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Title: The Japanese Corpse by Janwillem Van De Wetering ISBN: 1-56947-057-X Publisher: Soho Press, Inc. Pub. Date: July, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The case of the missing corpse.
Comment: The beautiful Joanne Andrews goes to the police looking for her missing boyfriend. The search for him takes Grijpstra and De Gier into the world of art dealers, Yazuka and Zen treasures.
_The Japanese Corpse_ manages to be emotionally affecting, despite the unrealism of the scenes in Japan. Van De Wetering is more emotionally extreme than usual as he leads De Gier into personal tragedy on his way to solving the mystery.
I've not read a Van de Wetering book that I didn't enjoy-- his ruminitive detectives are just my speed. This is slightly flawed compared to some of the others (_Death of a Hawker_, _The Blond Baboon_), but still enjoyable reading.
Rating: 5
Summary: An unorthodox mystery, good entertainment
Comment: One of the best Amsterdam Cops mysteries by Janwillem van de Wetering. The author, once a monk in Japanese Zen monastry I visited while in Kyoto, relies heavily on his in-depth knowledge of Japanese culture and customs. Van de Wetering has an eye for detail without neglecting the plot.
In this fifth book of the Grijpstra en de Gier sequence, the commisaris plays a more central role than ever before. The character of commisaris - as the author tells us in one of his interviews - is a blend of his late Kyoto Zen master, his father, and the chief inspector of the Amsterdam police, when van de Wetering served as a cop in this force.
True, the book is a bit on the extreme. Especially the scenes with the Yakuza. But then again, if it were too realistic it wouldn't be a real van de Wetering or good entertainment for that matter. If you like unorthodox books, you will love this one. I most certainly did.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not your father's mystery novel
Comment: Yes, van de Wettering is a plodding writer. Yes, his detectives don't do much detecting in this book.
But give him credit for his strengths, including characterization, and for even attempting the bizarre marriage of Zen and the mystery novel.
If you want a Dutch-flavored detective, read Baantjer. In Van de Wettering's books, the cops are far too unearthly to be nailed down to a specific locale; the Netherlands is just as good a place as any to borrow street names from.
All that said, "The Japanese Corpse" is not his best effort. He does seem quite uncomfortable trying to navigate the Japanese scenes, and character motivation is either too blunt (girlfriend and cat die, therefore you punch out punks who are torturing another kitty) or essentially nonexistent.
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