One of the most compelling aspects of Michael Pronko’s Hiroshi series is the author’s talent for bringing Tokyo vividly to life, uncovering unexpected corners of the city and lesser-known facets of Japanese culture. The seventh outing for the no-nonsense detective is TOKYO JUKU, in which a young student wakes after dozing off during an all-night study session and finds her tutor murdered. The setting is a juku, a Japanese “cram school” where struggling students prepare for the crucial exams that determine entry into top universities. These high-pressure environments revolve around preparing for a day that some parts of Japanese society consider the single most important event of a person’s life. It’s also a lucrative industry, where elite schools charge exorbitant fees and star tutors are treated like celebrities. The murder victim is one such star tutor. Pronko deftly exposes how beneath this polished façade of respectability lies a pressure cooker of ego, stress, and (in this instance at least) corruption.
As Hiroshi investigates, the suspects begin to mount. Could Mana, the student who reported the killing, really have stabbed him? Or is the sordid secret uncovered in an apartment the real key to the case?
As in every book in the series, Pronko is meticulous in his plotting. This is a police procedural where every part ticks along perfectly. The slow reveal of clues, the surprise twists, the pacing, the characters—they’re all excellent. No surprise that a successful long-running series has a carefully drawn protagonist (and here regular readers will enjoy the latest developments in Hiroshi’s family life), but Pronko puts in equal care for all of his cast. Mana is a thoroughly convincing student; all of the hopes and worries of her age are beautifully communicated. Thrown into an awful situation, and the prime suspect in the murder no less, Mana has a narrative that runs parallel to Hiroshi’s investigation.
Her part of the story also gives Pronko an opportunity to be more impressionistic than when things are being driven by his impeccably precise detective. Take this passage, when Mana and her friends are moving through the city and catch a glimpse of an advertisement featuring her former tutor: “When the train pulled out into the darkness again, Terui’s image reappeared, shimmery in the window, as if his ghost was riding with them, watching over them, his smile vengeful or protective, she couldn’t tell.”
From front to back, TOKYO JUKU proves a stylish thriller. It’s also worth noting that the fine layout and Pascale Hutton’s striking cover art elevate the book even further. Pronko is the real deal, and Hiroshi is surely the finest fictional detective working in Japan right now.
Michael Pronko’s TOKYO JUKU brings a city to life, populates it with fully rounded characters, and drives a compelling narrative with meticulous plotting.
~ Kent Lane for IndieReader