From the remarkable, singularly and voraciously gifted novelist, poet, and artist ("A young genius who hits all of the right notes" —Chicago Tribune), his first major hardcover publication: an astonishing novel of unjust conviction, lost love, and a journalist's obsession.
Over the course of several months, eight people vanish from their homes in the same Japanese town, a single playing card found on each door. Known as "the Narito Disappearances," the crime has authorities baffled—until a confession appears on the police's doorstep, signed by Oda Sotatsu, a thread salesman. Sotatsu is arrested, jailed, and interrogated—but Sotatsu refuses to speak. Even as his parents, brother, and sister come to visit him, even as his execution looms, and even as a young woman named Jito Joo enters his cell, he maintains his vow of silence. Our narrator, Jesse Ball, is a journalist, grappling with mysteries of his own when he becomes fascinated by the case. Why did Sotatsu confess? Why won't he speak? Who is Jito Joo? As Ball interviews Sotatsu's family, friends, and jailers, he uncovers a complex story of heartbreak, deceit, honor, and chance.