Thursday, September 4, 2014

On Edge...

In Japan, when a person mysteriously disappears they attribute it to kamikakushi. Kamikakushi "most often takes place in the springtime, usually at dusk. Before the disappearance takes place, a strong wind always blows. If the person who is spirited away is lucky enough to return home, he or she never retains any memory of where he or she has been. Naturally, that leads people to concoct all sorts of explanations for the mysterious experiences."

Saeko is a free-lance journalist whose father went missing in 1884. Now, eighteen years later, she and TV director Hashiba are investigating several new disappearances. What do these missing persons have in common? They all disappeared near an active fault line on a day with unusually high sunspot activity. That's not the only strange phenomena occurring; the value of Pi has mysteriously changed overnight, and it looks as if the stars are starting to disappear one by one.
"If the world as we know it ever begins to collapse, then our first signal would be a small shift in mathematics."
Koji Suzuki's novel Edge is not only unusual, it's unusually cool. As Saeko and Hashiba begin to put together all the pieces of this puzzling mystery, it just gets stranger and stranger. But I think that's why I liked it so much. There's a little bit of everything in this novel from number theory to quantum mechanics. Saeko's relationship with her father is also a key component. There's so much to this novel! It's complicated, haunting and completely unique. Suzuki does a masterful job of creating tension out of nothing. And you'll never guess the ending.

Happy Reading!

 

5 comments:

  1. Great review! This novel sounds intriguing! I hope you don't mind me commenting here, but I've nominated you for a Liebster Award! You can find more details here http://theperfectionistpen.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/the-liebster-award/ but please don't feel obliged to answer the questions etc. :)

    Gemma

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much!! That's really sweet of you.

      Delete
  2. This does sound interesting! It's always nice when a novel is enjoyable and challenging!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's definitely a unique read. And it keeps you guessing (and reading) all at the same time.

      Delete
  3. Sounds like a great read. I like that it mixes the science with the father-daughter relationship and a mystery as well. Refreshing to hear about a book that is different!

    ReplyDelete