12th April 2025 - Tokyo Express
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another book finished. This time Tokyo Express by Seich Matsumoto. 

This is a crime novel. If you have not read Japanese crime novels, 
they are a touch different in style. There is much more telling than 
showing. 

For this novel, we follow a police investigation into a couple who 
travelled from Tokyo to a coastal town and died by suicide on the 
beach. There is a corruption scandal in the government and the man is 
a key part to this. 

We follow a couple of police investigaters who sense something odd 
about the suicides and so pursue an investigation. A lot of the leaps 
come via letters sent between the 2. This is where the tell, not show 
aspect comes in.

The crime is a clever puzzle and rather fun to try and resolve. The 
last Japanese crime novel I read was from the 1930s and that annoyed 
me. It was a truely odd solution and too clever for it's own good. 
This is from the 60s I think and I felt the solution was solvable. The 
characters felt more relatable as well. 

It is probably worth a read if you want a problem to solve. It was an 
interesting read but not one which made me need to finish it. I will 
probably avoid getting any more Japanese crime fiction. I think there 
is a lot lost in translation or the style just doesn't work for me. I 
am glad to have read it though.