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...

Life at the prestigious Q High School for Girls in Tokyo exists on a precise social axis: a world of insiders and outsiders, of haves and have-nots. Beautiful Yuriko and her unpopular, unnamed sister exist in different spheres; the hopelessly awkward Kazue Sato floats around among them, trying to fit in.Years later, Yuriko and Kazue are dead -- both have become prostitutes and both have been brutally murdered.
Natsuo Kirino, celebrated author of Out, seamlessly weaves together the stories of these women's struggles within the conventions and restrictions of Japanese society. At...

In a crowded Tokyo suburb, four teenaged girls discover that a neighbor has been murdered. The girls get caught up in a tempest of dangers that rise from within as well as from the world around them, in this psychologically intricate thriller.