Tokyo Year Zero

Unblinking in its vision of a nation in a chaotic, hellish period in its history, Tokyo Year Zero is a “brilliant, perplexing, claustrophobic … exhilarating” crime novel (The New York Times Book Review).

It's August 1946—one year after the Japanese surrender—and women are turning up dead all over Tokyo. Detective Minami of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police—irreverent, angry, despairing—goes on the hunt for a killer known as the Japanese Bluebeard—a decorated former Imperial soldier who raped and murdered at least ten women amidst the turmoil of post-war Tokyo. As he undertakes the case, Minami is haunted by his own memories of atrocities that he can no longer explain or forgive.

“"Part historical stunner, part Kurosawa crime film, an original all the way. David Peace's depiction of a war-torn metropolis both crumbling and ascendant is peerless, and the story itself is beautifully wrought." James Ellroy"Brilliant, perplexing, claustrophobic. . . . Exhilarating." The New York Times Book Review "The big post-war Japan novel, a fierce marriage of mood and narrative drive. David Peace continues to polish and advance his particular brand of literary crime fiction." George Pelecanos"Once this hellish locomotive of a book hooks onto its tracks it becomes difficult to stop." San Francisco Chronicle”

“Part historical stunner, part Kurosawa crime film, an original all the way. David Peace's depiction of a war-torn metropolis both crumbling and ascendant is peerless, and the story itself is beautifully wrought.” —James Ellroy

“Brilliant, perplexing, claustrophobic.... Exhilarating.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The big post-war Japan novel, a fierce marriage of mood and narrative drive. David Peace continues to polish and advance his particular brand of literary crime fiction.” —George Pelecanos

“Once this hellish locomotive of a book hooks onto its tracks it becomes difficult to stop.” —San Francisco Chronicle

David Peace is the author of The Red Riding Quartet, GB84, and The Damned Utd. He was chosen as one of Granta's 2003 Best Young British Novelists, and has received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the German Crime Fiction Award, and the French Grand Prix de Roman Noir for Best Foreign Novel. Born and raised in Yorkshire, he has lived in Tokyo since 1994.

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