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Slow Fuse
When one of his patients informs Dr. Uemura that he has committed a murder, the psychiatrist undertakes his own investigation into the case, uncovering a far-from-dead supposed victim, as well as a labyrinthine web of sexual decadence, dark secrets, and hidden identities. 15,000 first printing.
195 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 1995
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About the author
Masako Togawa
16 books66 followersMasako Togawa (戸川昌子) was a Japanese novelist, Chanson singer-songwriter, actress, feminist, LGBTQ+ activist, former night club owner, metropolitan city planning panelist and music educator. She was born in Tokyo, in 1933.
Masako Towaga began writing in 1961, backstage, between her stage appearances, and her first work The Master Key was published a year later, in 1962, for which she was awarded the prestigious Edogawa Rampo Prize. The story is set in the same apartment she grew up in with her mother. Her second novel, The Lady Killer , followed in 1963, becoming a bestseller. It was adapted for both TV and film, and nominated for the Naoki Prize.
She wrote more than thirty novels and was one of the most popular mystery writers in Japan, with many of her stories based on her own life experience.
She died in 2016.
Masako Towaga began writing in 1961, backstage, between her stage appearances, and her first work The Master Key was published a year later, in 1962, for which she was awarded the prestigious Edogawa Rampo Prize. The story is set in the same apartment she grew up in with her mother. Her second novel, The Lady Killer , followed in 1963, becoming a bestseller. It was adapted for both TV and film, and nominated for the Naoki Prize.
She wrote more than thirty novels and was one of the most popular mystery writers in Japan, with many of her stories based on her own life experience.
She died in 2016.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 23, 2012
Not as messy as the other Togawa-san's stories, but the end was. With chains of events that was like a tangled spider webs, it was definitely a Togawa's end.
Whenever I read this kind of story, I was wondering, is there any people living a simple life with a true love, just like what I used to read when I was a kid? Anybody out there that are in love, don't you ever let your love go, no matter what.
Whenever I read this kind of story, I was wondering, is there any people living a simple life with a true love, just like what I used to read when I was a kid? Anybody out there that are in love, don't you ever let your love go, no matter what.
December 29, 2020
I seem to be in the minority, but I quite enjoyed this quite short novel. The main character and all his women was a bit laughable and it’s certainly not PC for these times, but this is a very old thriller/mystery and it shows.
I found it easy enough to follow, which isn’t always the case in this genre, and certainly the motives weren’t predictable.
I found it easy enough to follow, which isn’t always the case in this genre, and certainly the motives weren’t predictable.
November 26, 2024
Hardboiled detective Parodie mit einem implausibel anziehenden dauergeilen Psychiater als Ermittler. Gerade kurz genug, dass es auszuhalten ist. Die Übertreibung klassischer Krimiplotwendungen ist unterhaltsam, aber am Ende reicht es dann auch.
August 24, 2018
1 1/2 stars - because entertaining at times, but among the worst prose I've ever read. There is no (literary) style whatsoever. Occasionally you get the feeling it was written by a first-timer who has never read a decent book in his/her life. His/her...well not that it matters, but it's certainly interesting that you wouldn't notice the author is female if you didn't know. Her male gaze when it comes to describing women is very well-developed. Basically, most of the women present some kind of sexual threat/temptation to the main character, a psychiatrist/hobby detective who is very eager to keep a professional distance, but not always succeeds, which does not really pose a problem because he is a decent thoughtful guy. At times it's actually almost sweet.
The further in you are, the more ridiculous it gets in every respect. I wouldn't recommend this book to mystery aficionados either - there is some suspense at the beginning, but eventually the riddle gets solved on a few pages, and neither is it engaging nor shocking, just ridiculous, (it made me laugh out loud) which also has a lot do with the way that book is written - in that bland, bland, boring style with just few interesting observations. The only redeeming point of that book is its slight entertainment factor and the fact that it's just about 150 pages long. An easy read.
The further in you are, the more ridiculous it gets in every respect. I wouldn't recommend this book to mystery aficionados either - there is some suspense at the beginning, but eventually the riddle gets solved on a few pages, and neither is it engaging nor shocking, just ridiculous, (it made me laugh out loud) which also has a lot do with the way that book is written - in that bland, bland, boring style with just few interesting observations. The only redeeming point of that book is its slight entertainment factor and the fact that it's just about 150 pages long. An easy read.
July 11, 2018
Uniquely AWFUL, but amusing in its awfulness.
July 25, 2024
Verhalten sich Menschen wirklich so? Wäre der Twist gewesen, dass der Doktor die einzige Person ist, die fantasiert und psychisch krank ist, hätte das Verhalten der Charaktere für mich deutlich mehr Sinn gemacht.
May 3, 2026
SLOW FUSE, first published in 1976, twenty-four years after the author’s first novel, THE MASTER KEY, appeared, is an example of an accomplished author issuing a misfire.
I would say that the main problem is that, in its own context, the story is implausible. Even the most realistic fiction is artificial, but when artifice fails to support the reader’s interest, something is fundamentally wrong.
I am often tempted to say, even in the case of a book I like very much, that the book would have been better if something about it had been done a different way. I sometimes wish to rewrite someone else's book. I refrain, most of the time, from saying, "I wish it were this way." Masako Togawa began her writing career with such command of her craft, though, that constructive criticism - and, yes, I know she died in 2016 and can't read it herself - is appropriate.
Here's what I wish she had done. There should have been almost no expository dialogue. The characters, whenever they bump into each other, are constantly saying something like "How fortunate it was to run into you! As you know, my professor is so impatient that I have been scared to interrupt his studies to ask him about my grades. Why are YOU here? Are you seeking his advice? I assure you he's busy." What we need here are the thoughts of the psychiatrist-sleuth who is SHORT FUSE's first-person narrator. He should be saying to us:
At the University, I noticed the student who always seemed to be hovering around the irritable professor's door. This was lucky, perhaps. I could gauge the old prof's mood before bursting in on him again.
Instead, we get each character filling us in on the plot. Togawa has a good story to tell, and I sense we are meant to think everything is strange. But the sleuth is so lacking in self-awareness that his own deeply unethical behavior ought to be commented upon. He sleeps with almost every woman in the case, in his dual capacity as a psychiatrist and an investigator. I can't tell if Togawa is trying to be satirical. My guess is she started this in the hopes of writing an ironic story about a conflicted crime-solver. Everybody in it is deferential to him because he is a psychiatrist. That's weird any place, any time. But the desired effect seems to have been diluted by publisher's demands, time restraints or the idea that readers wouldn't relate to the strange man telling the story.
Masako Togawa does send the reader to the author who, I think, inspired her throughout her career. The narrator tells us, toward the end of the book, "Her explanation was at least logical, but I still didn't believe everything that she said. It reminded me of a novel by Akutagawa which I'd read as a young student. The story is about three people involved in a crime who all give completely different versions of what happened, so that in the end you're left with no idea of what the truth was."
I Googled Akutagawa and found what I thought I'd find. He wrote the story Kurosawa's RASHOMAN is based on. That's the sort of thing Masako Togawa wanted to write. She certainly did write profound books toward the beginning of her career. She wanted the reader to read someone who inspired her vision. SHORT FUSE is a book with deep promise, written at a point in its author's life when the goods had to be rushed.
I would say that the main problem is that, in its own context, the story is implausible. Even the most realistic fiction is artificial, but when artifice fails to support the reader’s interest, something is fundamentally wrong.
I am often tempted to say, even in the case of a book I like very much, that the book would have been better if something about it had been done a different way. I sometimes wish to rewrite someone else's book. I refrain, most of the time, from saying, "I wish it were this way." Masako Togawa began her writing career with such command of her craft, though, that constructive criticism - and, yes, I know she died in 2016 and can't read it herself - is appropriate.
Here's what I wish she had done. There should have been almost no expository dialogue. The characters, whenever they bump into each other, are constantly saying something like "How fortunate it was to run into you! As you know, my professor is so impatient that I have been scared to interrupt his studies to ask him about my grades. Why are YOU here? Are you seeking his advice? I assure you he's busy." What we need here are the thoughts of the psychiatrist-sleuth who is SHORT FUSE's first-person narrator. He should be saying to us:
At the University, I noticed the student who always seemed to be hovering around the irritable professor's door. This was lucky, perhaps. I could gauge the old prof's mood before bursting in on him again.
Instead, we get each character filling us in on the plot. Togawa has a good story to tell, and I sense we are meant to think everything is strange. But the sleuth is so lacking in self-awareness that his own deeply unethical behavior ought to be commented upon. He sleeps with almost every woman in the case, in his dual capacity as a psychiatrist and an investigator. I can't tell if Togawa is trying to be satirical. My guess is she started this in the hopes of writing an ironic story about a conflicted crime-solver. Everybody in it is deferential to him because he is a psychiatrist. That's weird any place, any time. But the desired effect seems to have been diluted by publisher's demands, time restraints or the idea that readers wouldn't relate to the strange man telling the story.
Masako Togawa does send the reader to the author who, I think, inspired her throughout her career. The narrator tells us, toward the end of the book, "Her explanation was at least logical, but I still didn't believe everything that she said. It reminded me of a novel by Akutagawa which I'd read as a young student. The story is about three people involved in a crime who all give completely different versions of what happened, so that in the end you're left with no idea of what the truth was."
I Googled Akutagawa and found what I thought I'd find. He wrote the story Kurosawa's RASHOMAN is based on. That's the sort of thing Masako Togawa wanted to write. She certainly did write profound books toward the beginning of her career. She wanted the reader to read someone who inspired her vision. SHORT FUSE is a book with deep promise, written at a point in its author's life when the goods had to be rushed.
March 21, 2025
2.5
The author's attempt to write a psychological thriller featuring a psychiatrist as the main character only worked sporadically. Too often he would be flummoxed by a minor character (who often came in announced and with little explanation) who would soon disappear. One such reappeared at the strange and poorly developed ending. (It did fulfill Chekhov's famous 'shotgun on the wall' theory.)
The author's attempt to write a psychological thriller featuring a psychiatrist as the main character only worked sporadically. Too often he would be flummoxed by a minor character (who often came in announced and with little explanation) who would soon disappear. One such reappeared at the strange and poorly developed ending. (It did fulfill Chekhov's famous 'shotgun on the wall' theory.)
July 22, 2022
3,5
Ich mochte es nicht ganz so gerne wie ihr erstes Buch, war aber trotzdem eine kurze und am Ende auch spannende Story.
Natürlich sind die ganzen Frauengeschichten sehr überzogen, aber das Buch ist auch wirklich relativ alt.
Ich mochte es nicht ganz so gerne wie ihr erstes Buch, war aber trotzdem eine kurze und am Ende auch spannende Story.
Natürlich sind die ganzen Frauengeschichten sehr überzogen, aber das Buch ist auch wirklich relativ alt.
February 22, 2022
Quite intriguing, but the plot is just … too much, way too much :)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews