REVIEW: Six Four - Hideo Yokoyama

• Year first released: 2012 (Japan), 2016 (UK), 2017 (US)
• ISBN of the edition I read: 978-1848665286 (I actually read the UK edition. The US edition is available here)
• Publisher of the edition I read: riverrun
• My rating (out of 5): 4

I have a small fear about trying to review Six Four: if I tell you what the book is, say, elementally, I worry that it won’t sound interesting to you. But considering that Six Four is actually great, I hope you’ll bear with me while I try to make this make sense to you…

Fourteen years ago, there was a kidnapping/ransom/murder (in that order, unfortunately). Still unsolved, you might have guessed. And, since the statute of limitations on this sort of crime ends at 15 years in Japan, the police force is giving it one final push before the perpetrator gets away, scotch-free, forever.

So it sounds like we have a crime drama, right? A mystery? Maybe a psychological thriller?

Well…not really, no.

More accurately, Six Four is a psychodrama masquerading as a crime drama. It is certainly mysterious. But, in a move that is wholly unique for the genre, the story isn’t really about trying to solve the crime.

Rather, our protagonist, Mikami, was recently transferred out of the Investigations Department and into Media Relations. Anymore, his job is to act as a liaison between the press and the police force. So it is that he’s running his own investigation, but, rather than trying to solve the crime on its own, he’s more interested in trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together, the role everyone played it the investigation 14 years ago, the elements that have gone unnoticed or unreported.

At its heart, we might say that Six Four is more about the office politics of the Japanese police department than it is about the solving of a crime.

Sounds boring, doesn’t it?

It’s not. It really isn’t.

This 632-page behemoth of a novel is a slow-burn, unfolding methodically, piece by piece, until its final exposé. Yes, there is a powerful twist at the ending – which certainly ratcheted up the tension for the final 100 or so pages – but the novel isn’t merely about the ending. It’s about the unfolding, the psychological drama that Mikami is desperately trying to navigate. There are betrayed loyalties everywhere we look, manipulations of the highest caliber, agents going rogue, and every other element that you could hope for in such a mystery.

It’s hard to comment on the pacing effectively. I admit, there are moments where the book can feel a bit slow. Despite this, though – and despite the fact that the book is over 600 pages – there really isn’t much in the book that isn’t worthwhile. Once we come to the end, we see that more of it mattered along the way than we could have realized all throughout. Yes, parts of the book are slow, but it is always succinct – a very unique, effective blend.

I’d also like to point out: I’ve read a fair amount of literature coming out of Asia. It can be quite hit-and-miss, of course, – particularly in translation, when it’s difficult to maintain the author’s original voice. That said, Six Four is easily the best-translated, and – to whatever extent this can be determined around the translation – the best-written book I’ve read from Japan. It is succinct and suspenseful without ever feeling formulaic or gimmicky. The prose is fluid, and – something that is highly important to me personally – the POV is never once betrayed.

If you have a fear of novels that run a bit long, I can understand your hesitation in Six Four. I can’t promise it’s for everyone. I’m pleased with the time I spent with it, though – in fact, more so than I had thought I would be going into it (which is saying more than it sounds like, since I sometimes shy away from books of the length). The slow-brood and the unique focus of the plot are fantastic additions to a genre that all too often falls stale.