Grotesque

An unconvential and unique crime thriller with an outrageous, unattractive, anarchic narrator showing a new darker side to the lives of women in Japan.

Two prostitutes are murdered in Tokyo.

Twenty years previously both women were educated at the same elite school for young ladies, and had seemingly promising futures ahead of them.

But in a world of dark desire and vicious ambition, for both women, prostitution meant power. Grotesque is a masterful and haunting thriller, a chilling exploration of women’s secret lives in modern day Japan.

Author Biography

Natsuo Kirino, born in 1951, is the author of sixteen novels, four short-story collections, and an essay collection. She is the recipient of six of Japan’s premier literary awards, including the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Out, and the Izumi Kyoka Prize for Literature for Grotesque. Her work has been translated into nineteen languages, and several of her books have been turned into movies. Out was the first of her novels to appear in English and was nominated for an Edgar Award. She lives in Tokyo.