murakami’s work especially around the Halloween period.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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