ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME Winner of Japan s Grand Prix for Crime Fiction Edgar Award Finalist Nothing in Japanese literature prepares us for the stark tension filled plot driven realism of Natsuo Kirino’s award winning literary mystery Out This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot’s ringleader but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning as it leads to a terrifying foray into the violent underbelly of Japanese society At once a masterpiece of literary suspense and pitch black comedy of gender warfare Out is also a moving evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds and the friendships that bolster them in the aftermath
