Nearing the 400 page mark of Hideo Yokoyama’s much-lauded crime novel and I'm a.) pretty sure that I like it and b.) not quite sure what I was expecting. It certainly wasn't an INSIDER-esque look at the relationship between the Japanese police and the media; perhaps something more along the lines of DRAGON TATTOO or even HIGH AND LOW (a favorite film; mem: still need to watch Spike Lee's HIGHEST 2 LOWEST). Expectations aside, I know like it well enough to have picked up Yokoyama’s other books in English translation (SEVENTEEN and THE NORTH LIGHT) – I'll just be sure to never read the back or anything about any of his work before diving in. Marketing copy expectations are a cruel temptress and, now that I'm over waiting for the kidnapping part to take over, I realize that I should've known better. Even though I did write my own copy for my own book all those years ago but hey, whatever works.