Review: People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo–And the Evil That Swallowed Her Up

People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo–And the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is such a good read. Thrilling, unheimlich, fascinating, disgusting and intriguing.

It’s a story about the disappearance of a young British woman in the bizarre vortex of the Tokyo water business (the term used for a variety of adult or not so adult goings on). But it’s also – and perhaps even more – a story of trying to understand what can’t be understood. Of coming to grips with what can’t be gripped. Why this girl? Why (spoiler) did the abductor do as he did? What made him tick? And most chillingly of all, what if there really is no explanation to his crimes? What if he is simply a human, not the devil his actions suggest? The story is also a story about Japan and the Japanese. About a culture so hard to fathom – and perhaps because of this, so fascinating.

I recommend this book highly. You will not be able to put it down or easily forget it. Four (very big) stars out of five.

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