'Lady Joker: Volume One': A crime thriller opus' weighty first half
Jul 11, 2021 “Lady Joker” by Kaoru Takamura was published in Japanese in 1997, but its English-language debut in 2021 still feels timely. On the surface, this classic of contemporary Japanese fiction — twice adapted for the screen — is a crime thriller, but underneath it’s a state-of-the-nation novel that is perhaps even more apposite today than 24 years ago. Lady Joker: Volume One, by Kaoru Takamura Translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell 600 pages SOHO CRIME The book centers on the kidnapping of the head of a fictional beer company, Hinode, by a mismatched gang...