Roommate by Aya Imamura (recently departed in 2013) is a decent thriller/crime/detective novel about two young women rooming together out of convenience, then one day, one woman suddenly disappears and it is up to her roommate and a male friend of hers to uncover what had became of the missing woman and solve the mystery of the confusing secret triple lives the woman led. I am not kidding, the missing woman led the complicated lives of a traditional kimono-wearing housewife, an 18 years old well mannered student and a men-eating hostess all at once, but how she managed these? You will have to find out for yourself.
the first half of the book is outstanding, the author set her tone and the atmosphere in a satisfying manner, her plots are neatly written and purposefully set even when the characters aren't all that freshened up and their personalities a bit too thin. However, around page 120 or so I managed to predict how the mystery will end---and my guessing doesn't miss the mark---not even by an inch (you can read my reading progress if you like). So after all, the explanation for murder mystery isn't so difficult to predict.
So, if you were new to the thriller/crime genre, you might be more likely to be taken by surprise by the plot twists, but to seen-it-all old birds like me, the ending is a bit lukewarm. Still, I am curious about the movie adaptation of this book and I hope to watch it someday, I heard they changed some details of the story to make it different from the book, so I will give it a try.