Point Zero

Translated by Louise Heal Kawai

A beautifully written mystery novel that takes on the taboo of Japanese prostitution catering to GIs during the American post-war occupation.

Tokyo 1958, Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by an intermediary. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance.

She discovers he had been a police officer in Tokyo after the war, keeping watch over pan pan girls, Japanese prostitutes catering to GIs. Some of these women have created a new life in Kanazawa and may have taken extreme measures to hide their past.

"Do you aspire to be a connoisseur of the best international crime fiction? If so, Seicho Matsumoto’s Point Zero should be on your bedside table. Become acquainted with a crime master." Financial Times

"A master crime writer...Seichō Matsumoto's thrillers dissect Japanese society."--The New York Times.