All She Was Worth

by Miyuki Miyabe

Goodreads Synopsis:

Here is a deftly written thriller that is also a "deep and moody" journey through the dark side of Japan's consumer-crazed society. Ordinary people plunge into insurmountable personal debt and fall prey to dangerous webs of underground creditors-so dangerous, in fact, that murder may be the only way out. A beautiful young woman vanishes, and the detective quickly finds she was not whom she had claimed to be. Is she a victim, a killer, or both? In a country that tracks its citizens at every turn, how can two women claim the same identity and then disappear without a trace?

My Rating:

☆☆

Dates Read: February 16-28, 2023

Initial Publication Date: July 1992

Translation Published: February 1997

Author Origin: Japan (Tokyo)

Major Characters:

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective, Shunsuke Honma
Shoko Sekine, Honma's nephew's missing fiancée

Personal Notes:

This author was recommended to me in a postcard I received through Postcrossing (another hobby of mine, and a particular favorite), from a reader in Japan; seeing as this book was already on my to-read list, I started it the next day! But while I intend on eventually trying out another of her novels, this one was just so boring! Sure there was a missing woman and a potential murder, but there was so much discussion about economics, and identity fraud, debt and bankruptcy... Granted, I learned a lot about the economic history of Japan in the 1980s, but did I want to? No. Not really. I was glad to have reached the end of this one.

I will say, the pacing and setup reminded me of a Higashino novel, where readers follow the detective through casual conversations in cafes and restaurants and shops as he determines who he ought to talk to next to unravel the story of the missing woman, and had the topic of the characters’ conversations not been so dull, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did.

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